Age in the Art of the Kiss: Guest Post by Author Holly Schindler

Just a Number? Age in The Art of the Kiss – Holly Schindler

Some people call them seniors. Boomers, maybe. White-hairs.

Others might refer to them dismissively as over the hill. Old.

Just that word—old—is never really used as a compliment, is it? Young is. But old? It implies vibrancy and beauty is behind you. Well—in some ways, it implies pretty much everything is behind you, doesn’t it?

But I’ve been incorporating “white-hairs” since the beginning of my writing career. One of the most important characters in my first release, A Blue So Dark (a YA), was Nell—the main character’s grandmother. And in The Junction of Sunshine and Lucky, my first MG, the main character, Auggie, lives with her Grampa Gus. Neither one of those books would have ever been possible without those participants. They hold the key to the past. They understand the main characters in a way no one else does, helping to guide them toward their best, most satisfying story conclusions.

…But that shouldn’t be it. It doesn’t make sense for that to be it. Those older voices have the most life experience. They’re smarter. They have a better sense of people—and the human condition. They have raised families, maintained careers, built businesses from the ground up.

And yet, we do see these older forces, primarily, in supporting roles. I even address this idea in a passage in The Art of the Kiss:

“‘What do old people do in fairy tales?’ Michael was saying now, his voice pouring through my radio. ‘Old folks are never given a Prince Charming role. They’re around for no other reason than to put roadblocks in the main characters’ way—to throw them in towers, turn them into toads, or feed them poison apples. That, or they become helpmates. They’re fairy godmothers. They don’t have a story of their own. They’re around to help somebody else—the struggling star of the current tale—find their way.

“‘Think about that. Old characters don’t have a story of their own anymore. They’re not cast in the starring role. Ever.’”

In this section, Michael’s talking about himself—and his wife, Sharon, who’s listening in. One of my favorite parts of The Art of the Kiss is that, yes, the older characters do play the role of helpmate. 

Sharon, for example, takes on the role of mentor. As a woman who rose to the top of her profession in the photography world, she can work wonders in helping to guide the younger Heather as she tries to forge her own photography career. But in many respects, Heather plays the same role of helpmate to Sharon, waking her up from her kind of self-induced “spell.” An “old-age coma,” as Michael calls it. Heather pushes Sharon to view herself not as someone who once before had a rise to fame and chance to shine, but as a woman with plenty still left to say.

I love the idea of a younger character becoming the helpmate to the older generation. The older generation being able to keep moving, keep working, keep forging new successes in life.

In many respects, I believe characters in the “senior” age group provide a writer’s dream scenario: they’ve got the longest, richest backstories. Time to have built the most complicated relationships. And, often, they’re in positions to start new life adventures—either on their own or with younger characters.

To me, it seems an enormous mistake to simply dismiss a character as some old “white-hair” when they have so much to contribute—so many ways that they can help shape the narrative. I feel the vast majority of my books (whether they’re books for younger readers or adult novels) would suffer without the inclusion of characters in this age group. 

Holly Schindler

HollySchindler.com

Starred reviews: Publishers Weekly and Booklist

Silver Medal, Foreword INDIES Book of the Year

Gold Medal, IPPY Awards