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“It is too late for me to be an author?”
“Have I missed my window?”
“Am I too old to be a writer?”
I’ve heard questions like these from people in their 70s, their 60s…and even their mid-50s. It used to surprise me. After all, becoming a writer later in life is very common.
Take a look at some famous authors who started late. This is by no means a complete list, obviously—just a handful of examples!
Writers Who Started Late
Bram Stoker wrote Dracula at the age of 50.
Anna Sewell wrote Black Beauty in her mid-50s.
Annie Proulx, who won the Pulitzer Prize for her second novel, The Shipping News, published her first one—Postcards—at 57.
Laura Ingalls Wilder got her big literary break in her 60s with Little House in the Big Woods.
Frank McCourt was 66 when he got his memoir Angela’s Ashes published. It won the Pulitzer Prize.
Delia Owens wrote a few memoirs, but didn’t publish a novel until she was 70. Where the Crawdads Sing has sold over 10 million copies to date and is going to be a major film. (Delia and her now-ex-husband have a disturbing history, but that’s a post for another day.)
Harriett Doerr published her debut novel Stones for Ibarra when she was 74. It won a National Book Award.
As impressive as all these examples are, many of them are from the past, and I think it’s also important to remember that aging just is not what it used to be. There are lots of scientific studies now investigating why the rate of human aging, including cognitive decline, has slowed from past generations.
The Advantages of Being an Older Writer
Older Writers Have More Life Experience
This is obvious, but it’s a big advantage. An older writer has often had more jobs and more life transitions. They’ve virtually always had more joys and more heartbreaks. And they’re likely to have more character inspiration: they’ve usually met more people, read more books, and seen more movies and TV shows than a younger writer. They have more firsthand experience of history.
Older writers have been younger, so while they might still need to do cultural research to write, say, a contemporary YA novel, they still remember all the selves they used to be.
When I was a college undergraduate and learning how to write, I struggled to understand grown-up characters with families and jobs, and I saw my classmates do the same. Other than my parents and their friends, I had a hard time understanding what adults out of school were like. And as a reader now, I sometimes come across otherwise talented authors who aren’t able to see elderly characters as whole people; the age of their older characters defines them. Older writers aren’t likely to have these problems.
Older Writers Are Often More Resilient
In my freshman year of college, my poems were rejected from the campus literary magazine. I was devastated and vowed to give up poetry.
It didn’t last. I went on to get an MFA in Poetry and publish poems in dozens of magazines. But the point is, one rejection rocked my world.
Looking back, I can hardly believe I used to be more sensitive. These days, a rejection elicits a “huh, oh well” from me. But being in the work force for decades, living through more actual losses, and just fielding plenty of rejections and no’s of various kinds, gives a person perspective.
Obviously, this varies from person to person, but I do think more life experience helps a person take things more in stride. And because writing and publishing can be such a challenging road, this can really make the difference.
Ageism is On the Wane in the Literary World
Ten years ago, and even five years ago, there were more contests, awards, and grants reserved for writers under 30 or under 40. Media outlets were more in the habit of publishing lists of writers under 30 or under 40, while showing no special attention to older writers.
Some age-based contests and opportunities have been discontinued. Even the Yale Series of Younger Poets contest quietly dropped the age requirement, at least officially. I think it’s important to question ageism in the writing world where it still exists. But more and more, people are becoming enlightened and realizing there’s no place for age discrimination in writing.
I was at a Zoom writing meetup this week and met two guys who may have been a little older than me who were both learning about screenwriting and pitching. I don’t know how much ageism is in the script writing world, but they weren’t fretting about it. Which brings me to my last point…
You’re Never Too Old to Learn Something New
Older people are just as capable as younger people of learning the ins and outs of writing. Plus, it’s actually good for middle-aged-and-older brains to learn new things! Whether you’re studying ballroom dancing, the Korean language, story structure, how to use Scrivener, or how to promote your books on TikTok, having to really concentrate to figure out something makes your brain sharper in all other spheres of your life, too.
I hope this post encourages some writers to go ahead and follow their dreams!
You’ve Never Been More Ready Than You Are Now
Are you someone who started writing later in life? Are you like me—started young, but you’re just now hitting your stride? I’d love to hear all about it in the comments! Thanks so much for reading, and have a great week!
I started writing after I retired and have now self-published three books. I have learning to create my own website, blog and social media accounts. I am currently working on my fourth novel.
Right on. Some of the work continues to go over my head but I’ve definitely learned a lot. Congrats and good luck on #4
You’re doing so much! It’s impressive!
I am inspired!
I was over 60 when I published my first middle grade book and now have a series of 9 books. You are never too old to write a book!
Good for you! I totally agree.
I love that. And you’re so prolific, Darlene!
