An agent on Twitter was having a hard time with what I assume was a submission.
The female character in this submission had her head on straight. Strong, educated, good looking. The male character had his head on straight. Strong, educated, good looking.
The agent's issue was that the female was twenty-five and the male, forty-two. Their relationship wasn't being billed as a woman looking for a father-figure, or a man trying to hold onto his youth and be seen with nice looking eye-candy. The conflict in the story was centered elsewhere.
But the age difference of this couple bugged the agent.
A different example of age angst: I've heard arguments (excuses?) over and over about what publishing houses are looking for and what they're rejecting based on the ages represented by the protags. But hey, I read Harry Potter and loved them. I also loved Emily Pollifax and Miss Marple. The story ruled, and the skill with which the characters were drawn made me care about them regardless of their age.
Do you think there is something to this, or is it just an excuse to reject a story?
CR: Angel's Tip by Alafair Burke.
It's all better with friends.
