I’ve never had to think too hard about the age of my protagonists in the past. It was a no brainer. My character could be any age that was necessary for the story.: a boy, teenager, old man, hag, youthful, middle aged, anything.
Then I thought I’d have a go at writing romance andI realised this dreadfully constrain things.
The average age of female romance readers is 44 to 49 depending on your source. The average age of heroines is 22 to 26! What’s going on here?
It seems younger women don’t want to read about older women with saggy bits or wrinkly skin and a baby belly. And older women like to reminisce about their youth. The men in these tales are always older, sometimes much older: an 18 yo girl with a 35 yo guy? No problem. A 24yo woman with a 50yo man? No problem! (especially if…
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