When characters have some wear on their tread it can automatically complicate the plot.
“Older” characters, by which I mean “over thirty years old” are not uncommon, really. I think a lot depends on the genre — suspense/thrillers often feature characters who are well out of their twenties, but that works to the advantage of the style of story. People with very little personal history rarely make for complex mystery stories. And of course there are iconic characters who are definitely not young (Miss Marple, anyone? Sherlock Holmes?).
The flip side of course is the automatic allure of young people finding their way through difficulties (Harry Potter represent, but this also goes for Frodo and pretty much any YA/new adult book, naturally).
As an older woman myself, at 48, I generally prefer reading older characters in my original fiction reading choices. When I want “young and fresh” I go for fanfiction, which is dominated by young characters (even Steve Rogers/Captain America fits this category, despite his calendar age in canon) and has a more-than-creepy obsession with youth. (The stereotype is that teenage girls write fanfic, so of course they want to write about young characters, but knowing as many not-in-their-twenties-anymore fanfic writers as I do, I cast a wary eye on that “truism.”)
For me as a writer, though, I “get” the appeal of younger characters because you can blank slate them very easily. Okay, maybe a difficult childhood here or there, some kind of trauma that impacts them, but they don’t: have their own kids (or, if they do, those kids are babies and plot points); have a lot of relationship experience; have much sexual experience (unless child abuse is a plot point); have a divorce or two under their belt; any job experience whatsoever.
Because when a character is at the very least over thirty years old, they have a past littered with people and situations that affect their choices about everything. Mentors, people they went through school with, former lovers/spouses, friends and former friends, work colleagues…the numbers can grow pretty fast. And that’s not counting auxiliary connections such as ex-lover’s friends/family, former work colleagues, and people known via extracurricular activities (in a band? every musician I know has been in a number of bands, not just one, even if it “just” a hobby; and they know people like club owners and venue managers and sound techs and fans, because even small local bands have fans; connections that are exponential the larger the city/location).
As well, most people who are at least out of college have more than a lot of work experience at good jobs, shitty jobs, and not having a job when you need a job.
Of course, not everyone reacts all the same to these situations, which themselves vary. I mean, shitty jobs are universally shitty in the same way (and usually because the same bad management), but people respond to that based on who they are (walk off the job? punch the boss? swallow pride and keep going?). Every divorce happens in its own unique way for unique reasons.
I think that’s part of the charm of older characters, though — who they keep in their lives, the career track they’ve taken (if any), and the lessons they have learned from multiple broken hearts, all of that makes a character interesting.
Sure, there is a charm to the novice lover falling head over heels for their soulmate. After all, this has been the well-mined territory of romance novels for centuries now…but ehhhh, then what?
Writing such characters is de facto more complicated, if only for the technical reasons of history and relationships. Older character require more work on the character sheet, sometimes even a time-line. This isn’t saying that young characters are not complex or interesting, by any means. They just don’t have a lot of backstory:
- A twenty year old woman has a short history that is easy to count back on, hell, she’s only a few years out of high school or halfway through college. If she has a dog it was probably the one she grew up with, or one she just got. Unless she really dated around she’s had maybe two or three serious romantic relationships. Even if she had a baby at 18, that kid is only two. Alternatively, no reasons need to be given for why she doesn’t have a kid yet, or hasn’t planned on one. She doesn’t have a “career”, she’s still “just starting out”. She’s lived in one or two places, unless her family moved around a lot.
- A thirty five year+ old woman, well, when did she get married? Divorced? How many dogs/cats has she owned, and when did they die? When was the kid born? Is her kid(s) starting high school, and if so, where? If her kid is under five, there is going to have to be some explanation of why she “started late” (I know, ridiculous, but would leave questions in readers’ minds otherwise). If she doesn’t have kids at all, that too needs to be explained. She’s probably had at least two or three major moves, unless she’s tied to a town/city for personal reasons (aging parents, owns the family business, etc.).
Men of course get more leeway here. An unmarried, childless man of thirty-five doesn’t get many side-eyes, especially if he’s in a high-powered profession. Still, chances are good he’s had more than few lovers/relationships, lived more than one place, and had at least one or two major job changes.
I will give this lone caution: if your older character has some “immature” aspect to their life, such as being a 40 year old virgin or completely ignorant of how office politics work, there needs to be a reason for that. For instance you can make a twenty year old a virgin, male or female, without much suspension of belief. But put that character over thirty, and there needs to be a justification for why the character has made that choice (or, been forced into making that choice, which could be interesting?). If they don’t know anything about office etiquette or politics, there needs to be a believable reason for that (housewife? been sick/ill most of their life? trust fund baby? that is, why would a thirty-five year old person have never once not held down a job?).
They might be harder to write overall, honestly, but older characters are fascinating. Our youth-obsessed culture tends to downplay the complexity of aging and the value of experience in favor of “teh pretteh” and I’m not immune to that, but I’d like to see a better reflection of the fascinating depths that age gives people’s personalities.
