Q. 2 #momswritersclub Writing fiction always entails writing about people who are different from us in some ways. How do you approach writing characters who are significantly older or younger than you? Is it harder than writing characters your own age? Or does the difference make it easier? - ThreadSky

tracygrant.bsky.social • 23 days ago

Q. 2 #momswritersclub Writing fiction always entails writing about people who are different from us in some ways. How do you approach writing characters who are significantly older or younger than you? Is it harder than writing characters your own age? Or does the difference make it easier?

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thegallowcat.bsky.social•23 days ago

#momswritersclub A2. For characters younger than me I try to think of myself at that age, and for older I tend to base them on people I know

tracygrant.bsky.social•23 days ago

Those are both helpful. Though with kids, I definitely draw on my kid (and before that on my friends' kids).

rachelkhjones.bsky.social•23 days ago

I find a well fleshed out character helps. Also drawing on personal experience to help bring the character to life.

tracygrant.bsky.social•23 days ago

Definitely fleshing out characters helps. Also personal experience. Though not necessarily with an older character - I started writing really young, so it wasn't until my 4th published book that my MC was my age. And then the two after that the MCs were older again - and one had two kids.

rachelkhjones.bsky.social•23 days ago

One of my characters is decades older than me. But guess what? I found his diary! 🥳🥳🥳 HF for the win!

tracygrant.bsky.social•23 days ago

Oh cool! Is he a real person?

rachelkhjones.bsky.social•23 days ago

Yes, I actually almost have a historical narrative but I got tangled up in all the Johns, Williams and Marys. Names needed to be changed to prevent confusion… and somethings are over simplified.
I also found some super cool rumors from the time and riffed on those a little.

tracygrant.bsky.social•23 days ago

Oh that's fascinating!

jenhuey.bsky.social•23 days ago

Older seems to be easier to write than younger. Most of my characters are around my age because it seems like I miss the mark otherwise. #momwritersclub

tracygrant.bsky.social•22 days ago

I think the older vs younger is interesting - with younger you've been through that age. But maybe it's easier to imagine oneself as older. I started out with MCs older than me and now they are mostly younger.

heatherwalrath.bsky.social•23 days ago

Writing characters who are younger allows me to tap into themes and experiences I recall from that era of my life, even as it's also a challenge to flesh out the characters' experience within a certain time period. I've yet to write an MC who is older than me. #MomsWritersClub

tracygrant.bsky.social•23 days ago

I have characters in my series in their 50s who have been MCs in certain books. I feel closer to their age now but it still feels like they are older than me (even though they aren't). But they've been through thing I haven't.

jrichter.bsky.social•23 days ago

Since my main characters are always teens, I do a lot of backward math to figure out how old their moms, dads, teachers might be and then sort of cross check that with plot points and history to see if it all fits.

tracygrant.bsky.social•23 days ago

What era a character grew up in is so important whether the character is historical or contemporary. When I'm picking names, I think about the characters' parents and the era they were from.

jrichter.bsky.social•23 days ago

That’s a good one!

juliahj.bsky.social•23 days ago

Writing children and teenagers can be hard. I try to skate around it by writing in third person and relying on dialogue and body language. I haven’t written many characters older than my parents #momswritersclub

tracygrant.bsky.social•23 days ago

M: A lot of the stories I read/watch have characters the same age as the characters I write. Also I just remember the only was for them to seem like real teenagers is for them to be quite stupid sometimes. T: When I started my series I was the MCs's age. Now I'm their parents' age. #momswritersclub

juliahj.bsky.social•23 days ago

Same here, Tracy! 🤣

tracygrant.bsky.social•23 days ago

T: but I still identify more with the MCs. I don't worry too much about getting the adults' ages "right" but with kid characters I would ask my friends questions. I was relieved after M was born to find the kids in my books felt pretty realistic. But they're more realistic now. #momswritersclub

rebeccaminelga.com•23 days ago

I think keeping the characters sounding like their contemporaries is one of the hardest things, esp. in Contemporary. Slang goes in and out of style so fast, but completely clean writing is too sterile. I try to lean into the places we have shared commonality to help find the right voice/jargon.

