Tracking Author Trajectories

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The career trajectories of novelists can be very different — depending on how many good ideas are in their brains, how prolific these writers are, their health, their lifespans, sales, critical acceptance, whether the authors do series or stand-alone books or both, etc.

A brief interlude to say that Rebecca Budd — the wonderfully skilled Canadian podcaster and blogger who often comments here and who many of you know — interviewed me about my 2024 Misty the Cat…Unleashed book. You can click on the link near the end of this blog post to listen to the conversation.

Back to this week’s trajectories theme…

There are of course “one-hit wonders” — with a single published novel during an author’s lifetime — such as Emily Bronte (Wuthering Heights), Margaret Mitchell (Gone with the Wind), and (if one considers Go Set a Watchman an early draft of To Kill a Mockingbird) Harper Lee.

Then there are authors whose first or first few books are excellent and/or very successful before things either level off or go somewhat downhill. For instance, Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s and Joseph Heller’s best books were their debut novels One Hundred Years of Solitude and Catch-22, respectively.

Conversely, there are authors who start with so-so (at best) novelistic efforts and then quickly or more gradually hit their masterful strides. Examples of wordsmiths who took the fast-improvement route after mediocre debut books include Edith Wharton and Jack London (never thought I’d put those two in the same sentence 🙂 ). Those who did a slower build include Cormac McCarthy and Rosamunde Pilcher; actually, it wasn’t until she was in her 60s and had written more than 20 novels that Pilcher made a spectacular leap from good to great with The Shell Seekers.

Fyodor Dostoevsky started good (Poor Folk) and ended spectacularly (The Brothers Karamazov), with the amazing Crime and Punishment written in mid-career. George Orwell’s authorial career concluded with his two best novels: Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four. Of course, Dostoevsky and Orwell died before becoming “senior citizens,” so they might have penned some lesser works if they had lived longer.

Authors who started strong, continued strong through mid-career, and then did less well or didn’t publish as much in their later years? Mark Twain is among those who come to mind.

I’m leaving out some “categories,” but I’ll end by mentioning a number of authors who started out fairly or very strong and then sustained or are continuing to sustain that skill level for virtually their entire careers. Charles Dickens and George Eliot are past novelists among that group.

Living writers who’ve been churning out one excellent novel after another for decades include — among various others — Joy Fielding, Kristin Hannah, Barbara Kingsolver, Walter Mosley, Outlander series author Diana Gabaldon, and Jack Reacher series author Lee Child (who is gradually turning over his thriller franchise to younger brother Andrew).

If anything, several of the authors listed in my previous paragraph are doing some of their best work during the past few years. For instance, the 1955-born Kingsolver’s latest book (Demon Copperhead) won the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for fiction and her previous novel (2018’s Unsheltered) was terrific. I haven’t yet read the 1960-born Hannah’s latest novel (The Women) but her three releases before that (2021’s The Four Winds, 2018’s The Great Alone, and 2015’s The Nightingale) were among her very best. And the 1945-born Fielding hit home runs with Cul-de-sac (2021) and The Housekeeper (2022). I just read The Housekeeper, about a too-good-to-be-true aide who moves into the home of a gravely ill woman, and it’s a top-notch suspense thriller with a couple of knock-out surprises.

Your thoughts about, and examples of, this topic?

Rebecca Budd’s podcast: 🙂

Season 6 Episode 12: Misty the Cat . . . Unleashed: The Spirited Adventures and Amusing Antics of an Asthmatic Feline on the Loose

My comedic 2024 book — the part-factual/part-fictional/not-a-children’s-work Misty the Cat…Unleashed — is described and can be purchased on Amazon in paperback or on Kindle. It’s feline-narrated! (And Misty says Amazon reviews are welcome. 🙂 )

This 90-second promo video for my book features a talking cat: 🙂

In addition to this weekly blog, I write the 2003-started/award-winning “Montclairvoyant” topical-humor column every Thursday for Montclair Local. The latest piece — about the start of the school year and another too-pricey new residential building in my town — is here.

118 thoughts on “Tracking Author Trajectories”

  3. Hi Dave
    the German author Goethe got better and better during his career as writer. He worked lifelong on his “Faust” what I think is brilliant. Most of the German romantic authors started very well and then died, mostly before they were 30 years old.

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  4. I think Hemingway falls into the “lost his mojo in his later years category.” Ken Kesey, for sure. (I think his decline was brought on by drug abuse.) I saw him at a literary festival in the early 1980s. He was painful to watch. Cringe-worthy and embarassing.

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  5. Watched the debate last night, and I am, as ever, impressed by your perspicacity, Dave.

    You’ve always walked Misty on a leash,which I had assumed was to prevent escape, but now I know it was foreknowledge of the dietary preferences of immigrants, who, were she not accompanied and on that string, might have wound up in a stew!

    Forfend!!!

