Tuesday 18 May 2010

What age are your characters?

I recently read a book where the main characters were barely described and you never got to know their ages. I tried to work it out, but the years didn't make sense. I found it very difficult to visualize the characters and I never became attached to them in the way I usually do when I read a book.

This distance between me and the characters also prevented me from getting genuinely involved in the plot, and even if I enjoyed the storyline, I didn't feel anything by the time I finished the last page.

Age shouldn't matter, but it's a fact I need to know to be able to recreate the scene in my mind and plunge into the story. I find knowing the characters' age makes them more credible, it explains their actions, vocabulary and train of thought too. I don't care if they're 20 or 50 years old, I just want to know their age.

This subject also makes me wonder why authors choose one age or another for their characters. Most books I've read lately have women in their late twenties or early thirties, but this may be because I love romances, and it seems it's the perfect age to find the love of your life, unless you're reading one of the classics where the perfect age will be early twenties or younger. Sleuths I've noticed tend to be a bit older, you probably need more years to gain the power of deduction and the expertise to identify a murderer by the way a leaf trailed in the wake of a long-distance lorry ended up on the victim's shoe.

What I'd like to know if this usually matches the writer's mental age. You know when someone asks you your age and you have to think twice? I always think 26 or 28 at first but then realize (shocked gasp) that is not my age any more, in fact it's been five years since. You would think I'd get the idea by now... But this is what I mean by our mental age, and I often wonder if this is the reason to choose one age or another for our characters, or if it's chosen to fit in with the plot.

Do you need to know the age of the characters? And why do you choose one age or another when writing?

28 comments:

  1. Interesting thoughts. I guess we all tend to be more familiar with things our own age, but a good novel should subverts some of our preconceptions too. But it is an interesting thought - do we generally revert to type? Are the Adrian Mole books funny because they are a child's-eye view through adult eyes or a true representation of a child? Compare that with Richmal Crompton's Just William. I suspect as a reader we need to latch on to something and what we are most familiar with is the biggest hook.
    The key for sleuths is that they need baggage and therefore time to accumulate skeletons - but even children can have baggage. My current sleuth is also slightly younger than me at 44. Must be a vanity thing I guess. Generally I think the age helps position the action and the decisions they take, but I just finished a short story where the reader has to supply everything including the value judgments with very little character clues. I think as a reader its also fun to have to do some work!
    Not sure I'd remember what it was like to be a child, but you've inspired me - a child sleuth - might just try that...

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  2. You're right Drew Lakin, it is easier to be familiar with the age, especially in terms of vocabulary/slang.
    I encourage you to try the child sleuth. And I can't wait to read your work.

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  3. There are a couple of child sleuths in the book world, but my middle aged female is a standard in the Golden Age detective stories. In the US, many "cosy" mysteries have young women sleuths written by MUCH older women. And many HMB books are written by older women who've been writing them for years - you know a lot of them, Sarah. I think it depends what kind of book you're writing, but a great mistake not to let your readers know, as you so rightly say.

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  4. Lesley, did you choose that age for your character, Libby Sarjeant, for any specific reason? Or did you simply feel comfortable with it? Your main character fits in perfectly with her age.

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  5. Hello Sarah - glad you have made it from twitter to blogger! :)

    One thing I absolutely love when starting a story is creating an Age Plan of all my characters. This basically documents their lives from beginning to end and how old they all are in relation to each other at any given moment. I've always done it... must be a bit weird like that. :)

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  6. Hi Jayne!
    Actually that is quite an organized system. I'd never thought of doing it, but I might give it a try.

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  7. Hi Sarah, your blog looks inviting and the blog list interesting, too. Must explore further. As for age - you truly never feel older than twenty something, not really. Only on bad days maybe, when the world seems against you, or when a parent dies. Then you know you're next in line, but really, you still only feel, well, maybe thirty now. Writing about younger people who have knees that don't creak is very attractive....

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  8. Thanks Jen. You won't have much to explore yet, I'm only just getting the hang of this, but I hope to be able to fill it in regularly.

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  9. Lovely blog - well done that girl!
    I've written heroines of each decade I should think. I had a 60+ year old fall in love,and why not, was my argument. It's whatever fits the story, I think. At the mo I'm writing 3 - one in their 30s,40s,50s. Annie,

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  10. I'm with you Annie, and why not. Any age is good to fall in love. I'm looking forward to see how you juggle the three you're writing at the moment!

