Preferred character age?

Discussion in 'Character Development' started by Hydraphantom, Jul 29, 2018.

  1. StarFyre

    StarFyre Member

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    My main characters are usually in high school in the first book of a series though I do have at least one in college. As for other characters, they're highly varied, though I almost always include a parent figure, sometimes an uncle or aunt or a grandparent. At times, I will also have a younger sibling or a child.
     
  2. ITBA01

    ITBA01 Active Member

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    In my first book, the main character is fourteen. Not sure what age she'll be when I finally write the final book.
     
  3. seira

    seira Member

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    I think it depends on what the story requires of them and what would be realistic - I don't think I prefer an age or a gender.
    You could have a 15 year old hunt a serial killer but realistically does that happen much? Has it ever happened?
     
  4. StarFyre

    StarFyre Member

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    That's definitely true though there are always some exceptions. As you said, it depends on what the story requires and the character themselves. Now I'm thinking of the Seven Deadly Sins on Netflix. Meliodas looks about fifteen or so, maybe younger, but he's 3,000. So a character might seem one age until a sudden revelation or a slow one that sneaks up on the reader which could make some situations likelier to have a "young" character partake in them. Or maybe the characters abilities are beyond their age, or their mind is, or even both.
     
  5. 18-Till-I-Die

    18-Till-I-Die Banned

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    In terms of main protagonists and antagonists, they tend to be teens. I feel it's easier to write teenagers, since they're more emotional and flawed than adults but their beliefs tend to be more out front and less shrouded. The fact that this also allows the more rocky trials and tribulations of a relationship to be front and center also is a primary reason; I basically grew up watching teen dramas and soap operas with my grandmother ("The Stories" she called them) so things like One Life To Live and General Hospital and Passions and Dawson's Creek were drilled into my skull years ago--lines like "Like sand through an hourglass, so our the days of our lives!" was like the Lord's Prayer to me as a kid. So needless to say, the idea of teenagers and young folks having troubled, rocky relationships became for me almost a cornerstone of storytelling.

    So, yeah, generally I say like the male characters, be they protagonists or antagonists, in my stories tend to be around 17-19 and the female characters tend to be 15-17 as a matter of course. Outside of what forms the main circle of protagonists and antagonists ages can vary, usually higher or into adulthood, but generally the main characters are within that range for the above-mentioned reasons.
     
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