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  7. I am partial from time to time to the artists whose capacities, by conventional measure, are diminished, yet whose artistry makes full use of what remains– sometimes to make nuanced, more emotionally effective performances than they had made in what most would call their prime.

    Cases in point (though not out of books):

    1) Lester Young, alto saxophonist, and the single most influential player on the immortal Charlie Parker. Young came to prominence with Count Basie, for performances like Lester Leaps In, but he moved me most postwar, after a terrible time, forced first into the army and from there, the detention barracks. He was never quite the jaunty heppest possible musicians’ musician he had been before. Physically too.  He no longer had the breath support he had before, and his tone was weaker and airier– a wistful,introspective sound.  But perfect for wistful, introspective tunes, to my ear.  I actually like his music late in his career more than I liked it in the early days– which I like plenty.

    2) John Wayne, movie star, whose late movies True Grit, Rooster Cogburn and The Shootist (his last) are the ones I appreciate most.  He becomes a bit more accessible, resigned and vulnerable in those pictures, and thus more relatably human, as I see him. 

    Bonus! From yet another artistic discipline, here’s an article about his late works, and a description of his career,that contains, among others, a few of Edouard Manet’s many paintings of flowers, made in his last days, when he was sick and in constant pain. Look up images for Manet’s flower paintings for more.

    https://www.npr.org/2020/01/10/794924761/what-a-way-to-go-even-as-he-died-manet-made-life-affirming-art

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    • Thank you, jhNY! I hear you…excellent, poignant observation, with three great/diverse examples. Some great works have indeed emerged from creators no longer at the peak of their powers. There can be a certain focus, a maturity, a trying to do the best job possible before those powers diminish further or death comes.

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  8. HI Dave, a most interesting post. One hit wonders versus continuous great works. I have not read One Hundred Years of Solitude so I’ll look into that one. The two one-hit wonders I will add are The Catcher in the Rye and Dr Zhivago. For repeat hits, I always think first of Stephen King.

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    • Thank you, Robbie! Stephen King is definitely a perennial, but, as I mentioned in another comment, I haven’t read most of his recent novels (after reading about 15 of his early and mid-career ones), so I don’t have personal knowledge of his full trajectory. But his more-recent work has gotten some very good reviews!

      Great one-hit additions of “The Catcher in the Rye” and “Dr. Zhivago”! “One Hundred Years of Solitude” is not the easiest novel to read, but it’s impressive.

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  9. Tolstoy wrote his two best novels “War and Peace” and “Anna Karenina” between the relatively short period from 1865 to 1878 if I’m not mistaken. His later works were rather uneven in quality and generally short except for “Resurrection” which is not considered one of his better works.

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  10. 3 Quick Mentions

    Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa was a one-hit wonder,and that hit, The Leopard, was posthumous.

    F. Scott Fitzgerald started strong with This Side of Paradise— as a popular writer– but then got so much better he was never so popular again– while he lived.

    Then there’s Melville– that Great White Whale harpooned his literary career, though he did manage another novel, Pierre, full, among other things, of upset about criticism and the business that then abandoned him. (Buried in that novel is some of the most lyrical and beautiful writing about guitars I’ve ever encountered. And as a guitar hack of 50+ years, I’ve read more about the instrument than would otherwise make sense.)

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    • Thank you, jhNY! Three excellent mentions!

      Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa’s “The Leopard” was a one-hit wonder for the ages. As I’ve mentioned before, it has some of the most lyrical writing I’ve ever seen in a novel.

      Yes, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s subsequent work was better than “This Side of Paradise,” which I thought veered between very good and so-so. Ironic and unfortunate but not unprecedented that an author’s better work is not as popular as their lesser work during their lifetime. Certainly the case with Herman Melville, too.

      Parts of Melville’s “Pierre” are indeed astonishingly good.

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  11. An interesting topic this week, as it’s fun to watch how author careers progress. Sometimes I was curious why Margaret Mitchell never wrote anything else – but then again, Gone With the Wind is like… a gazillion pages so she put in her time I guess haha! I love that you mention Demon Copperhead, as I actually just finished reading that (finally!) last week. It took forever for me to get a copy from the library. A very good book, although I confess I liked Unsheltered a bit more. I’ll have to get more of her stuff!

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  12. Another most excellent topic, Dave!!! And the follow-up discussion is equally brilliant. I had to give this post an “overnight think.” I believe that novelists often experience varied career trajectories for a number of reasons. In a world of seemingly limitless creative talents, the abundance of fresh plot ideas plays a significant role in whether a writer finds it easy to produce compelling narratives. Health and longevity also impact a writer’s career (for example Emily Brontë), as sustained energy and life span allow for more opportunities to publish. Additionally, the type of works produced—whether series or stand-alone novels—can affect a writer’s following and critical reception. Sales figures and the level of critical acceptance further shape a novelist’s career, often determining their ability to continue writing and publishing in the industry.

