Are adult women too old to be main characters?

Two of my closest friends are currently straddling a major milestone birthday (one has just had it and the other is coming up) and it's made for some interesting life reflections as we chat. I think one or both of them might unalive me if I'm too vocal about how old they are but let's just say…this milestone birthday doesn't start with a 3…or a 2 (wowsers, 21 one was a long time ago!). And I should fess up that while it might not be this year, that milestone is coming for me hard and fast too.

For the most part, I've been fascinated by how different our takes have been on turning this old. But there is definitely a unanimous thread of apprehension and I'd be lying if I said I didn't think a large part of this comes from how society views women. Layer on that a woman might be maturing and, well, does anyone really care about who we are and what we're feeling? Are we as relevant as we once were? 

But I have a ‘different’ view - one that I have a sneaky feeling many of you will share - I think women are powerful at any age and this certainly doesn't diminish as we grow. We might have massive responsibilities now as opposed to our younger, carefree (mostly!) days, but the wisdom we collect doesn't disappear along with the perkiness of our boobs. Quite the contrary. Maybe our boobs aren't quite as perky because of the WEIGHT of SO MUCH wisdom and general amazingness? 

Which brings me to the question ‘are adult women too old to be main characters?’ - one I have asked when writing my novels that have, of course, adult characters. Why have I asked myself this question? Because, in my genre, so many of the characters are in their teens. Teenagers saving the world. And that’s great. Truly wonderful and I adore many, many of those books and the messages they give (with a notable exception or two…) young girls and women about how extraordinary they can be. Most of them are stories I can’t wait for my own children to be old enough to read so we can share in their amazingness together.

But, as a woman who is most definitely no longer in her teens…or early twenties, or even early thirties…I wanted to know where the women more my age were and why they weren’t saving the world. In real life, I might not be surrounded by mature-aged, sword-wielding women (but some of them totally could!), but I am immersed in a world where strong women are in my blood - in my actual family, found family, work colleagues and social circles.

So, when I couldn’t find them in the stories I wanted to read, I wrote them. And I intend to keep writing them - adult women, often with complex, messy lives and relationships - and my hope is that my readers can see some element of themselves in those characters and take heart in the knowledge that I think you’re incredible. That you are seen. And no woman is ever too old to be a main character.

Honestly, I could talk about this for a while but, for now, whatever your age or the age of the women around you: remember how powerful you/they really are.