I am debating about setting the timing of the main body of the book in either;
A) 1999-2000 with a big finale at the turn of the millennium where my main characters will be late thirties/early forties, or
B) Circa. 2014-2015 with main characters early fifties.
Happy to develop either line but I’m going to have to ditch all the talk of mobile phones and developed technology if I go with A) 🙈😂
Timelines
Are so complicated but so essential to get right, or my relatives’ relationships with each other simply won’t make sense!
Any opinions from you guys about what age you prefer your characters to be?
Or is it less about age and more about them as people, their overcoming difficulties, their emotions being believable, maybe their attractions happening later in life is more modern anyway?
While I wait for your answers, I’m going to have a cuppa and a biscuit and admire my £1.50 vase and the £3 worth of dahlias I bought from a table at the end of a driveway in the next village!
Total cost £4.50 and value of the pleasure it’s giving me? Priceless 🌸
IdeasBecomeWords 
Have you tried writing a bit of both timelines? I think it may help you to develop the story if you experiment writing both. You may end up using only one of the timelines, but the more time you spend with the characters the better you will know them, and that’s when you will see where the heart of your story lies. Best of luck!!
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Thank you, that’s a great tip 🌸
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At least these days you can write about ‘older’ people and relationships. Times past maybe authors felt it was a bit sad if you hadn’t settled down to married life by your late twenties. Now the window’s much wider; people are fit, active and healthy for longer. Many have stories to tell and aren’t shy about having a second or third go at life while they’re still young enough.
Your title says 50s Italy – which would be brilliant – but pre-gadget would be good.
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Thank you Roy for popping along …
The main body of the novel is set in the present (or 1999-2000 if I go for that option) but the history .. backstory .. links to the past start in the 1950s.
So the relatives who we meet need to be living their life relevant to the age they’d have been born … and I need to place them surrounded by the correct cars, music, technology …
Their love stories; their feuds, their decisions are pretty much going to be emotionally the same whichever decade I decide upon aren’t they… although a man in his early fifties released from an Italian prison may have a different aim for the rest of life from one who comes out aged late thirties !!
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umm can’t say what you should do. but I realized the facts should be closer to yours. age, timeline, experience. etc. it brings our purity and intensity as you naturally express better. just something that helped me writing. and there are less chances of loopholes.
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That could work… although I’d hate to miss out on some very real experiences from some time just because I’m no longer thirty 😉
I’ve been thinking all afternoon and evening and it really has to do with the story doesn’t it..
Have you read ‘Together’ by Julie Cohen? She starts with the beautiful scene from when her MCs are in their 70s .., it’s touching and believable (yet the author is mid 40s max I’d say – shit, I hope she doesn’t read this and is younger 😂🙈)… then the book works it’s way backwards to when they met in their 20s!
Thank you so much for helping me think about this x
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You know yourself best. We can only suggest based on our own experience. When writing you know what’s working for you.
I have actually changed age and timeline of a story after few chapters too. So sometimes it leads you where it wants to be.
All the best. 😊
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xx
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X 🙂
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I don’t really care about ages of characters as long as I’m loving the story. Those pompom dahlias are perfect 😍
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Aren’t they gorgeous?!!!
Thanks … I think you have a valid point. I’ve just got this worry that if the characters are older, it’ll have an element of ‘lost out’ as opposed to one of ‘excitement for the future’ if they’re younger! Does that make sense?
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Yes but, my dad is 77 and totally looks forward to his holidays next year and the next and so on! I think it depends more on the characters. I’ve loved characters from teens to centenarians! If someone is fun to be around that’s what counts
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That’s perfect… thank you lovely x
It’s definitely about the writing which will make these characters work or not 😘
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Viola – I’d really like to help but it’s hard to do so not knowing more. Different ages – different levels of experience – different life challenges. I can relate to most age groups – with the possible exception of my teenage son – so long as the situation they’re in is relevant to the life they’d be living at that age. Sorry I can’t be more help. Cheers, Brian
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Well Brian, firstly thank you for taking the time to comment 👌🏼
It’s a romantic suspense novel and hence even if they are in choice A timeline, there’ll be hints of sexual tension but nothing erotic from my pen in this title, hence I feel their age is almost irrelevant.
But the books I’ve enjoyed over the last couple years, I realise all the main characters (male and female) are usually between 20 and 45!
I think there’s a hole in the market 😂
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Thank you and that helps – my quick thoughts – for a married couple, tensions in A would likely revolve around teenage children and extra-curricular temptations within the marriage – also likely financial stressors. For B, it’s more often the stress of an empty nest, re-inventing your relationship, health issues, potential for retirement, relocation, late life loss of employment – things like that. Don’t know if that helps. Either age range is faced with some really compelling challenges. Cheers, Brian
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My two main characters have not been together until they meet so there’s no past here … it’s all about their individual stories dictating their potential relationship and whether Martha wants to make the move to Italy permanently!!
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Well – then it’s probably a more challenging decision for the option B age range. I can speak from age related experiences that change like that gets a lot tougher as you get older. You have less time to recover from mistakes 😉.
Cheers, Brian
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… which in turn ramps up the opportunity for more emotive writing. Regrets, contemplation, a sense of mortality….
Shall we all just do some jumping jacks so we don’t feel too old 😂😂😂🙄
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From my perspective I think even with that description we don’t know enough about the book to give the proper input I would say put the book aside take a walk and to think about it.
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Hmmmmm … ok
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