Coming of Age

I've been writing about how to make any piece of writing more literary.  Many books and movies deal with the idea of the coming of age, when a youth goes from being a child from being an adult.  The technical term for this is a Bildungsroman.  Think, for instance, of Mark Twain's Huck Finn or Tom Sawyer, the Harry Potter series, the Taran Wanderer series, Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre, Charles Dickens's Oliver Twist and David Copperfield, Lewis's Narnia series, the Star Wars movies, and so many more.  This is a moment of transition, one in which a child learns to be an adult, so it makes for a literarily powerful moment. 

A Bildungsroman allows the writer to deal with many emotionally weighty themes with which the reader can identify.  Tom Sawyer deals with themes of death and rebirth, irresponsibility vs. responsibility, selfishness vs. heroism, and others.  Jane Eyre shows the protagonist dealing with trauma and abuse, love vs. ethics and morality, and others.  To make your Bildungsroman more than just a mundane and meaningless story, it ought to feature important themes such as love, loss, loneliness, anger, depression, trauma, and the like. Think through the broad themes that make up the meaning behind your story. 

There are other things to consider as you embark on writing a Bildungsroman. There must be room for transformation; furthermore, there must also be an actual transformation.  Your main character must actually change.  What are the traits with which your character will start that will need to be changed?  What will the signs of that maturity be?  For instance, Harry Potter starts out socially awkward and introverted.  He must grow into the role of a confident leader in order to be able to do and be what is required by the end of the novel.  The story should show how that transformation takes place, step by step.  He can't go to sleep socially awkward and awake a leader.  Nor can he start the story perfect, or you have a Mary Sue that is likely to bore the reader.  The author has to guide the character (and, thereby, the reader) through growth, so the character is round instead of flat.  How does your character change? 

It often helps to keep literary pattern in mind when you're writing a Bildungsroman.  One of the most popular is Joseph Campbell's hero's journey.  Your hero starts in a normal world, goes into the underworld, faces dangers with the help of allies, then emerges the master of both worlds.  If this is something that interests you, I highly recommend looking it up via the link above or Google.  It's a fascinating topic.  Many modern novels and movies are based on this pattern such as any given Pixar movie.  The hero's journey can help with plotting since it's ideally suited for a Bildungsroman. 

It's not enough to just tell a coming of age story.  They have to be carefully planned in terms of growth, plotting, characterization, and themes.  What makes your story special and meaningful?  You can do this.