Rosa and Kate are two main characters in Lives Interrupted. I didn't specify their ages in the book as their lives and problems should give enough clues, and I like to leave things up to the reader. In my character outline Kate is early twenties, and Rosa in her early thirties. Kate is single, while Rosa is married with a young son.
I struggled for a while over whether to call Kate a girl, or a woman. I didn’t have the same problem with Rosa, as I felt she was definitely not a girl. Was this because of her age, or that she was married and a mother. Rhetorical question really as I don't know, it was just how I felt about these two particular characters. Obviously someone of Kate's age, or younger, can be married and a mother. Would this change my conundrum of her being a girl or a woman?
I was reminded of this through a Twitter conversation I had earlier with a writer friend, and I asked her at what age she thought someone was no longer a girl. She said eighteen, which sounds reasonable. What are your thoughts?
No comments:
Post a Comment