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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/27535
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/27535
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

There are no rules. There is a lot of advice. Some of it is good. Some of it is bad. A lot of it is generalized inappropriately. There are also a lot of conventions which it is safer to follow unless it is necessary to break them, since breaking them always creates a difficulty for which other qualities in your story then have to compensate. So don't part with convention unless you gain more than you lose by doing so. But conventions are not rules and should not be mistaken for them.

Now, here is a piece of advice that may be right or wrong or over generalized: Don't focus on language. Yes, language is important, but is is not nearly as important as story. And most audiences are not nearly as sensitive to the subtleties of language or to language quality as most writers would like to believe. (Evidence: Dan Brown)

While a child's language is certainly immature, that is in a real sense incidental. What is really distinctive about a child is the way they see the world. Different things draw a child's attention. They interpret events differently. They value different things. It it these things that truly define a child's POV.

Creating a child character with adult concerns and an adult view of events described in childish language will sound false (and is a very common fault in books that use a child's POV). Using adult language to describe things through the lense of a child's concerns and viewpoint can work brilliantly. A perfect example of this is _To Kill a Mockingbird_. It is certainly not written in the diction of an eight year old. It uses elegant and delightful prose to describe a child's experience in a way that is absolutely authentic to the child's experience and concerns.

In the hands of a great writer, playing games with language can have great effects, but if you look carefully, you will see this is actually very rare. Great writers often use an elevated diction, but that diction is generally simple, lucid, and effective, not complex or gimmicky. What really sets a great writer apart, though, is the storytelling. Language is the vehicle by which the story is transmitted. It is not a special effect. You want your reader to be immersed in the story, and for that a clear and consistent transmission generally works best.

As Robert McKee remarks in _Story_, there are millions of people who can write beautiful sentences. There are very few who can tell great stories. Worry less about language and more about story.

Original score: 1