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Okay.

I just got caught up with the conversation, let me recap what we have so far (disclaimer: as I understand it):

We have two story lines here.

The first (which I think we scrapped already, but just in case):

Kid, the chimney-sweep, 5, is happily sweeping chimneys for his chimney-sweep master, when he finds out about a plot to kill a monarch/nobility. But running away to warn said monarch might cost him his job. And because he’s a five-year-old, he goes for the easiest choice: stasis.

This obviously doesn’t work because there’s no story arc. An easy fix might be to send a fire fairy with him to warn Said Monarch. And since everyone knows that fire fairies can’t live very long away from their flame, that would give him a time limit.

Story line no. 2:

Kid, the chimney-sweep, 5, is happily sweeping chimneys for his chimney-sweep master, when some kind soul offers him a better education and therefore a better life. But because of his love for the often ridiculed and humiliated fire fairies, he turns the offer down in favor of protecting the fairies.

So Kind Soul makes another offer: Night school. It’s the best of both worlds. Chimney-sweep by day, read by candlelight.

And Kid still turns down the offer, because he is still five, and therefore still chooses the easier option. Who wants to go to kindergarten in the middle of the night anyway?

I think we could make this work if Kid already has an appreciation for learning, or is smart, or is hard-working, and is prepared for the sacrifices such a double life would cause. But the way I see it, all those options seem to imply an older child.

Or maybe we could make him a child prodigy?

 The prompt is: write a scene from the point of view of a five-year-old who has an engaging character voice.

What’s more engaging than a super smart five-year-old character? I’m not just asking that rhetorically.

Seriously, we’ve come up with some great story ideas, but the writing prompt doesn’t have anything to do with story.

Let’s refocus. What are some things about this five-year-old chimney sweep, child prodigy, friend of fairies, and conspiracy stopper that will make his voice engaging?

Or are those the things that make an engaging voice? Voice isn’t really my strong point. Does anyone else know how to write an engaging voice? Or what qualities make a voice engaging? Or even have any good ideas on what might make a voice engaging?

Or maybe we should just write it, then edit the voice into something engaging. That’s probably what I would do if it were just me working on this.

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