[process] Mature characters with backstory

[jaylake]

Saturday evening I was texting with

Comments

[cathshaffer]

I think it's always a challenge to write a protagonist significantly older than oneself. Saladin did a great job of it, but most people seriously lack insight on the lived experiences of older people. Not to mention the fact that our culture glorifies youth, so you are starting out with a handicap in terms of sympathy (or a perceived handicap) for many readers. Old age is the condition no one wants to be in, and it's something that many middle-aged and young people have convinced themselves can't happen to them because they eat right/live a healthy lifestyle/don't eat meat/run marathons/whatever

[jordan179]

Older ones -- if done well. Older people realistically have not ony more backstory but also more of the baggage with goes with it. They've loved, hated, and felt all the other emotions one would expect, and they have long lists of old friends, enemies, political passions, etc. etc. Too often, however, writers just write them to fit a role, and assume that because they are old they are inactive in every way other than being a mentor or obstacle or whatever they are in relation to the hero.

Mind you, from a young hero's POV this may be realistic, because the young often see the old one-dimensionally.

[a_cubed]

Tamara Siler Jones did an excellent job with her fantasy detective trilogy which starts with Ghosts in the Snow (if you like detective fantasy they're well worth a look - there's only three plus a short story somewhere, I think she got caught up in the shift to "urban" i.e. modern settings for this kind of work and got dropped by her publisher which was a pity). The main character is pretty old when the trilogy starts and has all sorts of personal and political backstory which gradually emerges (I won't spoil, but there's a great scene in the third book between him and the local feudal lord

[msconduct]

Something I'd say about particularly young protagonists: while I enjoy reading YA and there are a lot of fantastic YA novels out there, they are inevitably about the protagonists Learning, Growing And Changing in a way that's a little predictable. Older protagonists learn/grow/change as well, but in more varied ways.

[ulfhirtha]

Naturally I expect an author to choose whichever best fits the story they wish to tell