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  11. Like Jayne, I have a timeline for each of my characters so that I know what year it was for key events in their lives. It helps me to place some of their influences like music, film or major news stories. Good luck with the blog.

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  12. I don't think it matters what age characters are as long as they're interesting and well written.

    Love the look of your blog.

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  13. I was amused by the fact that you were still thinking of yourself as five years younger, Sarah. I once spent an entire year thinking I was a year older than I was. Which was great.

    My cousin has a problem with his 95 year old mother who is convinced she's 96 (it was her birthday yesterday). What to do when the telegram doesn't arrive from the queen in four years time!

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  14. Thanks Chris and Debs.
    I'm really considering Chris and Jayne's timeline idea.
    And that's right Debs, any age can be interesting, just make it credible and appealing.

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  15. Liz, I actually have to remember the year I was born in to calculate my real age.
    That's funny about you thinking you were older. It must've been great to celebrate the next birthday knowing you hadn't got any older.
    And I can see you writing a telegram in four years' time on behalf of the queen!!

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  16. I've never been very good at remembering my age. I once got denied buying a lottery ticket because when asked, I couldn't remember if I was older than 16 (I think I was 17).

    I've written heroines the same age as myself, sometimes on purpose and sometimes because that's what fits. Sometimes I realise that in order for my characters' life experiences to fit in she can't be as young as I'd planned!

    I don't need to know a character's exact age, when reading or writing, but a general guide is useful. My heroine in Mad, Bad & Dangerous didn't have her age explained, but since she'd been a teenager when her half-siblings were born, and they're now adults, I figured it was obvious she wasn't a stripling.

    And yes, I've made databases of characters' ages before, usually so I don't contradict myself!

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  17. The day after my mother turned 100, she asked me if she was 101 now. Age is relative. Some of my books start off with the heroine being fourteen, and I have to mature their thinking, actions and reactions as the story advances. I like age to be included. Its a part of the characterization that helps me to understand where the character is coming from.

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  18. I don't need to know the exact age, but I do like various points of reference in the book to give me a rough idea.

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  19. I also think age is important when reading a book, and also when I write a book. I write fiction, and my last novel, the ages were crucial to the plot as 'she' was a younger woman to 'his' older man - this added to the 'flavour' of the plot. In my latest book, it's less important, but 'she' is 32, and 'he' is 37. I am sure this is where I see myself in the world. I am actually 36, but always feel about the 30 mark. I am pretty sure there's alot of psycology in there, but like you, knowing the characers ages is important when I'm reading a book as it helps form characters in my mind. Great post, thanks, Karen.

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  20. I agree with Annie that the age of character has to fit the story. I have add a year or two and taken some off characters to make their actions seem more appropriate.

    like the blog.

    lx

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  21. Kate and India: When reading, I don't mind if it doesn't say the exact age, I prefer it, but if I can work it out I'll be happy with it. In the book I read the main character had a son, it was only at the end you learnt he was only 5 years old, but he'd been talking as a 15 year old so it was all very confusing.

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  22. Janet W. and English Writer and Liz Fenwick: I like to know you give age thought when you write, it's part of their identity.

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  23. Seems to me your blog's off to a flying start! Yay for you!!!

    Ooh - should I be saying something about age? Um - it's just another characteristic, I think - that is, a character can only behave in character and if she/he behaves out of character it can pull you out of the book - same with age-related actions/thoughts/speech etc.

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  24. My characters are usually late 20s/ early 30s - I guess because that's the age I identify with most and that fits the storylines I'm telling.

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  25. Geez, I cannot imagine a book where the ages of its characters are not given. Ridiculous! As for me, I can't say why I choose the ages I do. But I'm a younger person, so most of my main characters are in their twenties and thirties, while one is eighteen.

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  26. Me ha gustado lo de la edad de los personajes, a mí también me pasa. En realidad, me pasa hasta con el resto de la gente que pueda conocer, o que me interese… como si la edad fuera un filtro más, para pensar de una u otra forma, aunque no lo sea, en absoluto. A veces vale para pensar que aún te queda tiempo para hacer cosas importantes --o lo contrario, cuando dices ¡a sus años, todo lo que ha conseguido hacer!

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  27. Amanda and montyandrosie: I agree with you. Even if it's not specified, at least let the reader work it out, we can often guess from little details.

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  28. I agree with Antonio too, age influences our relationships with people.

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