Does age have anything to do with anything?

[ZombieWife]

I'm 26, but I don't think age matters. What matters is when you decide to take writing seriously. That's when you'll start to learn everything you need to know (if you want to get published).

EDIT: 'life experience' isn't calculated by how old you are, it's thrust upon people of all ages. There are some of us who started learning at an early age to deal with the world and its evils. Just because you're young doesn't mean you've spent years drinking with your head in the clouds, and just because someone is 50, doesn't mean they haven't spent their whole lives in a factory providing for their family and sleeping in between shifts.

Wisdom certainly does not come with age. I know quite a few people my age who act like they're 19 still. But it's also something to consider that while someone might have led a "full life" by age 25 (as I feel I did, considering my background and some PTSD that I had to work through for many years), those years gave me quite a bit of time (and distance) to work through it. Looking back on the traumatic moments up to age 25...

Age 30, I had a different perspective.
Age 35, a severely different perspective.
Age 40, unrecognizable perspective compared to 30.

Nobody's downplaying someone's life or experiences. There are so many other variables here, but sometimes . . . a decade can make all the difference in the world--for that individual.

And as someone who teaches college, I can pretty much attest to the fact that people who drink and party and imbibe in drugs on a regular basis are actually in the minority nowadays. (Not sure they were ever NOT in the minority.) I certainly don't possess the notion that my students are all wastrels. Quite the opposite. Very intelligent, remarkable people. But, 99% of them will age well, gain perspective and be a bit more fine-tuned in 20 years. If someone had taken me out of the oven at 25 and declared me "done," I would have missed out on any future baking.

I've had some exceptional writing students. Five years ago, a young man came through my class and I remember thinking, "God, he has IT. He found IT early. Good for him."

And I ran into him 5 years later and he said, "Holy BLEEP.... I'm so much better than I was 5 years ago!"

I asked him what happened and his answer was, "Life!"

Made my whole day.

 

[WriterJosh]

This is all very encouraging. I guess what I was going through that prompted that post was looking at the people who are "heroes" of mine in writing and realizing how many of them had a looooong list of credits by the time they were my age.

But I said a long time ago that I'm not stopping until I reach my goal. And then I'll still keep going!

 

[RMP]

I hit 30 in the summer and count myself very much a beginner at this fiction lark. I've always felt that writing has the great advantage of having no age restrictions whatsoever - it's not like being in a band for instance, where you're basically written off if you're not signed at 25.

That said, I obsess about age all the time, comparing myself to my favourite authors and how they were progressing in their careers at my age, so I completely get the age-panic!

 

[Montero]

Also, no, I happen to have a very full head of hair. As do my 60-year-old father and 96-year-old grandfather. Good genes in that regard, at least.

I was told by a biologist that the inheritance for male pattern baldness comes down the mother's side and you need to look at your mother's father, to know what is coming.

 

[WriterJosh]

I was told by a biologist that the inheritance for male pattern baldness comes down the mother's side and you need to look at your mother's father, to know what is coming.

Well, without going on and on, my maternal grandfather died at 63 with a full head of thick, tough hair. My two uncles (his sons) are in their late 50's and both still have full heads of very thick hair...