Writing Children in Crime Fiction
Writing child characters can be tricky. Everyone who has read my books knows that Frances has a daughter, Rose. As a secondary character, I’ve restricted Rose to subplots. She’s great for showing what kind of mother Frances is and what kind of father George will be. Neither I nor Frances would ever let her be put in danger, so there’s no way I’d let her take part in an investigation. I even sent her on a trip with her grandmother when I knew the crime would be too close to home and Rose might be hurt.
Then I started working on book 9, which takes place around Christmas. George’s sister, Fiona is longing for a big family gathering, and George and Frances give in and everyone ends up at Robert and Fiona Nash’s estate. I wrote my outline with no problem, but once I started writing the book, I kept running into snags. Every snag was a child. Ugh! Not that I don’t like children, I do, but I was having a difficult time knowing what to do with them when the story focused on death, or murder, or murderers. In the outline, I kept them safely tucked away, but as I wrote the first draft, they kept wanting to be children.
How could I let them do that and still keep them safe?
Because of the family gathering, it wasn’t just Rose, who turned nine in August, but Fiona’s daughter, Grace, also nine, and son Gregory, who is eleven. Plus, it’s Christmas which tends to be about family. I couldn’t keep hiding the kids, even if it was for their own good. So, I rewrote the outline and edited what I’d already written of the story, allowing the kids to be present—and to be kids. Now it’s up to the adults to keep them safe. (Heaven help them!) I don’t expect the children to solve the crime. In fact, they’re going to ruin some clues, tamper with evidence, and generally make investigating difficult. But in this Christmas mystery, crime solving will be a family affair!