heatherwalrath.bsky.social•23 days ago

That's so interesting! I write historical, so I deal with different slang and dialogue patterns all the time. That's a good point about contemporary also being ever-evolving!

tracygrant.bsky.social•23 days ago

Yeah I was thinking the same thing - with historicals you don't have the modern slang issues. Though I still deal with the cultural references of the characters. With mine whether they were born before or after the French Revolution is a big key.

heatherwalrath.bsky.social•23 days ago

Oh, that's an interesting consideration!

tracygrant.bsky.social•23 days ago

Every era has its big cultural divides - before or after WWI or WWII (or the Depression), before or after the 60s, Y2K, etc...

heatherwalrath.bsky.social•23 days ago

Yes, very true!

rebeccaminelga.com•23 days ago

Yep, and publishing timelines mean if I use “sus” now, but the time it publishes it’ll be the equivalent of “rad,” sooooo out of date!

tracygrant.bsky.social•23 days ago

That's the thing - and it goes to @sarareadauthor.bsky.social & @jessicapayne.bsky.social 's recent pivot video - by the time a trend is visible on the shelf, it's likely passé.

heatherwalrath.bsky.social•23 days ago

I heard the same thing from an agent at a conference. If you're trying to write to a certain trend, you risk having already missed its peak.

rebeccaminelga.com•23 days ago

Unless you write Romantasy! 😂

ariella-monti.bsky.social•23 days ago

I will say this is a benefit to indie publishing and the shorter timelines.

There is still the concern with potentially dating your book with a lot of trendy references, but the risk at release isn’t as high.

hannaneier.bsky.social•23 days ago

This, 100%. I stay away from slang when I can to keep things feeling timeless, even in historical. Focusing on universal feelings will make any time period relatable #momswritersclub

tracygrant.bsky.social•23 days ago

So true. But then the challenge can be bringing the setting and time period to life (whether modern or historical).

hannaneier.bsky.social•23 days ago

Absolutely. I’ll usually have a few key details to anchor it in time, and if it’s historical my speech patterns might be subtly different. I think a light touch is best with all of that, for my taste at least.

tracygrant.bsky.social•23 days ago

Yeah, I think different approaches work for different books, but heavy handed slang and dialect can so easily seem hokey.

ariella-monti.bsky.social•23 days ago

A2 #momswritersclub

I haven’t had this challenge yet because all my MCs are about my age and set in contemporary timelines.

Elementary aged kids wouldn’t be all that hard because I have one of those. I’d probably watch a lot of TikTok or YouTube to research the youth lol

tracygrant.bsky.social•23 days ago

Social media does help with teens - modern teens at least! Even though my books are historical, I definitely find M and her friends (and my memories of them at younger ages) helpful writing kids.

amfaulkenbury.bsky.social•23 days ago

I always find kids tricky. You want them to sound like kids but it can be hard to find the line between too cutesy and sounding too old

tracygrant.bsky.social•23 days ago

Yes! I tend to veer towards adult rather than cutesy, but it's hard. Easier now I have a kid. I wrote one book where my MCs had a baby when M was a baby. But that book baby is now 4 1/2 and M is 13!

gradientcat.bsky.social•22 days ago

I think it's easier writing characters closer to my own age. #momswritersclub

tracygrant.bsky.social•22 days ago

I think so too - though I think the stage in life also helps. For instance, I'm fairly comfortable writing parents of kids close to my kid's age, even if the parents aren't my age.

gradientcat.bsky.social•22 days ago

That makes sense!

tracygrant.bsky.social•22 days ago

It's the same way interacting with people - some of my daughter's friends' parents are ten years younger than me, but it doesn't feel like it.

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