Character Ages?

[The Booty Warrior]

I was wondering what character ages you guys prefer to write as the main character.

In most of my writing, I prefer writing characters from ages 18 onwards, since it's more believable for them to be experienced. And it's easier to believe that they'll be sought out for advice and everything. I actually find it odd that I could never manage to write a main character who was my age. Still, it's not as easy to make them angst and expect an audience to feel sorry for them if they do, what with them supposed to be aware of how harsh this world is. Which also makes it harder to write them as believably naive.

So, how about the rest of you? Any particular advantages/disadvantages?

 

[Kyuuketsuki]

I don't really have a specific age group. The Barefoot, Fighting Genius! has Maylene at 7-8, while What History Hides has Galen at 17, and The Kane Dome has Bartlet Kane at 40-50.

I think it's important to have diverse ages in a story, or stories, because if you don't, you risk most of them, if not all, into becoming relatively the same in the role they play.

 

[Drakon]

I usually aim for the mid 20s to 30s. Mainly because it is more believable for them to be experienced and for them to be journeying. Besides, my only Pokémon OC has a day job as a museum curator. Pokémon training is his hobby.

 

[voidcritter]

As a rule, I make original characters at least 18-19 years old, and any player characters/rivals around 15-16, albeit very precocious. (Hey, in the games it's never explicitly said how old they are, only that they're young and some people call you a kid, which is awfully ambiguous)

In my in-progress fic I'm also toying around with some of the canon characters' ages. For example, Proton is the youngest of the Team Rocket executives at his late twenties, Petrel and Archer are both in their mid-to-late thirties, and Ariana is the oldest in her early forties.

 

[Sarcastically Insane]

In general, I make my main characters teens, because that's the target audience I write for (and I am one, so they're easier to write). However, older and younger characters also come into play as villains, mentors, protectorates, etc.

 

[Ivysaur]

In general, I make my main characters teens, because that's the target audience I write for (and I am one, so they're easier to write). However, older and younger characters also come into play as villains, mentors, protectorates, etc.

Pretty much this. As a teen, I find it the most enjoyable to write about teens, and teens are pretty much my target audience, as well.

 

[AetherX]

I personally have my trainers leave home at sixteen. As said above, it's more or less the target audience and is probably the youngest age at which a kid could be somewhat self reliant. Even then, my sixteen year old characters are pretty clueless. From their I make my characters whatever age the story requires them to be. I have extensive background stories for all of my characters for ever since they turned sixteen. For example, it's not completely necessary for one of my characters to be older than the main character, but she has a long and complicated background that requires another three years or so. Another example is a character that is only older than all of the others because it's required to be who he is, not necessarily because he's been doing anything for the past four to five years.

If you're decent at reading between the lines, there's some pretty good foreshadowing for "Unpredictable" in what I wrote above.

In my other fic, ages are undetermined, but somewhere between 20 and 50. Depends on the character, just because of the physical prowess required for the sport that is the main plot device. But again, it just matters where they fit in the story's timeline. Sometime that makes them come out really young or really old, in which case I have to change things around a bit.

 

[Data_Error]

For main character trainers still on their initial badge collection, I try to write in the teens, since that is typically the age at which trainers' journeys begin in my continuity (before or after junior high or high school, for most). For more experienced main characters, I aim between twenty and thirty for more action-y roles. I don't find any age in particular to be difficult to write for - your general patterns of thought tend to be similar enough to get away with writing similarly for characters of any age, except for having more or less past experience to back yourself up with, though I tend to write older characters as more pragmatic.

 

[Kayi Rowling]

I love to write characters at the age of 13, 17, or 19; I always thought those years were the most perfect of my teenage life, so it tends to show on my fiction. The most evident example of this is Ariana in Garnets and Cherries. Other ages I like are early 20's, which I'm currently going through and I can relate to; hence Giovanni (in flashbacks) and Silver are around that age in that same fic.

However, I'm also very partial toward "timeless" characters; that is, close to immortal, that have lived long enough stuck in a state of youth... Used to employ that in previous fandoms I've been in, and I recently used it with Kyurem (Kawaii Kyuremu!, the happiest fanfic on existence! ...NOT!)

As said above, it's more or less the target audience

Not of the franchise, I assure you That's still 9-12.

 

[Giovanni Sakaki]

No matter what age, I find it easier to write for characters that are the same gender. There are certain things that only girls can understand, and sometimes it makes me feel really warm and fuzzy to write in the perspective of another girl.

As for ages, the easiest age to write for is the age similar to your own IMO. But I really enjoy writing in the perspective of a child, too. Because in order to do so, you have to find your own roots again, and explore distant memories. This can awaken strong feelings, force you to look at things from a different perspective, and inspire you greatly.

Writing from the perspective of an elderly person would be a daunting task to me. And I find it easy to write from the perspective of adult men, but very hard to write from the perspective of boys of my own age.

 

[Aladar]

Write What You Know. And keep in mind who your target audience is.

