How Old Are Your Main Characters?

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squibnocket

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In my most current contemporary WIP the couple are in their early-mid 40s. Their ages are in line with where they are in their careers and to better give their life experiences some credibility.

I'm curious about the ages of your main characters. How old are they and why'd you choose their ages?
 

daydreameriam1

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The ages of most of my characters, including the three main, are mid to late 40s. I am 49. The main character is in her late 40's as well. The second main character is 46, and then the third is 48. My MC grew up with me so i am keeping everyone, except for a few teenagers, later forties and older.
 

job

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The story I just finished covers twenty years. The hero and heroine end up in their mid thirties.
 

KimJo

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Most of my main characters are in their late 20s/early 30s. I think I have one or two books where they're a bit older.

I don't always specify ages in my books; sometimes the ages of the characters are purely in my head, and the readers can decide how old they want the characters to be.
 

VoireyLinger

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Hmm... I don't always specify and age. I usually just give an impression of the age range. For specified age, 24 was my youngest character, and so far my oldest was 40.
 

lexxi

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In my work in progress, the heroine is 32 and her love interest is 47.

When I first started working on it, I was approximately the heroine's age. I put it aside for over a decade and then took it out to try again, so now I'm older than the love interest.

The plot and character arc rely on him having enough of a past, and enough time having gone by since one particular incident, that he can't be much younger than mid/late 40s. On the other hand, it needs to be meaningful for him to start over from scratch in terms of both career and potentially marriage/family, so he can't be much older than that either.
 

TheWordsmith

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My MCs range in age from 19 to - hmmmm, about 2000, give or take a decade or two. In between you can find a woman of 30, a man nearing 40, a boy of 21 ... and a few more in-between.

For me, the age of the character is part and parcel of who he or she is. It is a signpost of his or her degree of life experience. A person of twenty is so far away from the person he is at forty. It doesn't matter if he has spent the time travelling the globe or living in a closet, he is changed by everything he has experienced in those twenty years. So how he reacts to the situations with which he is confronted in my stories is conditioned upon that body of experience he has accumulated ... or lack thereof, depending upon his age. It is critical to me as a writer and to my readers as well to be able to appreciate his responses based on that body of experience.
 

Mr Flibble

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My MCs range in age from 19 to - hmmmm, about 2000, give or take a decade or two.

That's me too (well, the oldest is 4000, but what a few centuries between friends? :D)

Of non-immortal folk, we have pairs of 23 and 37, 19 and 22 (an historical, so the younger ages reflect the time - the 19 year-old is a widow), and two lots of 'both mid twenties'.
 

CDancourt

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Depends... First novel are late twenties/earliers thirties I think. Current fantasy WIP, twenty. Current paranormal WIP, 20s/30s.
 

LJD

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27 (women's fic)

I actually have a serious block when it comes to writing characters more than a few years older than me. (I'm slightly younger than 27)
 

Soccer Mom

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Because I write historicals, my heroines tend to be younger. I've written them from 19-28 yo. My heros can skew a bit older, but none older than 30.
 

amrose

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Bound for Trouble - Lucy 26, Gabriel approx 250
Pass me a Cold One - Miranda 28, John 59
Wolf's Ward - Izzy 32, Curtis 34
Unicorn Story Likely Never To Be Finished - Nettle 18, Wen ???

The story and character usually dictate age for me. I don't decide before hand how old everyone is. I start writing and the MCs come out however they come out while I write. I pick an age to suit the lifestyle I create for them unless age is a major theme of the story.
 

Satori1977

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Most are late 20's to mid 30's. The older I get, the older my characters. I tend to stay around my own age. Minus the supernatural immortal types. :)
 

*RomanceWriter*

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It depends on the book, but usually late twenties-mid thirties.
 

ULTRAGOTHA

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Her: 15. Him: 21.

It's semi-historical and she actually was 15 that year (and almost married that year in real life). Her mother married at 14.
 

Lil

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In my still unpublished books, they range from 20 to 36. I avoid my own age group since I doubt there is a great deal of interest in geriatric romance.
 

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In my first novel (currently being looked at by an agent! Crossing my fingers but I've come to a place where I'm okay with the outcome no matter what), the MCs are both 25. Current WIP, female MC is 28, male MC is 22. :D This one is so much fun to write!
 

Marumae

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The main female character is around 23 and the male is around 29/30, someday I'd like to try a romance with a slightly older heroine, it's a voice I've never used before.
 
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