A Writing question....

[alfreda89]

Okay -- a building is unexpectedly attacked, and several people are killed, including (gulp) children. I'm trying to figure out if there is a real subplot for a seven year old girl or ten year old boy. Just how enterprising could an intelligent child be, especially if said child knows some of the language of the invaders, if they are taken for medical care and then hung on to because they may have hostage value. I'm thinking planning escape when they do have a feature (eye color or hair color) that might cause them to be noticed. It's winter, so clothing hiding them might help.

Their goal would be the office of a family friend -- timing when the friend will be there, so they would find the office and go several times early. One of the "captors" is not actively helping, but knows the child understands a lot of the language and does not reveal this -- and also hints when it's time to actually run.

=I= could have done this. But I was a DAMN precocious kid. How about a merely smart and observant kid? This is not in stone, I can just kill off the third kid (urp) but was trying to save a life here....

Comments

[cabin77.livejournal.com]

Wow. Good question. I'm the mom of both a 10 year old and a 7 year old. I'm having difficulty putting them into this situation because, well, it's THEM and when I think of it I get sad. Also, at this point, my boy is 7 and my girl is 10. Don't really know how it would play if the ages were swapped.

Buddy? He would quite easily charm/entertain the captors until he found a way out.

Princess? She's very observant and absorbs a LOT of information. I'm not sure if she would have the courage to take the action.

All of this to say - I do think that just a smart and observant kid could pull it off. I can see a captor suspecting Buddy because of his outgoing nature. I can see a captor not suspecting Princess because she's very obedient to (non-parental) authority.

You wanna borrow them for a while?!?!? ;-)

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

I have the greatest respect for what you're doing, and do not think I am the person to entrust enterprising children to. It would probably be fine -- but I am the person who read through a house catching on fire, so I'd never get to read again. I only borrow children when they are going to be the focus of attention!

Your point on the quiet child not being suspected is a good point. I could talk -- but at that age around adults I was an observer, mostly. And would ask devastating questions later. I don't know if I would have been brave enough. I hated pain, but did not become afraid of larger boys until later. These children know they have strategic value -- as as fertiles, would be kept and raised to become citizens even if they did not have chess value. So they will probably only be killed accidentally. Still -- the child would probably figure out that the attack was NOT a mistake -- therefore, they'd be frantic to know if any family was still alive, and afraid that if they didn't get out soon, these crazy people who would actually KILL other people might hurt them, too. Because they would be fairly certain several family members were dead.

I have to get back to the book going E soon, sigh. But wanted to get that out to ask friends who have actively watched small ones growing up with tech around them. With a couple of kids dying they may not read the book -- but the deaths will count. Eventually, those deaths prevent other deaths. Not wasted. Hard, but not wasted.