Famous Writers That Started Writing Late in Life

Are you one of those people who have been "late to the party" regarding anything in life? 

Are you someone who has never had a book published and as the years go by, you feel a little downhearted wondering if it's too late? Maybe you've already published a book and realize many have long since published theirs years before in their life than you did. Is it worth it to even publish now? 

What if I told you that you are in good company with some well known and highly regard authors who surprisingly didn't write their first book or find success until much later in life. 

Bram Stoker

This author didn't publish his first novel until he was 50. Just seven years after the publication of his first novel, would he publish the gothic horror novel he is undoubtedly most known for. Dracula. So much of the vampire lore we have in movies and books today has been inspired by Bram Stoker's Dracula. 

J.R.R Tolkien

Without Tolkien, we would not have The Lord of the Rings. It's an iconic and widely popular and beloved fantasy series that plays a significant part in pop culture. We also wouldn't have The Hobbit either. 

Did you know Tokien didn't start writing The Hobbit until he was 38? He began writing the story in 1930, but didn't complete it until 1937. That's seven years of persistence!

However, the persistence it took Tolkien to write The Lord of the Rings is even more impressive! It took Tolkien approximately 17 years to write this now well known and beloved fantasy novel. 

It wouldn't be until much later in 2001, that it would become a movie trilogy. 

Richard Adams

You might be familiar with the adventure novel, Watership Down. Or maybe you've even seen the film. By the way, be forewarned, the film version is quite dark! 

It was written by English writer, Richard Adams. However, he didn't consider himself to be a writer and would not write this classic novel until he was in his fifties. He originally told the story about the adventures of rabbits to his daughters solely to entertain them on long car rides and probably as a bedtime story too. Imagine making up a bedtime story off the top of your head to your kids. That's very much how Watership Down began.

Laura Ingalls Wilder

The timeless classic Little House on the Prairie series that gives readers a glimpse into what living on the frontier was like was not written by Laura Ingalls Wilder until much later in her life. The first book in that series Little House in the Big Woods wasn't published until Wilder was 65. 

The historical fiction dives into Ingall's childhood and what it was like for her growing up as well as the hardships her and the people of her time faced.

Anna Sewell

Anna Sewell wrote the classic tale Black Beauty that forever changed our perspective of horse very late and within her final years of life at the age of 58. It gives readers a look at life from a horse's perspective. 

What is most inspiring about her story is that she wrote it during a time when she was seriously ill and bedridden. Writing when you are seriously ill and likely weak, I can only imagine takes a tremendous deal of dedication, devotion, and will power. 

Sadly she passed away not long after it was published in 1972 due to her illness. It's still deeply reassuring she lived to see her novel's publication. 

Black Beauty was Sewell's only published novel.

The next time you find yourself thinking that it might be too late to write your story, consider this: What if Tolkien thought it was too late to write The Lord of the Rings? What if Bram Stoker dismissed the idea of Dracula declaring it too late to start writing? 

Imagine a world without these stories because these writers didn't follow their passion and believed it was too late to write something amazing!