Has an editor or critique partner told you that your middle-grade manuscript is missing voice? Or maybe you haven’t started writing your first draft yet, but you feel stuck because you’re not sure how to climb into your main character’s skin to sound like them instead of like you?
If this sounds like you, you’re not alone. Nailing voice can be tricky for all writers but it’s particularly tricky if you’re writing middle-grade fiction because your protagonist is a child, and you’re not one anymore! As voice is one of the most important ways you can connect with kids in your books, you need to think, sound and act like a kid, not like yourself.
So, in today’s episode, we’re going to take a look at what makes middle-grade voice, why it matters, and how to nail it in your writing.
But before we begin, I want to tell you that I’ve made a handout for you that summarises the important points of today’s episode, and includes a practical exercise you can do to develop middle-grade voice. You can download it at loupiccolo.com/voice.
What Is Middle-Grade Voice?
In middle-grade fiction, voice isn’t about you, the author. It’s about your protagonist—the way they think, speak, and experience the world. It’s the bridge that communicates your story and your protagonist in the most effective, most “hearable” way to kids reading your book.
So, how do you build that bridge?
You create strong voice through your characters’:
- thoughts – how they process what’s happening to them, or around them.
- dialogue – the words they use and how they speak that reflects their age and personality.
- actions – the way they respond to challenges and emotions.
These three elements work together to create a clear, consistent voice that shapes how your story feels to the kids reading your book. When you use voice effectively, it’s distinct from your adult voice, and it’s unmistakably kid-centered.
Why Does Voice Matter in Middle-Grade Fiction?
Kids between the ages of 8 and 12 are at a unique stage in their development: they’re standing over an imaginary line that separates them from the small, safe world of early childhood on one side and a bigger, more exciting world of discovery and adventure on the other. They want that adventure, but don’t want to stray too far from safety to get it… yet.
So, they crave stories that make that leap for them from one side of the line to the other–stories that move quickly, but that have characters who feel real, and who think, speak and act like they would (or like to think they would) in the same situation. Basically, middle-grade readers need books about kids they can relate to and trust because books like that give them a safe space from which to experience the world. So, while the need for strong voice isn’t unique to middle-grade novels, it is vital in middle-grade fiction.
Creating strong voice for your characters also helps you:
- build authenticity – kids will hear themselves in your protagonist, and the book will feel like it’s a book meant for them.
- reveal truth – even with their limited life experience, middle-grade characters can introduce surprising insights into your narrative through offhand remarks that are innocent, but perceptive, and help move your story forward. The middle-grade novels that are hailed as “voicey” always have a protagonist who is highly effective at seeing and revealing the truth about events and people around them. These truths are often both significant for the plot and revelatory to the reader. This isn’t something that authors can do with an adult character in fiction for adults; it’s a unique childlike trait.
I think you can see now that without voice, it doesn’t matter if you have a solid plot, a clear path through the story, well-developed characters or excellent pacing. Your story just won’t work for kids. But strong voice makes a book memorable because it helps the story flow with just the right amount of emotional complexity a kid can connect and relate to.
Tips for developing strong middle-grade voice
Here are some strategies you can use to make your characters think, sound and act like kids:
1. Match language to your main character
Use vocabulary and patterns of speech that fit your protagonist’s world and age. For example, in Katherine Applegate’s Home of the Brave, Kek an 11-year-old boy from Africa is sent to live with his aunt and cousin in the US when his father and brother die and his mother goes missing. The way Kek speaks is specific to his culture and the fact that he isn’t comfortable communicating in English. He uses imagery that makes sense for a person from Africa to think of when he’s trying to express himself. Also, the wonder Kek is experiencing at being outside of his country for the first time in his life is apparent in the way he notices new things and comments on them. Basically, Kek sounds like a child from Africa, not like Katherine Applegate.
2. Be consistent
The way you consistently think, speak and behave in your life is part of who you are. Your friends and family know what to expect from you because of that consistency. So, just in the way that you behave in character, so should the characters in your book. Imagine what your friends and family would feel if you suddenly started thinking, speaking and behaving differently, or erratically–they’d say you were not yourself or that you were behaving out of character and they’d be confused, and would all agree that something strange was going on, wouldn’t they?
Well, in a middle-grade novel, if your characters were inconsistent in their thoughts, words and actions, you would confuse your readers too. So, make sure that your characters’ inner world (their thoughts) lines up with what they say (dialogue) and do (actions), and that this happens consistently throughout your book.
The strongest characters in middle-grade fiction have unique, robust voices that stay consistent throughout the story even through the changes their character arc brings.
3. Stay true to a kid’s range of emotions
Middle-grade protagonists are often more open with their feelings than teens in young adult books. Don’t hold back in your writing with their emotions! Curiosity, joy, embarrassment, or frustration—it’s all part of what kids this age feel and show, and it will make voice in your novel ring true to kids.
To sum up
Quite simply, middle-grade readers need the books they read to be authentic and emotionally resonant. If you craft a protagonist whose voice is clear, consistent in thoughts, words and actions, as well as being kid-like, you’ll not only hold your readers’ attention—you’ll also give them a character they can see themselves in. And when we recognise ourselves in others, we bond, don’t we? Kids are no different!
Links
- Middle Grade Made Easy(er) Podcast
- PDF Handout: Nailing Middle-Grade Voice
- Home of the Brave by Katherine Applegate
