Is it too late to become a writer at 28-years-old?

Yes, my friend, 28 is too late to become a writer.

The cut-off point for becoming a writer is 22. Even that’s pushing it a bit.

However, there have been some notable exceptions to this iron-cast rule.

• Toni Morrison wrote her first novel at 39. Song of Solomon brought her national attention at 46. She won the Pulitzer for Beloved at 57. At 62, she was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.
• Ian Fleming didn’t pen the first instalment of the James Bond series, Casino Royale, until he was 44. He worked as a journalist for a few years previous to this but, before that, he spent most of his working life in war intelligence.
• Bram Stoker published his first novel at the age of 43. Dracula, perhaps the most influential horror story of all time, wasn’t published until he was 50.
• Raymond Chandler, one of the prolific founders of hardboiled detective fiction, didn’t start writing until he was 44. He lost his job as an oil company executive in the Great Depression and thought he might as well write. He published The Big Sleep at 51.
• Haruki Murakami started writing at 29. Up until that point, he ran a coffee house and jazz bar. He was 38 when he wrote Norwegian Wood, which brought him national fame.
• George Orwell started writing at 30. He worked as a policeman in Burma but left the job to start writing. At 41, he published Animal Farm. At 45, he published Nineteen Eighty-Four.

Okay, so I was lying about the “cut-off point”.

There’s no such thing.

It is never too late to become a writer.

It’s never too late to start putting words on a page.

Start today.

Worrying whether it is “too late” to become anything is a poor excuse for inaction. If you’re afraid to do something, just say you’re afraid.

Age is actually an asset when it comes to writing.

Your ideas have had time to mature.

You’ve been around.

You’ve got stories inside you.

Let them out.

Read other answers by

Benjamin McEvoy on Quora:

• What is the best writing advice you have received?
• What are some tips to get over writer's block?
• What (trivial) knowledge might save your life one day?

Read more answers on Quora.

from Quora http://ift.tt/2hFjozY