The literary press loves nothing more than prodigal novelists who are barely out of their teens – so as a writer, it's easy to feel like you're washed up by 30. Not so, says our deputy editor Luiza Sauma, who argues that success can come at any age...
Sometimes it feels like writing is a young person’s game.
Every season heralds another crop of prodigal, photogenic young novelists – each of them touted by the press as the next big thing, with not a wrinkle, failed marriage or crap review in sight.
Some of them are the real deal – such as F Scott Fitzgerald, who was 24 when This Side of Paradise was published – but most fade slowly into obscurity due to a lack of talent or – more commonly, I suspect – lack of time to evolve, as publishers and agents jump prematurely onto fledgling writers who can rarely live up to the hype. Just look at Jay McInerney: published in his twenties, a literary star, but with nary a decent book under his belt, 27 years after his debut.
Despite the pitfalls of being a literary prodigy, it’s easy to play the comparison game. You know the one: so-and-so published their first novel at 23; well, I’m 25, so I’m pretty much finished. This person won a big prize at 28; I’m 30, so I might as well give up this writing lark.
But while the literary press might make aspiring writers feel washed up by 30, the truth is slightly sunnier. It’s actually been a great week for older writers – particularly poets. Poet Jo Shapcott was the surprise winner of the Costa Prize (she’s the second poet to win it in a row); the great Derek Walcott scooped the T S Eliot Prize for his latest collection, White Egrets, while Japanese poet Toyo Shibata is celebrating the sale of 1.5m copies of her anthology.
At 58, Shapcott is the baby of the group (Walcott is 81 and Shibuta 99), but none of them are spring chickens; even more encouraging is the fact that Shibuta only took up writing at 92 – which gives me 64 years to collect material and thoughts for my opus. Not bad.
The critical and commercial success of these writers is a testament to the fact that, despite the media’s fixation with eternal youth, readers want more. This has always been the case. While young writers generate more magazine shoots and column inches, it’s the Cormac McCarthys (77) and Toni Morrisons (79) of the world that remain the heavyweights.
Don’t get me wrong: I’m not discouraging young people from writing – I’m still young, after all, and work at a youth organisation. Youth is the future, the most formative and thrilling chapter of life and, most of all, a time that is ripe for fiction.
But it’s rather heartening that, while the older generation is being pushed out of TV studios and newsrooms in favour of cheaper, younger talent, literary talent is one of the few creative commodities that doesn’t come cheap.
So don’t sweat it when success doesn’t come in an instant, but in the meantime, become a better writer. As Samuel Beckett (who found success in middle age) wrote, “Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try Again. Fail again. Fail better.”
Luiza@ideastap.com
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