What is the age of your characters compared to your own?

[Guest]

Can I ask such questions? What is the age of your characters compared to your own?

My first 2 novels they were in their 30's (as was I) - 3rd novel was about a 30th HS reunion - late 40's - (We're celebrating our 50th in a few weeks!) Because the main character in 4th novel has a MAJOR storyline regarding her 30th b-day, she's all of 29, which can be a bit of a stretch and my DAUGHTER just turned 40!!

BUT for my new one, I want the characters to be current age - 68 female and 75 male - she's a physics professor at Houston University - he's a quiet intellectual.

Is it easier or more difficult to write characters you own age, but imagine younger to "fit" the demographic market?

[LuWanda]

Secrets - my about to be released novel has characters ranging from 11 to 91. I write what I want, then figure out who it will appeal to after it’s written. I’m 82 so I can identify with characters of all ages, and if I haven’t experienced something, I know somone who has. In Secrets, I have an 11-year-old girl spying on the townspeople. She sees things no child should ever see. Kind of a Peyton Place kind of thing. So although the narrator is 11, this is a novel for adults.

[Heather]

My main characters aged from 15 to late 50s over the course of 13 books. Though other characters range from teenagers to eighties. I went from being 28 - 45 writing them.

[Amanda]

Some of most of mine range between the ages of 10 and 19 (i am 17), but some are also in their 40 or 40

[Gabriel]

I'm 50 snd my characters tend to range from mid-20s to mid-30s. In the series I'm working on, the characters will age and probably be in their 40s by the time the series concludes (not sure yet, I've only written the first two out of a planned five).

[Aja]

Mine are younger only because I don't think many people want to read stories where the central characters are my age. "She stopped at the mailbox to pick up her latest copy of AARP Magazine and thought she could read it while sipping on her Metamucil mix."

[Dayna]

The main character in my series is 34, and will be 35 in the second book. I picked that age and no younger for a very specific reason that will become apparent in book two. I'm 43. It's a vampire series, so characters range in age from your typical 20s, 30s, 40s and so forth, to a couple hundred years old. There are also child and infant characters of varying ages.

My first book about 20 years ago featured a MC in her early 20s, as was I when I wrote it.

[Batman]

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