M is for Middle-Aged Men

So, I'm not one. Obviously. But my automatic go-to main characters almost always are. For some reason, the stories of characters like



and



and



are some of the most fascinating to me, especially when compared to characters like



Ok, so maybe I just prefer the men to the boys, but I've been thinking about it and I think I've found a couple reasons why I tend to write about middle-aged men.

First, I adore and appreciate their loneliness and weathered feel, and those moments when you see that the rugged man is still a scared little boy inside. Their struggles and desires have more meaning, maturity and extent.

I also like that in many of their stories they need to be "saved" in some way, often by a woman, and I like the way being needed by a big strong man makes those women feel about themselves, how it makes them stronger in a lot of ways, at least in my head. Now that I'm trying to explain it sounds kind of weird, but I hope it makes sense.

What do you guys think? Are there certain character types you find yourself drawn to most often? How do you work out and around writing main characters who are a different gender or age then yourself?

Sarah Allen