Age goes up... Age goes down...
Two rants in one! Aren't you lucky? ;)
Rant #1: Childhood!fanfiction.
Dear KH fan,
So you've decided to write a story featuring Sora, Riku and/or Kairi when they were little because that cute cutscene from KHI made you go AWWWWW! (well, at least that's what happened in my case). Yep, Chibi-Sora and Chibi-Riku were adorable, like most children their age (I think they were around 5 or 6 in that scene).
However, there are a couple of things you should keep in mind when you are chibifying these characters:
0. Children 3 and up =/= Babies.
1. Children aren't stupid. One thing is to be naïve, and another thing is to be dumb. Don't mix them, please.
2. Chwildren do nowt tawk like wis. As you can see, I can't even type that kind of "cutesy" language that I usually find in this kind of fics. I'm a pre-school teacher, and I work with children 3-6 years old. Believe me, they don't talk like that. If you want to tell me how cute Chibi!Sora's voice is, just write that!
3. Related to the last point, children do not mispronounce every single word. They might have problems pronouncing complex words that they do not understand well or mixing some tenses (specially irregular verbs aka the bane of my English knowledge _>), but I'm pretty sure they can pronounce their own names. I blame the Rugrats for this phenomenom.
4. Not every child acts like if he/she had a rocket on his/her butt. There are quiet children too (I think Kairi would be one of them). And I don't think Sora would spend all the time screaming and bouncing off the walls (aka "sugar rush"). I'm pretty sure he'd sleep at night like every other child.
5. When children are depressed, angry or sad, they usually react by staying away from other children or fighting at school, or being clingy to their parents. Sometimes they have nightmares, wet their beds. I'm pretty sure they don't lock inside their rooms and listen to Evanescence while they angst about the bad, cruel world. Actually, the best way to know if a kid is having problems is by watching them play.
6. Children =/= Miniature Teenagers.
By they way, this also applies when writing about the character's offspring. If you have any more doubts, just go to the park and watch the children there.
Love,
Me.
Rant #2: Adulthood!fanfiction.
Dear KH fan,
So, you've decided to write about the main character's adulthoods and therefore placed your story five or ten years after KH2. Good for you! I love that kind of stories and I find quite interesting to read about the way these characters would react when they are older, more experienced and probably with a different POV than the one they have in the canon's time-line.
Most authors succeed describing the physical changes that the characters might experience after a few years. However, it's the mental and emotional ones what usually make me cry:
0. Adult =/= Teenager (at least in most cases). Most future!fics I've read have the characters acting exactly like when they were fifteen.
1. Being an adult does not mean going through a complete 180° personality change, though. It's been a while since I was 15, and although I've changed a lot in these last few years, I still feel like me. For example, I still have a stupid sense of humor XD.
2. If you are talking about the Destiny Island's trio and are placing your story five years in the future, there's a chance Sora might still be in high school (at least in his last year), unless he took summer lessons or something like that. He was gone for almost two years, or at least that's the length of time I believe he was gone from the Island's POV (the year he spent sleeping + the months he spent fighting in KH2).
3. If you are writing about Adult!Sora (or Riku, or the character of your choice) leaving the Islands for another adventure, he might worry about his family's safety (wife and kids) if he had one. I don't think he would just forget about it in just two paragraphs.
4. Related to the last point, really, Sora wouldn't beat his wife and kids, no matter how angry he was. And specially without any reason!
5. If your adult characters have suffered a drastic personality change, please, please explain how that happened. Make it believable, please. I've read way too many fics with a dark, angsty, violent adult!Sora, but without further explanation than "He just grew up" WTF?
Remember kids: When writing future fics, characterization is your best friend.
Craving a good IC future!fic,
Me.