Writing horror from a child's POV

soapdish · Feb 1, 2009

I am working on a short horror story from the POV of a child. About 7rs old. I am having a difficult time deciding whether to do it in first person or third person--or even from the child's POV or not. I guess I could do it from an adult's point of view remembering back to being a child??

It was originally in first person but I am having a hard time not interjecting more “adult” language and observations. She is a fairly sophisticated child, but still...

Has anyone else written something like this? If so, can you point me to it?

Or do you know of someone who has? I could really use a good example where someone pulled this off successfully so I can model myself after them.

alleycat · Feb 1, 2009

Third-person, single character POV?

soapdish · Feb 1, 2009

Is that the same as 3rd person limited? If so, then yes.

semilargeintestine · Feb 1, 2009

What is a girl her age doing with Quantum Physics books in the middle of the ghetto? She's about to start some shit.

alleycat · Feb 1, 2009

soapdish said:
Is that the same as 3rd person limited?

No, not really. There is third-person limited, and third-person single character (either objective or subjective). Some people do think of all of these as being third-person limited.

I was actually suggesting using third-person, single character (probably subjective). As you mentioned, it might be hard to do a story with a seven-year-old character in first-person .

soapdish · Feb 1, 2009

it might be hard to do a story with a seven-year-old character in first-person

...yeah, so I am finding out. *sigh*

alleycat · Feb 1, 2009

By the way, if you ever want a handy-dandy POV chart, send me your e-mail address by PM. I have it as both a jpg and Word file.

soapdish · Feb 1, 2009

What is a girl her age doing with Quantum Physics books in the middle of the ghetto? She's about to start some shit.

Ok, I just got that...well actually I had to google it LOL!
Anyway, just to clarify--she isn't necessarily the evil person in the horror story. At this point it is unclear if she is or not...

Inarticulate Babbler · Feb 1, 2009

Here's a thought to put a starfighter in your zombie dance: If you're telling the story in 1st person past tense, we already know the protagonist lives (and he or she could be telling the story as an adult about his/her childhood)--unless there's a ghost frame-story, in which case we know he or she dies. The only other option is a recorder of some type, then the protagonist can die or live at will.

soapdish · Feb 2, 2009

By the way, if you ever want a handy-dandy POV chart, send me your e-mail address by PM. I have it as both a jpg and Word file.

Alleycat--does your chart also have examples of how a sentence would play out in each of the POVs? I didn't realize there were so many POVs that it warranted an entire chart!

he or she could be telling the story as an adult about his/her childhood.

I might end up doing it this way. Though now I am almost more intrigued by the challenge to write it from the first person 7 year old girl POV. It sounds impossible—so of course now I want to do it....

HoraceJames · Feb 2, 2009

Consider writing it in first in your original draft, without being too concerned about the age level. You can then see if first pov will work for exposition, etc., or if third would work better. Another consideration, depending on what you intend to do with the story, is that many markets prefer third person.

Writing horror from a child's POV

soapdish

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alleycat

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semilargeintestine

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alleycat

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soapdish

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alleycat

Still around

soapdish

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Inarticulate Babbler

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soapdish

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HoraceJames