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We Need More Older Protagonists in Speculative Fiction – and Beyond by Samantha Garner

I was 18 when I decided to pursue my goal of becoming a published author. Twenty-three years later, my goal was achieved with my debut literary sci-fi novel The Quiet is Loud. I was 41 when it was published, but 36 when I started writing it, so making its protagonist 28 was a natural thing I didn’t question. In the intervening years I’ve asked myself why 28 felt like a good fit for Freya, and I found I could simply no longer access the mindset of someone in their early twenties. And as a reader of speculative fiction, I also wanted to see a protagonist who had the added weight of experience, mistakes, biases, and responsibility.