How Old Was Jane Austen When She Started Writing?

When Jane Austen finished her first novel she was only 14. The novel was called "Love and Friendship" (sic) and although it was never intended for publication, but only to be enjoyed within her family, it is a complete and very funny novel. Written in the form of letters (a popular form at the time) it parodies the Romantic cult of excessive sensibility, empty rebellion and poetic posturing. "Never shall it be said that I obliged my father," exclaims one character, explaining why he has refused an arranged marriage with a "lovely and amiable" woman. Instead he flees from home, marries a girl he has met that very day and embarks on a series of improbable adventures. These are punctuated by dramatic speeches form the male characters, and fainting fits (as well as occasional bursts of madness) by their loving if excitable wives. One of these expires with this piece of advice for young ladies: "Run mad as often as you choose, but do not faint."

Austen wrote many other humorous pieces for her family, including a joky "History of England," but "Love and Friendship" is her most complete early work.

How old was jane austen when she began to write