Crucial Age for Writers?

I'm not yet fifty but since when is fifty considered past one's primse?

Youth - wasted on the young!

There was a post here not long ago about a man in his 80's, late? I don't remember his exact age, but he wrote a book about growing up and how he met his wife. Also not possitive but it seems that it was published in hard back. He's working on his second book.

What does age have to do with writing?

I will see my first book published shortly after my 50th birthday. I can assure you that no one at Crown think's I'm all done, at this age.

If you look around, I think you'll see that a large percentage of the more successful writers are 50-70. Strength may peak in your 20s, but writing depends upon what you know and experience, which increases all your life (hopefully.)

While often youth is praised to high heaven, and seen on all the covers of magazines etc, I think it is a misconception that you need to be young to make it in the arts. Yes even as an actor/musician. I can cite Naomi Watts and Felicity Huffman as two women (the former late 30's, latter early 40's) who hit their stride "later on". I think we like to focus our attention on youth, but there are other people out there doing just fine later in life. And with writing especially, I would so not worry about it.

The only thing I've heard in regard to age is that agents and publishers are thinking about how many books you'll be able to crank out per year, and how many years you have to do it. Kind of like a literary profit margin actuarial table.

Personally, I think 40 is the perfect age to seek publication!
-Laura

LBW66 said:

The only thing I've heard in regard to age is that agents and publishers are thinking about how many books you'll be able to crank out per year, and how many years you have to do it. Kind of like a literary profit margin actuarial table.

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This is a fact.

I remember a New Yorker "young writers" issue a few years ago. I read the introduction to the issue, and the writer said something like, "The word 'young' needs to be qualified in literature, because very few people break in to the business before their thirties." (That's not an exact quote.)

The youngest writer in that issue was something like 33.

You do hear, of course, stories of very early success. Michael Chabon wrote his brilliant The Mysteries of Pittsburgh as an MFA student in his early 20s. There are a few others. But mostly, it takes life experience to hone the writer's craft. I think it's one of those fields where you do get better with age.

Will Lavender said:

This is a fact.

I remember a New Yorker "young writers" issue a few years ago. I read the introduction to the issue, and the writer said something like, "The word 'young' needs to be qualified in literature, because very few people break in to the business before their thirties." (That's not an exact quote.)

The youngest writer in that issue was something like 33.

You do hear, of course, stories of very early success. Michael Chabon wrote his brilliant The Mysteries of Pittsburgh as an MFA student in his early 20s. There are a few others. But mostly, it takes life experience to hone the writer's craft. I think it's one of those fields where you do get better with age.

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I think this is all very true. At almost 26 with an agent, a novel on submission, and several partially finished projects, I feel like I am really fighting this trend. So It can totally go the other way too. I feel too young.

Maprilynne said:

I think this is all very true. At almost 26 with an agent, a novel on submission, and several partially finished projects, I feel like I am really fighting this trend. So It can totally go the other way too. I feel too young.

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I was 29. I was told by my agent to mention that during conference calls with editors. (I took five or six calls, which was not a usual practice but something my agent set up.) They want "someone who's going to have a long and lucrative career for them," in my agent's words.

And I noticed from talking to editors (not senior editors, probably, but editors nonethless) in New York last fall that many of them are very young.

I don't think it's such an uphill climb. Remember, the New Yorker publishes literary fiction. The rules are different there.

Age

Quality is what matters, not age. A book that makes money is a rare thing, and no agent or editor is going to turn down such a book because of the writer's age. Some of the best and most successful writers we have didn't write a novel until age fifty, or close to it.

Even a writer who begins at age fifty can have a career that spans decades, and many a writer who breaks in during his twenties is never heard from again after two or three books.

Jamesaritchie said:

Quality is what matters, not age. A book that makes money is a rare thing, and no agent or editor is going to turn down such a book because of the writer's age.

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No agent or editor will know whether a book will make money or not until it is published. If the agent or editor thinks the age of the writer makes it more likely the book will make money, that becomes a factor, like it or not.

caw

blacbird said:

No agent or editor will know whether a book will make money or not until it is published. If the agent or editor thinks the age of the writer makes it more likely the book will make money, that becomes a factor, like it or not.

caw

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Want to know something funny? I had this conversation (age as marketing ploy) with someone at a wedding reception this weekend, and I used Christopher Paolini as my prime example. The response? A wink/nudge inference of professional jealousy.

