Writing characters way older than you.

So, today I sat down to write down the goals of my three protagonists, and suddenly realised that one of them doesn't have one, because she's being completely manipulated by an another character, and it's that another character who's the REAL third protagonist. That character also happens to be 49 years old, and I'm not even half her age!

Is it even possible for me to write her? Should I make her younger? Or should I just keep her as a secondary character regardless of the fact that she's forcing her way out into the foreground? (She's an interesting character, I think.) What should I do?!

It's very possible to write characters who are much older than you. For instance while my main characters are mostly in their mid 20s (23-26 range) I have a well over 60 year old (Khornan), several 50s (Kasen, Bellah, General Jameson), a number of 40s (Colonel Smith*

, Admiral Lin) and at least one guy in his 30s at introduction (Mose). And I myself am only 26.

Modeling them as people makes it easy to write older characters than yourself. Think of it this way when dealing with older folks: How would real people be like if they had decades of experience at certain things? How would they be like if they were a long time father? Or other aspects? When you write older characters as people with thoughts like that in mind it almost writes itself how those characters can act in certain situations.

edited 2nd Jan '12 6:27:52 AM by MajorTom

I think it's fun to work with characters who are far older than you. I relate the least to people of my own age group (I'm sixteen) and hate reading about them even more anyways, mainly because my parents are Baby Boomers. My core cast that I use for most stories is all thirty or older, and a protagonist that I plan to use is 65.

But if you really think that you can't work with a 49-year-old, I'd recommend that you talk to some older people. At the same time, if your story doesn't take place in the modern day, think about the potential life experiences and events that could've shaped your character's worldview and beliefs. Most real-life people older than forty lived through a very turbulent century, and someone who was around to be forced to serve in Vietnam will probably have different thoughts on war than someone who lived a quiet existence without much societal change.

"Jack, you have debauched my sloth."

She's not the protagonist, but I have an important military officer who's 38 years old. Her rank as Colonel alone made her have to be much older than me.

Even when your hope is gone, move along, move along just to make it through

Being 21 at the time, I wrote a 65 year old for the... second or third writing contest, and people found her an interesting and entertaining character. It's like trying to speak with an accent—look at the work of actors, or spend time with someone you know, who act in the same way you want your character to act, to get a base model of the personality/dialect.

edited 2nd Jan '12 12:02:54 PM by Leradny

Most people beyond, oh, 40 don't think of themselves as being their actual age. Old age doesn't really sink in until your mobility suffers.

A common trait picked up over time is world-weariness. You realize that almost everything you encounter is only a variation of something you've already encountered. As a plus you learn to avoid mistakes you've made before. You also learn that there's no point in warning the young about making mistakes, they don't listen.

Under World. It rocks!

Now, are you actually around 50 yourself or have you surveyed a significant amount of people who are?

Because my character wasn't world-weary at all and likes to forewarn people, at least her family and friends.

That's how most of the adults in my life act and react (world-weariness, that is)...

"Shit, our candidate is a psychopath. Better replace him with Newt Gingrich."

It's entirely possible - I actually favour older characters. One of the most important skills for a writer is convincingly portraying characters who are quite different from yourself, and you should practice it as much as possible.

What's precedent ever done for us?

I don't see why this would be hard at all.

I can, but it sort of demands you not be out of college yet.

Nous restons ici.

I've pretty much always written characters older than me, sometimes much older than me. People are all people so I've never found writing any type of person hard. I don't know. I guess the biggest difference in writing older people would be that they usually have different priorities than younger people. Teens, it's friends and having fun, and figuring out your place. Older adults, it's getting the job done, taking care of your family or just making a family. Other than that and the fact that they have more life experience to draw on, an older person isn't all that different.

SPATULA, Supporters of Page Altering To Urgently Lead to Amelioration (supports not going through TRS for tweaks and minor improvements.)

I started writing characters a little older than myself, because why not? They're not dramatically older, though... Their age doesn't really influence their behavior. They're too young for a Mid Life Crisis, but neurotic enough for an identity crisis.

I liked it better when Questionable Casting was called WTH Casting Agency

My second Na No Wri Mo novel had me doing a character in his 40's. Although his age wasn't really his defining trait.

I think writing characters older than yourself is always going to be a bit of a challenge, no matter what age you actually are. Especially if they're in a different stage of life than you are. Unlike other "unknowable unless you've been there" experiences, however, I think age can be a bit more daunting because, unlike other "unknowables," you will be there, eventually—just not yet. It's always just out of reach, and I think something about that so-close-but-yet-so-far placement makes it paradoxically feel that much farther.

"Proto-Indo-European makes the damnedest words related. It's great. It's the Kevin Bacon of etymology." ~Madrugada

This is where those of us who write adventure stories have a leg up on the lit-fic crowd (and to a certain degree, so do I with my love stories.) It's very difficult to write adventure stories starring a married man or woman who's trying to raise children—you're most likely to wind up with a Heroic Neutral who needs to be constantly prodded along. As such, readers will be willing to accept older characters who, for whatever reason, have few social bonds and few reasons to stay in one place.

That's Feo . . . He's a disgusting, mysoginistic, paedophilic asshat who moonlights as a shitty writer—Something Awful

I will admit, I have a mental block where I don't like writing people over the age of 35 as protagonists. It kinda sucks, but I don't think I have to worry about it with my current stories, and I am sure it will go away as I get older.

Read my stories!