Is having a young Protagonist... unrealistic?

There are a couple of tricky aspects to age that young. The first is, every year matters, so choose your MC's age carefully. The big divide, of course, is puberty.

The second is, culture matters. Kids are kids, but how juvenile behavior is manifested, and how it is regarded by adults, varies widely from one society to another. The big divide here is industrial versus agricultural and, closely related, whether or not school is compulsory.

A third consideration is if you are trying to adhere to some historico-cultural precedent or whether your main concern is to have your readers believe. In the latter case, it's often safer to play to stereotypes, so just take a look at good-sellers in your genre.

The old canard about children being treated as miniature adults has long been thrown out. In the Middle Ages, at least, you could rule England at age fifteen. Marriage was permitted (after 1200 or so) at age fourteen for boys, twelve for girls. Alexander the Great commanded a wing of his father's army at age sixteen or seventeen. Boys went off to college in their mid-teens and, at the same age, could be given major responsibilities in the family business.

I have to tell my favorite kids-are-kids story. The place is Venice, the time is the 1500s or thereabouts. As you may know, Venice is divided into a number of districts, and because the place is laced with canals, the canals formed the dividing lines between districts. The paths between were the bridges.

Young men being what they are, gangs formed in each district and, young men being what they are, there were fights between these gangs (typically ages sixteen into the early 20s). These fights took on such scale that they became big attractions, with people watching from boats and windows. Because the fight took place on a bridge, and there were no railings or such. You can see some images if you look up "war of the fists".

Anyway, my favorite part involves younger boys, ages ten to twelve or fourteen. These younger boys would dash over into a rival's territory, shout insults, then race back. It was something between a dare, a taunt, and a challenge. Sometimes they'd be ignored, sometimes there would be retribution, and sometimes there would be a bridge battle.

This is exactly the dynamic in modern gangs. The leadership and muscle clusters around the late teens and early twenties, but there is always a group, almost to the point of a sub-gang, of younger boys (and girls, nowadays), who pretty much are the very definition of a toady. Gangs-in-training. The same virtually spontaneous social interactions in 1518 Venice as there are in, say, 2018 Los Angeles.

Kids is kids.

 

If that's what your stories demand, then that's what they demand. I mean, does anybody question why an author only has adult main characters? There are entire genres in which the main characters are kids. People search out stories that appeal to them. They don't think, "Oh I've read too many books with young protagonists. I won't read this one even though it sounds exciting, and I'm sure I'd like it." You're writing for your intended audience, anyone outside of that, well, the story may not be for them.

As for making convincing adult characters, just write them as real people, not stereotypes. Give them solid motivations for acting the way they do. Don't ask if an adult would act this way. Ask if Bob or Jane, your characters, would act this way. Because there are childish adults and serious adults, and there are mature kids and immature kids. It's up to you to decide who your characters are and how they should react based on who they are.

 

Um, Alexander didn't conquer much of anything in Europe, outside of Greece. His playground ran from Turkey to India and down to Egypt. Sorry, the historian in me blurted.

 

We have a few younger protagonists in our urban fantasy series. One is brash, fierce, and dabbling with alcoholism at seventeen to cope with PTSD. The other is a little older, resourceful, strong, respectful, and quiet. They are both crucial to the plot in their own ways, and their ages have a lot to do with that. Are we writing YA? No. Most of our characters are adults. But The Books of Binding is a multi-generational family saga, and kids abound.

Don't worry about whether or not you have young protagonists. Just worry about writing them true to character.

 

I don't believe in YA. I believe in stories and whether or not the reader likes them. As for audience, I do confess I write with humanoids in mind.

 

>Having a young character do amazing things isn't unrealistic--having a character do unrealistic things is unrealistic.

This.