Hi Bryn. After working with the Police in Scotland for over thirty years, I retired in 2010, aged fifty-four. I started to remember so much about the work I had been involved in and the people I met along the way. I wrote down everything I remembered, and the more I wrote down, the more I remembered. I have been travelling for the last nine years, and I have met so many people from all over the world. I also wrote down details of my experience with those characters. On reaching sixty, I decided to write a book about my life. My two daughters, now age thirty-three and thirty-seven, were young girls when I dealt with so much grief in my Police career. I couldn’t tell them then about my work. I wanted to tell them in a book, but there was too much to tell. I didn’t want the book to be all about me, but I did want to write about my experiences. When I started writing the book five years ago, it was only a pastime and not a priority in my life. The problem was that I had too much information stored inside my head and written down in notepads. I wrote three books at the same time and then threw them in a bottom drawer. One year ago, during Covid lockdown, I returned to the three books and have now self-edited two and will also start soon on the third. I recently came across your videos on Youtube – Blank Page To Final Draft. I wish I had seen them earlier as it would have made my life easier. Kind regards, John
Please please put these books out there. I wish I had more than anecdotes about my parents’ younger years. There are so many exciting ways to publish or share. A blog, self-publishing, querying, etc. Might I also suggest Rachael Herron’s Fast Draft your Memoir book? I hope to see your book show up in my “new releases” email someday!
John, you have so much rich material to draw on as a writer! I think it’s great that you’re putting it in books. And I’m SO glad the videos were helpful! 🙂 Good luck with all the writing!
Started writing at age 75. Now on my third novel, the first two got published by an indie publisher.
Excellent! How exciting.
I have so much admiration for you!
Dave, that is AWESOME. Congratulations! Hope novel #3 is going well!
This is an encouraging post. Thank you. Just what I needed to keep going.
You bet, Tanya—thank you so much for reading!
Bryn – I started writing in my thirties on and off, but I don’t feel like I really understood how to craft a story and make prose flow until much, much later. I’m 59 now, and I finally feel like I know what I’m doing. Write at any age (well, maybe not three)! Great post. Thanks!
True! After twelve years of writing I feel like I finally know what I’m doing. Sort of. And I’ll be 50 this year.
Maybe not age 3? I have some grandchildren that could probably do it! Haha.
Fred, I feel exactly the same—it just took me forEVER to really get the hang of it! But so what, right? It’s going well for us now! 🙂
As someone who is 63, I take inspiration from posts such as these.
I’m so glad, Pete. Thank you for reading!
My friend self-published her first book at age 52. Within three years, she was making enough money off of her writing, both she and her husband were able to retire early. She writes full time now and makes six figures every year.
I love hearing those stories.
That is SO inspiring! I love it!
Bryn, during my retirement I have self published two romance novellas and am presently working on a children’s book. Each undertaking seems to present its new challenges, learning new skills as well as connecting with my own life experiences and plumbing the depths of imagination – living into the characters. A technique I find helpful is imagining looking out through the eyes if my characters. Writing has led me to creating my own website also.
Keith, I agree—every project has its own challenges. Congratulations on the novellas! And a children’s book and a website—amazing!
Thank you Bryn.
Thank you for reading, John!
I was 48 when I was published internationally. On my birthday–just happened to be the day the small press publisher had picked.
denise
Congratulations Denise! What an accomplishment!
Thank you!
At age 40 I wrote my first novel. I followed it up at age 45 with another novel. I am so glad now that neither of them have been published yet! In the 30 years that followed I learned so much about writing, but more importantly, I learned about relationships! I have a book coach now and am getting the second one ready with both writing knowledge and relationship knowledge I hope to have a novel published in the foreseeable future. I am 72 years old.
In those intervening years I have written 10 novels. I did self-publish one at age 56.
Yay! I hope you do!
denise
Thank you Denise!
Jessie, I think I’m always telling you this, but I’m so impressed with your talent and how prolific you are!
I checked out the Twitter posts which you mentioned, and also read all the comments above. It was disappointing that many of the respondents are younger than 60 – not pensionable age at all! I was drawn into writing four years ago, when I was tempted to enter the NaNoWriMo challenge. I aced it – writing the draft of what eventually became my first novel on 23 days – 52000 words. This inspired me to learn more about the craft of writing fiction, and I joined the Romance Writing Organisation of South Africa.
My first novel – a contemporary romance – was published as an e-book on Kindle in 2020. I was 87 years old. Since then, I have published two novellas, written numerous short stories, and set up my own website and Blog. If anyone published for the first time at over 87, I should love to make contact with them.
Anne, yes, some of the commenters were still pretty young! How awesome that NaNoWriMo got you into writing. And congratulations on the publications!