Does age matter?

In young adult, absolutely, since a teenage protagonist is one of the cornerstones of the genre. In adult novels though, I don't give it a lot of thought. Anywhere from 20's to 40's is fair game for me, but I tend to skew lower with protagonists in their 20's and 30's. I don't believe I would think about its impact on marketability though unless I had a protagonist who was really young or in their 50's or 60's, which could make it a tougher sell.

Not so much in my own writing but I do prefer to read novels where the protagonist is a woman my age. I prefer that over any other considerations about the character, such as country, race, life circumstances, etc.

I read adult books because I find it hard to relate to YA protagonists. I don't think I could write one either, and I'm in awe of anyone who can write a MG that appeals to the age group. I wouldn't know where to start, writing something that children would like.

My protagonists so far have been 23, 28, 29 and 47. I'm 26.

I don't try to write to the market. I write stories that I can emotionally connect with.

So far, that includes characters age 9, 25, mid-30s, 19, 57, an alien of some indeterminate but mature age, mid-80s, and one who is several hundred years old.

As a reader, I choose books that appeal to me in many different ways, but the age of the protagonist has seldom been a primary consideration.

msd said:

Do you consciously choose an age thinking it will sell your novel?

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No. I'm not aware of any particular age protagonist that sells more epic fantasy than others. The books I read seem to cover a pretty large range, all the way from children to ancient near-immortals.

Age might matter, but probably only in the sense that it may (or may not) help your audience connect to the protagonist more. As an extreme example, kids under 12 aren't going to read adult novels because most don't have a good grasp on what adult life is like. Likewise, some older folk may not relate to YA novels well.

Personally, I feel like if you can make your main character relatable, that's the most important thing.

msd said:

I was told by a work colleague that she looks for novels with the main protagonist about thirty years of age. A side note, she is about thirty herself. I won’t change the age of my forty something year old main character for many reasons but it did peak my curiosity. Do you consciously choose an age thinking it will sell your novel?

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I choose an age that suits the protagonist.

Helix said:

I choose an age that suits the protagonist.

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This is my approach too. How does their age impact their capabilities, who they are and influence the way others react to them, and help shape their story?

I've only seriously written fantasy set in secondary worlds thus far, so one of the things that influences my choice of age is whether I envision it primarily as a coming of age type story, or if it's about someone who is making their way in the world with the rights and responsibilities as an adult, but still not at the peak of their status or career. Or if they're more of an established, mature person within their society.

I picked early to mid twenties for one novel, because I wanted the characters to be past the YA and coming of age plot point, but young enough to still be struggling to find their place in the world. I'm thinking of having a woman who is a bit older, maybe late thirties or early forties, for another novel I'm blocking out right now, because I need her to be in a position of authority within her society and to be very certain of who she is, but still young enough to be treated as feminine by her culture, which will incur both benefits and perks. This will lead to the catalyzing event being even more disruptive for her than if it had happened to a much younger or much older person.

As a reader, I don't really care whether the protagonist is a child, teen, younger adult, or older adult. It's about them being an interesting character and having their age work for the story.

In terms of audience, yes. Sometimes the age of the characters and/or the age of the target audience can change the general themes and subject matter.

For example, there is a difference between a YA and an Adult book. You can have a teen in both,-----but you have to take into consideration the age of your target audience.

A teen audience will have different problems and background or peronal experiences than a 30-year old audience, for example.

A MG character will have different concerns than an adult mother.

A child audience may find some content more amusing than most adult audiences would (see: gross humor, like poop jokes, boogers, etc; or having a cool toy; etc).

Basically, it's the age of the target audience that really makes the difference. (The character's age affects how relatable the character is to the target audience, sometimes. Which is why most YA have teen characters, and why many MG have MG aged characters or characters that can fit in an MG world or fit the MG themes, etc.)

The MG books I read go all over the place in terms of age (10, 11, 12, 14).

Thinking about the Adult books I like... oddly, they tend to have 60+ protagonists. Not sure why.

It's said that children tend to read books with protagonists who are a few years older than themselves. I don't know if this applies to adults too, but I've always geared toward characters within the 20s to 30s age group, but I don't know if that's because it's what I like or if it's because they're closer to my age bracket. I guess if I start to like ones geared toward 40s and 50s it means I'm growing with them too.

No. I think of my characters before I think of anything else, and they come to me pretty much fully-formed. I decide on their exact ages depending on the needs of the story.

As a reader, I can't say that the characters' ages really influence me one way or another.

chompers said:

It's said that children tend to read books with protagonists who are a few years older than themselves. I don't know if this applies to adults too...

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For some people, maybe, but adults tend to be more willing to read any given age of character. (Either that, or people just have to quit reading after a certain age for lack of older MCs...) Witness the many "grown-up" readers who helped make Harry Potter the phenomenon it was.

Kids, though, very much tend to "read up." They're looking forward to growing up, after all. We who've done it know it ain't all it's cracked up to be, and some of us like escaping adulthood once in a while.

So, my novel's main character is a 76 year old female retired MMA fighter. Her age is necessary in the novel, and couldn't be much younger, as the storyline requires generations (of experimentation) to get to the actual story.

I don't pay much attention to age, reading or writing. As a couple others mentioned, the characters in my writing are whatever age they need to be, but rarely do I spell it out, and many times I don't even think about it. They're old enough/young enough to do what they need to, I guess.

I don't care for age in the books I read. I just care for the personality and voice within a character.

I've written from the perspective of a toddler, two hella old dogs, two 30-something year-old men and a seven year old kid. I like to experiment and the age never comes up when I think about how I'm going to sell my novel.

Nope. My main character is from the late 1500's + it takes place in 1995. So she's pretty up there in age, then a lot my characters are even older than that.

msd said:

I was told by a work colleague that she looks for novels with the main protagonist about thirty years of age. A side note, she is about thirty herself. I won’t change the age of my forty something year old main character for many reasons but it did peak my curiosity. Do you consciously choose an age thinking it will sell your novel?

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I think you meant pique.

I don't really care about age myself, but I know those who do. I like to hope I can always relate to something about a character. They don't have to be in my age group. (-:

I am turning 47 next month, but my main characters tend to be around 20. I'm not choosing this age hoping it will sell; I'm just most interested in writing about the joys and challenges of that age.

I read all protagonist ages, though. I love MG and YA, and one of my favorite series has a 70-something coroner as the MC and several other elderly main characters as well.

I write YA, so there's not a lot of options in the age group xD I write YA because I love it, I read prodominately YA and I also think there's a lot of things you can do with it that you can't do with other genres. It was never because of how my novel would appeal to people (especially because I think a lot of age groups read YA, not just teens) So I guess, when I first started writing YA that I did think about age, but not after that.

I feel like I struggle with writing characters who are my age at this point (didn't really have this issue when I was younger). Despite feeling "old" at times, I also feel pretty young still, and can't believe that I'm nearing 30. It's hard for me to pin down an age for characters who aren't middle-aged but who aren't really young adults, either, because I feel younger than I expected to feel at almost 28, and my characters feel older than me even if they probably aren't.