Last year I ran across a blog that brought up a discussion on the age of authors, in particular, romance authors. One commenter was "creeped out" by and avoided authors that were older and quite a few of the other commenters agreed. Apparently, to these women in their 20's, older women shouldn't be writing of such things as sex and love because it's "creepy". At first I was outraged, then later I laughed at this misconception. Since then I have interviewed many "older" writers such at Kate Douglas, Dakota Banks,and Bernita Harris, who are bestselling authors. The good news is that those commenters seem to be in the minority. I just turned 51 in June, and I've had two paranormal romance short stories published plus I'm working on two novellas and another short story this summer.
Do I feel "too old" to write romance? Not in the least! Why? Because at my age I've experienced the teenage first love, the twenties when it was more about lust then later about hurt and loss, and finally the true love of finding my soul mate. It didn't stop there though, I've also experienced the difficult years of pregnancy, babies and adjusting to a life where spontaneous passion was a thing of the past, but planned passion was wonderful. Now? I'm in the midst of a mature love that comes with knowing my partner so well that we can laugh, experiment and yes, STILL experience deep passion. Who better to write romance then writers who've experienced so much love and life?
I've noticed that many writers are featuring main characters who are in their 30's and 40's, and I applaud that trend. As far as the age of the author, I don't consider that factor one way or the other in my reading choices. Why should we? A writer's words speak for who they are, and if their stories touch us in some way then they have done their job regardless of their age. Personally, I feel qualified to write characters of any age because I've experienced love, lust, passion, loss, pain, laughter, and everything in between during my 51 years. I hope to share those feelings with you through my words now and in the future, regardless of my age. I also hope to never judge a writer on how old or young they may be.
How do you as a reader, or writer, feel about a writer's age?
Brenda Hyde has been a freelance writer of home and garden articles for over 20 years, and now she's also writing paranormal romance through short stories and novellas. You can find her at the Wayfaring Writer blog here: http://moonsanity.blogspot.com/.
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