So I mainly write about characters in their teens, either in 14-15 group or in the 17-18 group.

 

[Kyuuketsuki]

Hmmm... This could just be me, but I don't find that characters within my age group affect whether I do or don't read a story.

 

[Gama]

No matter what age, I find it easier to write for characters that are the same gender. There are certain things that only girls can understand, and sometimes it makes me feel really warm and fuzzy to write in the perspective of another girl.

As for ages, the easiest age to write for is the age similar to your own IMO. But I really enjoy writing in the perspective of a child, too. Because in order to do so, you have to find your own roots again, and explore distant memories. This can awaken strong feelings, force you to look at things from a different perspective, and inspire you greatly.

Writing from the perspective of an elderly person would be a daunting task to me. And I find it easy to write from the perspective of adult men, but very hard to write from the perspective of boys of my own age.

Interesting that you bring up the gender issue. I know it's semi-off topic but hopefully it's related enough to talk about. (The issue of characters that you can relate to.) The number of stories I've written in my life is somewhere in the thousands and I can think of one, and only one, where the central character was female.

As for ages, I'm a bit like Kayi. There are certain ages that I really like to write about because they were really significant ages in my life. 16 is a big one for me. To me it always signifies the age at which you enter a new stage of self-awareness and self discovery. I really like writing characters at this age for that reason.

I do, of course, write characters at different ages where necessary but 16 is a common one. Another commonly recurring age is 8. When I have children featured in my fics, they are almost always around the age of eight... For the same reason as 16...

 

[Miar]

Character's ages vary. In fact, in a lot of my older non-'Mon stories, their ages were never even mentioned.

In the one I'm doing now, three of the four main characters are 10-11, and the fourth is 15. Then we get a couple of lesser siblings who are 8 and 12. In doing so, I built a sort of competence zone, that it seems only children could have Pokémon since no one past 17 has one, and then broke it by adding a couple of late arrival adult characters who do stuff.

 

[CrystaI]

For my first fic, I tended to start off at the official canon age: 10.
But, my first fic is a very ling episodic fic, which the protagonist ages, and I'm tending to write the story until protagonist is at age of 16. (I do have the plot long enough that can continue for 6 years in the fic)

For my second and third fic, I started off the protagonist(s) at 13-15, where I consider the people in this age is most energetic and full of dreams.

One thing I need to say is I think in the logic of the Pokemon world, not the logic of Real world. What I mean is that for example, provided that you are living in a community were education is not important, there isn't even a law to enforce children to be educated for a fixed amount of 6-9 years, then what will you do during your teens?
Therefore, in the sense of the Pokemon world, teenagers (10-18) is the starting ages to be a Pokemon Trainer.

Another reason for me to prefer teenagers is that because people in this age is still immature, but yet in the process of becoming mature, so there could be many story to write about their changes and growing.

 

[Instrutilus]

The official canon age of Red and Blue are 11, it was in the manuals for the games.

I, personally, use any age set: A.D, for example, starts his journey at 11, just as anyone in the Japan-based areas can. Unova, and presumably any America-based area like Orre, start at 16 or later. Sometimes, like Michael shows, younger people choose or are forced to ignore the rule. The rule doesn't apply to battling, though, just journeying.

Basically, I'll happily use anyone over 11 or 16 =P

 

[Glitchipedia]

I'm widely varied. Here's my RP characters' ages, starting with the youngest:

• Joanie Aimes, Collie Calloway, Annie Jameson and Bella Austin: 17
• Colin Sonan: 18
• Jim Gai: 46
• Wyatt Sonan: 80

And there's more that I have yet to officially debut. Basically, I'll make a character whatever age the plot calls for.

 

[Kantomasta]

Almost all of my characters are between 11-20 but sometimes I will through in someone younger/older.

 

[Radio Free Derry]

In my fic, Bulbagarden!, my characters age and mature as the fic goes on. For example, in the fic's first "season," the core cast was 16-17, but as of it's third "season" they are all 18-20ish.

 

[Caitlin]

I never really liked the whole "Hi, I'm <character> and I'm 10 years old. Today, I'm starting my journey" thing. So I try to go with characters who are a bit older. In a story I'm writing, the main character is 19 when she sets off from home, simply because I don't agree with a 10 year old taking down criminal organisations, destroying gyms with little effort and becoming league champions.

Her being older allowed me more wiggle room with personal backstory, the building blocks of who she is, her personality and how she deals with situations. Instead of dropping out of school to tromp through the wilderness, she developed book smarts and as such, will go about most situations with some rational thought and strategy behind them.

Not to say that all characters should be like that. My main character's rival is 14 years old and already well into his journey. One of the gym leaders left home when she was 12.

I think that to be a good writer, you have to try to be original. Most fan material I've seen that features "original" characters are usually uninspired clones of the main cast on the anime with different names. Thinking outside of the box and going outside of the norm should (theoretically, I haven't really been successful with this) bring in a more diverse audience.