Bryan: category

2008-03-07T09:23:12Z

ShadowWolf: import from TSAT #28

2008-01-09T03:59:57Z

import from TSAT #28

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[[Category:Phil Geusz]][[Category:Essays]][[Category:Writers School]]
We were all children once, or at least I sincerely hope that we
were. Each and every man and woman alive was once a little boy
or girl, and before that an infant. All of us slobbered on our
bibs, skinned our knees, and played ecstatically with a favorite
toy. Which means that all of us ought to be experts on writing
stories in which characters are transformed into children. Right?

Wrong!
I don't know why it is, but of all the transformation stories
I've ever read, for some reason age regression stories tend to
be among the least convincing. Perhaps it is because we are indeed so familiar with childhood that the differences really
stick out. Or, perhaps, it might be because there are so many
children in our everyday environment that we note right away when
behavior is false. In any event, of all the three subgenres I
believe that the age regression is the most wide-open to the prospective
author, and the one with the most virgin, unplowed fields.
I haven't written very many age regression stories myself; if
memory serves, I've penned exactly four age regression stories
worth mentioning. All four of these are placed in the Transmutation Now! universe, and all four deal with a single character who has been
age-regressed in order to become a 'juvie cop' -- in other words,
a law enforcement officer who works undercover in order to deal
with such crimes as kiddie porn, drug dealing in schools, and
the like. My character is a late-middle aged man whose has to
pass as a twelve-year-old boy for days on end. Even more, in this
universe a transmutation is hideously expensive (hundreds of thousands
of dollars, at the time period in question) and takes weeks on
end. Therefore, my 'kid cop' has to live in this body full-time,
with no breaks or leaves. Because he operates undercover, the
only place he can 'let down his hair' and be treated as an adult
is at his base in Quantico, Virginia. My goal as a writer is to
explore the long-term effects of what living in a child's body
can and must do to such a man, while at the same time entertaining
my reader with that action and suspense of the fictional policeman's
life.
This approach has colored much of my thinking about age regression
stories as a whole, and also serves to illustrate my personal
preferences and prejudices. I don't have much patience with stories
where someone is given the magical (or near-magical) ability to
become a child at will, and then change back. Such stories tend
to be very shallow, gimmick-ridden tales that promise much but
deliver little. After all, what can be learned from a change of
just a few hours or even days? How much can a character be altered
in such a short time? How much can he or she grow? (Or, perhaps
in this case, shrink?)

It is my sincere belief that in the age-regression tale, more
than any other, long-term effects are far more important than
short-term ones. The difference between a child and an adult is
very profound, but at the same time very subtle. A child can be
very intelligent, for example, but a far more profound and far
less quantifiable test of adulthood is maturity. What happens to a person when, for months on end, others assume
that he or she is not mature? Even more to the point, there are very real physiological
differences between adulthood and childhood. Children need to stretch and exercise their muscles, for example. They are
impelled by nature to do so. Therefore, adult-children will fidget in long meetings, like it or not. There are hormonal differences
too, some more subtle than others. An adult-child will find themselves
becoming more passive over time. Also, there is considerable evidence
that there are brain-structuring differences as well. A child
imprints very easily, and instinctively seeks adults to imprint
on. These, in my view at least, are biologically-rooted behaviors. Change the body and, slowly but surely, the
behavior changes as well. Even if the mind is preserved intact
in the beginning, as I postulate with my kid-cop, and even if
measures are taken to counter at least some of these effects,
you can't make a person into a kid without at least some of this
sort of thing happening. Or, if you could, in my book there would
be absolutely zero point in writing about him or her. Which, for
an author, amounts to exactly the same thing. If the biological
imperatives are diluted or even done away with entirely, social
pressure is a powerful force indeed. And, if the biological imperatives
are damped too much, then what you will have is not a child but merely an adult
who looks like one. And, probably, an adult who cannot behave
in a convincing-enough manner to pass as anything else for more
than a few hours at a time.

Sure, there are gross physical changes in becoming a child that
need to be dealt with. A child is smaller and weaker. A child
grows cold faster. A child craves sweets. A child dresses differently
than an adult. And so forth. But these are all mere window-dressing
for the far more profound changes that lie beneath and which need
to be brought up to the surface. A child mostly socializes with
other children. A child has little power in society. A child is
protected and loved, but never treated as an equal.
A child can literally get away with murder. Now, that's real story-fodder...
I like writing age-regression tales, though I've not been nearly
so prolific as I would like. I like reading them even more, when
I can find a well-written one. Unfortunately, it's hard to find
an author who really delves into the angst and insight and growth
that all come hand-in-hand with altering identity and sense-of-self.
When an author does choose to take this tack, however, the results are almost always
memorable. Perhaps this is because there is no time in our lives
when we are as mutable and when change comes so hard and fast
as when we are children. We who love transformation should, almost
by definition, love reading about childhood. Not only is transformation
itself a childlike fascination, but it is practically the essence
of childhood itself. What could be a more perfect genre for such
as we?

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ShadowWolf: import from TSAT #28