We need something like this for writers!
If you read ‘author’ for ‘footballer’ in that article, most of it remains perfectly relevant. In publishing and the arts, support tends to go to those just starting out. Young writers are offered funding and encouragement. Debut novels get attention just because they are debut, whilst extreme youth (Christopher Paolini, 18; Nancy Yi Fan, 13,) gets you plenty of book-selling publicity no matter how you write. In children’s publishing there seem to be increasing numbers of these hyper-young authors, perhaps because they offer an impression of authenticity: a ‘real’ child’s voice. The other trend is parent-child writing teams (Zizou Corder, PC and Kristin Cast).
But what happens when you get older, what happens after the debut? What about writers on their third or fourth novel, who no longer have the promotable gloss of novelty, yet are writing at the top of their game? It’s easy for a publisher to lose interest, in favour of new blood. But although new writers are the lifeblood of literature, literature needs muscle and bone too. And writers, just like muscle and bone, need time to grow.
I think that the support offered to young writers should also be given to authors who are in the middle of their careers. They need it as much, perhaps more. And there should be less focus on youth and debut as positives in themselves. Otherwise, we run the risk of good writers, just like good footballers, slipping through the holes in the system.
