Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Writing Dialogue for Middle Grade

I thought I’d continue Dawn’s discussion of what makes middle grade by focusing on writing middle grade dialogue. I have some writer friends who are querying stories and have been told the voice in their stories is YA instead of middle grade and vice versa. That got me thinking about what exactly that means in terms of dialogue.

The most glaring way to make something not middle grade is to have too many snarky characters. Certain television shows may make it seem like 11-year-olds are the most incredibly sophisticated, world-weary, witty mini-adults, but middle grade writers who have actually been around children know 11-year-olds don’t have the speech patterns of Jon Stewart wannabes.

As brave teachers know, in a group of thirty middle-graders, there will probably be one or two precocious ones who can outsnark most adults, but the rest of them talk like kids. That means there will be lots of teasing, random thoughts popping up that have nothing to do with the current conversation, some one-upmanship, and general silliness. There is absolutely not going to be deep discussions about feelings, nor much talk about life beyond the next few weeks, except when it involves birthday party or Halloween costume planning, all of which are discussed months in advance.


There is also an amazing difference in the way most kids talk among themselves and how they talk (or don’t) when a non-family adult or close friend of the family is present. By middle-grade age, most kids don’t let their whole personalities show around unfamiliar adults. They become much more quiet, except for the few very confident ones.


I get tired of the articles I read that claim you can hook middle grade boys with stories containing jokes about body functions. By the time boys are middle-grade age, those jokes are no longer so funny to most of them and they don't tell so many of them. A first grader will laugh, but most fifth grader have moved way beyond that. When they are together, they are much more interested in talking about their current obsessions, whether it be games, sports, books, movies, tv shows, or anything that fascinates them. And a fascination for one kid will lead him to talk about it whether or not anyone else is interested. There are books that describe toddlers doing ‘parallel play’, where they are playing next to each other, but not interacting. I think middle-graders have a lot of parallel conversations. It can be very funny to listen to three kids discussing three different subjects all at the same time. Sometimes one will listen to another, but often they just keep talking.

I have loved my years of being a mom chauffeur and eavesdropping in on middle-grader conversation. Kids at that age are so funny, it is one of the reasons I chose to write for this age group. I'd love to hear more tips and thoughts from any of you as writers, parents, teachers or librarians ~Dee



12 comments:

  1. I agree about the parallel conversations. When my 12-year-old and his friends are at the house, they have absolutely no problem ignoring what the other person is saying (maybe with the occasional "yeah" before returning to their own topic). It's pretty funny, because once in awhile the conversation will come together because of a single word or phrase. They'll all pounce on it with this bizarre enthusiasm that makes me smile. Thanks for the post!

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  2. Excellent post, thank you! Thanks to Becky Levine for sharing it on Twitter/Facebook.

    I keep telling myself I can't wait until my children are old enough to allow me to write tween fiction. Your tips are fantastic.

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  3. Thank you! I learned a lot from this post! =D

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  4. great tips and observations of middle-schoolers. They really are in a class all by themselves as they straddle that line between child and teenager.

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  5. i work with 8th graders and this is SO true. Normally there is two or three kids who are SUPER smart and snarky but most kids dont.

    Awesome.

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  6. Great post, Dee! Right on the money, IMO. :)

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  7. Great post. I sometimes wonder though how important or desirable it is to make middle graders (or any graders) sound exactly like what they are. Does a typical 12 year old boy think he sounds like a typical 12 year old boy, or does he think he sounds like James Bond or whoever he imagines himself to be? I guess the question becomes, how desirable is "realistic" dialogue?

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  8. Thanks all, David, I think it depends on the story. I've read some great middle-grade books with very self-aware narrators who purposefully try to speak differently because the story wouldn't work without it.

    SCONES AND SENSIBILITY is hilarious because the main character wants life to be like a Jane Austen novel, and so she manages to keep to an Austen-like speech pattern most of the time. Artemis Fowl certainly speaks more like an adult too, but that totally fits with the story as well.

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  9. I totally had to laugh at your description of a group of kids talking "at" each other. I remember this so well from when I taught fifth grade. What's great is they always surprised me - they somehow were listening to each other while having these parallel conversations!

    Great points about realistic dialogue.

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  10. Thought-provoking post, Dee. Thanks!

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  11. Excellent post, Dee! I actually bookmarked it.

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Thanks for adding to the mayhem!