Hey do you have any tips when it comes to writing character dynamics specially when they have a larger age gap ( something like 19 and 30)
I'm getting this out the way, 19/30 is wild to me, not the gap but the ages themselves, my tastes in age gaps are different and mileages may vary between people. More importantly tho, there are different layers to consider about age gaps in my opinion:
First you have to consider who the two people in the relationship are. At the center of it all, relationships are about the people in them and if the people in them are boring and have no personality, they're gonna be hard to write and even harder to read. I can't enjoy an old woman bossing around her young thing if she's boring to read.
Secondly, you have to consider the gap in age and what that generational divide is as well as how those characters feel about it. It's one thing to have an old guy who's your mom's age in your bed, it's another thing to have an old guy who's your grandfather's age in your bed, and it's a whole other bag of worms to be messing with a vampire who is centuries older than you are.
The generational divide means understanding histories and attitudes present within those generations and where the conflicts and harmonies between those generations may lay.
As someone who's a part of gen z, I could mess with someone who's a millennial and think some of the shit they like is cringe or call them out when I think they're acting like an outdated fosiil.
If I dated a gen X dude, I might agree with our shared aloofness but disagree on older cultural norms and practices from that generation and that could be a point of conflict.
Now let's say I date a boomer puppy boy, I'd probably have questions about his historical associations, who he's politically supported in the past and what systems and traditions he's held in place that currently put me at a disadvantage.
If I dated a vampire who has been alive since the the dark ages, that's hot but I'd ask "did you own slaves?" and depending on that answer, I might not wanna sleep with him anymore, especially if I found out he had slave master friends because wtfff??
Things like that color relationships because people carry histories and those histories, especially between people who are older and younger, may affect them in a way they need to sit down and talk about at least.
People age! A big thing that happens is that the body natural deteriorates and some people are not as spry as they used to be. Depending on your characters' lifestyles, this might not be the case because some older people are as fit as a tiger, and some people my age can hardly stretch, but the main take away is that people are not always gonna do the crazy shit their younger partner can do, and sometime the younger partner is going to have to accommodate them. Interrogate how that give and take is going to look in your story.
And because these were tips and not a full break down, that's all I got! Hope that helps!