    There is no doubt that self-publishing has revolutionized the literary landscape, providing writers with unprecedented opportunities to share their work. This democratization of publishing means that diverse voices can emerge, catering to niche markets and varied genres that may have been overlooked by mainstream publishers. I believe that going forward, the trajectory of writers will be “re-written” with new technologies. We live in a vibrant and exciting time for both writers and readers.

    I think that Steven King says it best: “Talent is cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work.”

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    • Thank you, Rebecca! Many great points and observations!

      Very glad you brought up self-publishing, which I agree has “revolutionized the literary landscape,” as you said. And having that option certainly affects the writing trajectory of many people.

      Stephen King is so right about the importance of hard work.

      Last but least, the discussion in the comments area is indeed brilliant!

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    • HI REbecca, I think this comment: I think that Steven King says it best: “Talent is cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work.” is most interesting. I don’t see it like that at all. I think there are a lot of people who are prepared to work incredibly hard at passions like writing, music and art. A lot become very efficient writers, musicians and artists but they never achieve greatness because they don’t have the 10% of real talent that is need to take efficient and effective to fantastic and unusual.

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  13. OMG!

    The House Keeper and Cul-de-Sac are terrific suspense novels. Joy shows no signs of fading.

    She wasn’t planning to pen another book so soon after Cul-de-Sac , but Covid’s stay at home directive provided her not just with the time, but a topic – home.

    I think Stephen King would fit somewhere into the perpetual category, although I haven’t read one of his books in quite awhile.

    One of my absolute fave 20th century writers, although a playwright & not everyone’s cuppa, is Tennessee Williams.

    I’m not sure how great his last works were, as I never saw or read the plays. Still, he went right up to the end.

    Okay, heading to TT&T!

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  14. Hi Dave! This idea of writers’ career trajectories is good food for thought. When I think about Barbara Kingsolver: for me, she started with a bang with her first five or six books, lost me with a number of the following ones, and came explosively back with Demon Copperhead. (But I will try Unsheltered at your suggestion and may add that to my list’s “bang” side.) When an author writes a connected series with the same characters, I imagine no one likes every book with the same intensity. Still, I think most of us are dedicated to reading all the books in a beloved series, one by one, even if some are better than others. Sometimes, however, no matter how good a writer is, one of their books has such a powerful impact on us that it remains our favorite whatever the critics say. That’s how it is for me with Anna Quindlen’s One True Thing, for example. I’ve read and liked others of her books, but none has hit me like One True Thing did when I read it in 1994. How we feel about a particular book by an author can be extraordinarily individual, can’t it?

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    • Thank you, Kim! It’s interesting about author trajectories — people can interpret them in different ways. (As you alluded to in your comment’s last line.) I’ve liked all of Barbara Kingsolver’s novels, though some of course more than others. As for series, yes, they can have their ups and downs but fans of the series will stick with each novel. 🙂

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  16. Just a quick comment today, Dave because I’m heading over to Rebecca’s place. I’ve been having issues with WordPress notifications either not being sent or not being accepted (yours was in spam) and I didn’t know you were over there.

    I’ll toss in my favorite author, Kurt Vonnegut as one who had an odd trajectory. I think he wrote well throughout his career, but he had some ups and downs, and he changed course a bit, which is something readers don’t always appreciate.

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  17. First of all, I would like to thank you again, Dave, for the marvellous meeting with Rebecca, concerning “Misty the cat unleashed”
    For me, your present post is quite difficult, but I think that J.D. Salinger’s “The Catcher in the Rye”
    belongs into your-one-hit wonders-. I read it a long time ago, but Holden’s story and his search for human warmth still gives me goose-pimples!

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  18. I actually grieve for those authors who passed long before reaching their full potential, one in particular was Stieg Larsson. As you noted, ill health can muck things up as well such as the case with Emily Bronte. Then again, I’m happy to say Stephen King is still going strong. I’m not sure whether his son, Joe Hill, has been as prolific. Of course, if one starts writing late in life, as life is so tenuous, it often doesn’t bode well. Since writing is an isolated endeavor, perhaps that isolation contributes more to ill health, early death and/or full blown insanity than we understand, eg Dostoyesvsky’s hypergraphia. I mean It must be difficult to live in your head for extended amounts of time without it having a devastating effect. Yet good ideas take time to cook, and there is no hard or fast set times, rather it’s a crapshoot. Yikes! Great theme Dave. Susi An interesting link: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/articles/200705/quirky-minds-hypergraphia-river-words

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    • Thank you, Susi! Yes, such a shame when authors die young or relatively young with so much great stuff unwritten. 🙂 Certainly the case with Emily Bronte and Stieg Larsson (I found his Millennium Trilogy to be off-the-charts riveting).

      Stephen King is indeed still churning out book after book. I haven’t read most of his recent novels, so I wasn’t sure how they stacked up with the 15 or so of his early and mid-career novels I’ve read. But he’s certainly still getting positive reviews.

      Interesting thought that the writing life can contribute to ill health for some authors. A sedentary pursuit, plus not easy mentally, as you note.

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