Your 'prime' can vary, there are a lot of writers who prime was at a young age, I mean John Keats died at 26, Wilfred Owen died young and ditto to the Bronte sisters (They were young, but I don't know about dying young). But that is not necessarily universal, Kazuo Ishiguro must be in his 40s or 50s and that's his prime, 'The Remains of the Day' and 'Never Let Me Go' are freaking awesome novels in my opinion (I prefer Never Let Me Go, whilst most people think The Remains of the Day is his best) There are also good young writers, yesterday I heard the poems of a Year 8 student, they were awesome - I was writing about Dinosaurs and killers when I was that age. Okay I doubt it would be easy for the kid to get an agenet, but as soon as he is 16 it would be something for him to consider.

My first novel will hit the shelves when I'm fifty-two. Writing is one of the only fields where you can engineer a career change past fifty and no one holds it against you.

Realistically, most of the product I've seen from twenty-somethings is not mature. In general (although certainly not universally), most simply lack the depth and breadth of worldly experience to come up with insightful views. Things tend to be two-dimensional. Whining about a romantic breakup is fine for a three-minute rock ballad, but most twenty-somethings can't write in depth about the experience without indulging in the most tedious Sturm und Drang. You'd think they were the first people on earth to have a lover cheat on them.

I just turned 54.
Nuff said.

re: Age.

I wrote my first novel when I was 12. I'm writing my seventh novel and I'm 24 now. I haven't published a novel yet, but I have gotten positive responses from some top-notch literary agents and now I'm rewriting my most recent novel so I can send it out again. Zebra Books still has a partial of the book.

I made my first real sale when I was 21, to a small magazine called "Star/Line." My second sale was to "Strange Horizons" when I was 23.
I almost got published in the magazine, "Andromeda Spaceways" but they could only hold my work for five months, and it was sent back to me after making it all the way to the third round. At least I know now that my work is publishable.

If you enjoy writing, and couldn't think of doing anything else, then you ARE a writer, whether or not you're published. But, if you are determined to get a book in print, and are willing to learn about editing and the publishing business, it will happen-sometimes it just takes awhile.

Apryl

I wanted to write when I was 20, but I had little to no clue about things such as characters/people and their motivations, in fiction or in real life. I was quite immature, even for the average 20 year old. I'm now 49 and I'd like to think I finally have a few clues. Thanks to doing a few FF pieces, I at least have some confidence that I can write a reasonable story.

This thread tends to confirm what I suspected, that age DOES make a difference, that being older (not just because of age itself, but having had more life experiences, self-reflection, bla bla bla, that can contribute to story writing) is actually an advantage in writing.

Yup!

I'm just glad I've had a pretty turbulent life in all my seventeen years. I get the advantage of being young and marketable and all that jazz, as well as having actual worthwhile experiences to draw from. But even if I do get published pre-20, there will still be people who'll say it's purely due to the gimmick of being young, regardless of how good a writer I may or may not be.

Bleh, nothing in life is ever perfect.

I'm 50 and my first novel is to be published this year. I wish some magic genie could have told me twenty years ago to stop worrying so much, because eventually I would be published. (But maybe if I'd calmed down, I'd never have felt that anxiety that pushed me forward.)The good thing about all that struggle and rejection is that every day feels sweet to me now.

I'm 26 now and I think I've led a pretty exciting life. I use all of my experiances to draw on. I think you need that...it's why it IS better to be older in this proffesion. I think I'm about right for the first go At least let's hope so!!

Mel said:

There was a post here not long ago about a man in his 80's, late? I don't remember his exact age, but he wrote a book about growing up and how he met his wife. Also not possitive but it seems that it was published in hard back. He's working on his second book.

What does age have to do with writing?

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It's mind over matter...I don't mind and you don'g matter. No, age is a state of mind when it comes to many things. As we age hopefully we gain insite into many areas we never would have explored as a youngster. So, what does age have to do with writing, except to enhance it.

Old enough to reach the keyboard. I'm 43 and working on getting some novels out there.

Dave.C.Robinson said:

Old enough to reach the keyboard.

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Aww, man! If that's how we're measuring I'm getting farther and father away . . . or is that just my pregnant tummy pushing me back . . .

Seriously though, I am at the point where I can barely reach the keyboard--I've learned to type with extended arms.