age of charecters - Writers Forum

Annanan1 · 05-15-2008, 06:39 AM

hi,
this might sound a little stupid, but i am a 33 year old women. i currently writing two novel. i find that when i write (certainly my novels and most of the other peices) my MC are nearly always 16/17 year old boys. i don,t have particular problem with this an have spent considerable time talking to my brother, husband, father etc about this age and what it was like and i was always (one of the lads- my friends in my teen/20's mostly being guys), but several people have said that you should aim to work at the approx age of your MC, and although none of my work is unsutable for that age upwards(despite some very adult sujects. i always take care not 2 be too graphic) i would hate it be classed as youth fiction and bypassed by more mature readers for that reason. anyone got anythoughts.
mostly the other charecters are also older.

LionofPerth · 05-15-2008, 07:52 AM

Character age isn't that important as such. It depends on the story, setting, and world I guess. Many people are never their calender age, I know I can vary, according to others from ancient to immature in a heart beat.

Utlimately, the type of fiction you write is based on the point of the story. Young Adult novels are rather.......... light and fluffy, in some ways next to adult fiction. I'm not saying the YA fiction type isn't serious, and can't pass on a message, but next to some of the works in the 'adult' sections, and I'm not refering to any form of erotica, it doesn't quite have that same bite.

I'd look at the novel itself, and it's possible to never mention the characters age, though in that case, your description of him, in your case, becomes alot more important as it helps build the image, instead of relying on preset ideas already present in the reader.

Mike C · 05-15-2008, 09:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Annanan1

...several people have said that you should aim to work at the approx age of your MC.

Several people don't know what they're talking about. If you can write the character convincingly, it makes no difference.

seigfried007 · 05-15-2008, 10:37 AM

If you only wrote your age, we'd have no elves, vampires, comming-of-age novels, etc

lin · 05-15-2008, 10:47 AM

Writers aren't SUPPOSED to be emotionally operating at their age level.

Writers are mostly caused by fixations or disturbances of development and their creative instincts are operating at the level of the fixation, trying to pave it over with better stories.

If 17 year old boys are the characters that interest you, do for it. Rowling did all right, writing about young boys at school, right?

Of course if your male and express any interest at all in teenaged girls you're a pervert. But that's another thread and I sure don't want to trigger the mob mentality in this one.

Sayuri · 05-16-2008, 05:42 AM

^^ I don't know about that, but I tend to think that people write best about maturity levels below where they are currently, since they have the perspective to be objective about that time period of a person's life. And gender doesn't matter, IMO, unless you're a guy trying to write from a female perspective, which is difficult (though some writers pull it off nicely).