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Welcome

I started this blog in 2013 to share my reflections on reading, writing and psychology, along with my journey to become a published novelist.​  I soon graduated to about twenty book reviews a month and a weekly 99-word story. Ten years later, I've transferred my writing / publication updates to my new website but will continue here with occasional reviews and flash fiction pieces, and maybe the odd personal post.

ANNE GOODWIN'S WRITING NEWS

Old age: a danger zone for writers?

27/12/2013

16 Comments

 
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Back in the summer, I had occasion to take the bus – not something I do very often and I’m acutely aware of my limitations in that regard. (How assertively do I stick my arm out for the bus to stop? Do I have to have the right change? Why don’t the passengers have seat belts?) This time, the bus stopped at my request and I paid my fare without incident, then looked down the aisle for somewhere to sit. It was rush hour and all I could see were pairs of commuters locked into their own worlds of music or text messaging on their phones. As I was resigning myself to having to stand for the next half-hour, swaying with each turn of the wheel, a boy stood up to offer me his seat. At more or less the same time, I spotted a vacancy towards the back, so I thanked the boy and made my way towards it.

I was surprised by the young man’s offer, and somewhat amused, wondering what had evoked it. Did he see me as old and doddery? Okay, I’m past fifty, but hopefully I’ve got a few more years in me yet. I might have grey hair but, in a certain light if I’m wearing a hat (which, admittedly I wasn’t), I look like a teenaged boy, only without the pimples. Yet I wasn’t offended. I don’t mind being an unflattering stereotype if it elicits acts of generosity and politeness.

I was reminded of this incident on reading a lovely article by Penelope Lively on turning eighty. Amid the aches and pains and indignities, she finds plenty of consolation:

Spring was never so vibrant; autumn never so richly gold. People are of abiding interest – observed on the street, overheard on a bus. The small pleasures have bloomed into points of relish in the day – food, opening the newspaper (new minted, just for me), a shower, the comfort of bed.
Such pleasure in the finer details seems perfect for a writer: hips and knees may fail us but these are minor losses if we hang onto the writer’s eye. Of course there’s the worry of losing one’s marbles, but the less serious senior moments can provide the basis for some highly entertaining writing, as Carol Hedges has shown.

Despite this mine of material, Penelope Lively bemoans the scarcity of memorable and effective writing about old age:
Old age seems to be a danger zone for many novelists, somehow even more of a challenge than the universal problem of writing about and from the point of view of a man if you are a woman, and vice versa.
It might even be harder for not-old writers to imagine the world of the older person than it is to take a child’s point of view: we’ve all been a child even if we struggle to reconnect with the mindset, but old age is yet to come.

Yet good writing on old age is available, if you know where to look. A quick scan of only two of my bookshelves yields a May-to-December romance in Mary Wesley’s Jumping the Queue, a daughter’s conflict with her elderly father in The Death of Lomond Friel by Sue Peebles and a seventy-three-year-old contemplating how to spend his remaining years in Anita Brookner’s The Next Big Thing. The next addition to my series of interviews with debut novelists will feature Emma Healey, the creator of a wonderfully sympathetic woman with dementia in Elizabeth Is Missing. Meanwhile, in the blogosphere, Caroline Lodge has a blog series on older women in novels.

There’s lots of scope for elderly protagonists in short fiction also. One of my favourite stories, What Feels like the World by Richard Bausch, features a man caring for his granddaughter. It’s less about ageing than about childhood, and the difficulty communicating one’s wisdom to the young.

The great thing about stereotypes is the fun to be had in subverting them. The main characters of both Cold Calling and Shaggy Dog Story are elderly women playing on the assumptions the young may hold about them for their own entertainment. The old have long histories with lots of potential for dark secrets and skeletons in the cupboard. My protagonist in Washing Dishes at the Old People’s Luncheon Club appears to be a cranky old thing but her past is a story we should all know about, if only she could bear to tell it.

What’s your relationship to old age as a reader, writer, person? Does it intrigue or scare you, or seem irrelevant to who you are now? Are you right in the thick of it, in reality or in your imagination, and how does it feel to be there? Look forward to hearing from you.
Thanks for reading. I'd love to know what you think. If you've enjoyed this post, you might like to sign up via the sidebar for regular email updates and/or my quarterly Newsletter.
16 Comments
carol Hedges link
28/12/2013 10:08:19 am

Whoah! thanks for the mention!! I think it behoves us ''femmes d'un certain age'' to have as much fun with life as we can/. As they say, you're a long time dead!! And who would you rather be with? A moany old woman, or a laughing one? I know whom I'd prefer.x

Reply
Annecdotist
29/12/2013 10:29:04 am

Thanks for commenting Carol. I love linking to other blogs on mine. Keep on laughing!

Reply
Caroline link
28/12/2013 11:55:40 am

Thanks for the mention and link to my blog. Steadily reading through some fiction about older women. Happy to take more suggestions and comments on the novels considered to date.

Reply
Annecdotist
29/12/2013 10:31:23 am

Thanks for commenting, Caroline, and I think your blog tour of older women is a great idea. Highly recommend Elizabeth is Missing – although not due out till June

Reply
randy kraft link
29/12/2013 07:54:38 am

As a woman moving into senior status, and a writer whose first published novel coming on January includes a character of eighty, I so much appreciate these reflections. And agree, aging eyes see more clearly and our minds may forget the little things but absorb more fully what matters most. Thanks.

Reply
Annecdotist
29/12/2013 10:32:36 am

Thanks for coming to my blog, Randy, and glad you liked the post. Wishing you well with your novel.

Reply
Carlie Lee link
30/12/2013 04:14:02 am

Hello!
Am off to Amazon in a second (why do I always end up buying books after visiting you?) for that Mary Wesley, so loved Camomile Lawn).

The thought of old age makes me feel guilty, and then resentful of the guilt, and then I blank the whole thing out.
I'm 34, and my grandad is 89. He's a very intelligent man and still lives alone. He doesn't make me feel guilty and resentful, because he doesn't seem old, but old people in my village do. I feel I should help them, but then I don't have time, and I put my husband, children, dogs and social life first, which makes me feel guilty, then grumpy at being made to feel guilty (by myself).
Ridiculous, I know. But there it is.

Reply
Annecdotist
30/12/2013 07:54:08 am

Thanks for commenting, Carlie. I love the idea that I'm prompting your reading although I'm afraid I can't be accountable for the financial side. It's a long time since I read Jumping the Queue, but I did enjoy it. Hope you do too.
I can identify with that sense of feeling responsible for things/people that you're not. Don't worry, you might have grown out of it in another twenty years or so!
Thanks for reading and happy New Year

Reply
Nicola Vincent-Abnett link
22/1/2014 02:42:51 am

Lovely and thought provoking post. At only fifty, I hardly feel qualified to comment on ageing just yet, but being a member of the sandwich generation I am very happily closely surrounded by wonderful older people still willing to talk about what it means to them, so I do have plenty of sources when I want to write about the subject. The average age in my art class alone is well over 80, and a more inspiring, funny, engaged bunch of people it would be very hard to meet. I did write about QE II, and Prince Charles and the ageing monarchy in my latest blog post, should anyone be interested.

Reply
Annecdotist
22/1/2014 03:07:41 am

Thanks, Nicola. I hadn't come across the sandwich generation, but I like the term and think I might fit there too. Although there is a range of ages at my afternoon choir, it does consist of mostly retired folk, so I'm among the youngest, and I've found it a refreshing change from being one of the older ones at work!

Reply
Norah Colvin link
6/4/2014 09:00:46 am

Hi Anne,
I like the way you discuss age. It is definitely in the "eye of the beholder" category. It is interesting too how much of an age stereotype exists. It is easy to categorize someone on a "perceived' age. It is funny how the younger ones think we older ones know nothing. What do they think we have been doing all these years!
Anne, I wanted to read your "Washing Dishes' story but am not sure if it is linking correctly, or if it is, what I choose when I get there. If you could enlighten me I'd appreciate it. Thanks. :)

Reply
Annecdotist
6/4/2014 09:49:38 am

Thanks for navigating back here, Norah. Your comments got me thinking – and I'm not sure I can put into words properly – that perhaps the youth's sense that oldies know nothing might have something to do with our different experiences of time. For example, when a year is 10% of your life it's quite different to when it is 2%.
Actually, I don't think that makes sense, but it's my blog and I can come back and change it!
Thanks for your interest in my story and apologies for the frustration. I think that site is now defunct and I was thinking to republish it. But after reading it through, decided it needs a rewrite and not sure I've got the energy. It's one of those where it's a good idea but I don't think I quite pull it off. However, I'm happy to email it to you and you can decide for yourself. I certainly appreciate your interest.

Reply
Trish link
23/9/2014 11:38:38 am

In very few years I will be eligible for a wide array of senior discounts, so this post caught my eye. Upon reading the title, I initially thought it might be having more to do with how a writer's energy waxes and wanes a bit more with age (I hope not! but this summer has been a rather unproductive one for me) and steps to avoid this, like #1 - eat raw ginger until your brains feels on fire... But to the post at hand: The stories where stereotypes are subverted interest me very much, and I look forward to looking up those you have listed, Anne. Thank you!

Reply
Annecdotist
26/9/2014 02:59:29 am

Sorry I confused you, Trish, but hope you make good use of those senior discounts! Quite partial to ginger myself but don't think it's done much for my brain. Regarding your unproductive summer, I tend to get most of my writing done in the winter when there are fewer distractions, so looking forward to that.
Thanks so much for checking out my post.

Reply
Patricia Anne Bryan link
27/5/2022 08:38:46 am

See my boards on Pinterest..Age in Literature,Ageing Women in Literature.Have a bookcase dedicated to novels about older women..love the range of topics,styles,extremes of sadness/despair and humorous hope.Working my way though Penelope Lively and Barbara Pym and just had a great burst of realisation..the wonderful Learwife is about a tragic older woman facing an horrendously uncertain future.Must read my copy again!

Reply
Anne
11/6/2022 03:28:24 pm

Thanks for reviving an old(er woman's old) post. I haven't read Learwife, although the title was familiar (and not only the first syllable). How fabulous to have a bookcase dedicated to novels about older women and why not when there are so many good books.

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