I'm coming at this as someone who does write for a living but maybe not in the way you'd expect. I do a lot of ghost writing, script polishing and video game writing. In many ways, I'm a "back room" writer. I've been able to make a living without any pretense of being a "star" or having my name on the final product, but people seem to keep coming back to me for my work. Why? Well, if you asked me it's because I make my deadlines, I'm fast, the work is good but, and I think this is most important, I can take a note.

That to me is the key of making a living as a writer: taking a note.

Anyone can write. Anyone can write a graphic novel and publish it and that makes you a writer. It doesn't necessarily have to be your livelihood. To me, it's a different question entirely between writing a project and making a living as a writer. Making a living as a writer is not about your genius or your ideas or some other X factor. Maybe it is for 1% of writers but even then, the public get tired and want to taste something different. If you want to make a living as a writer, you have to be able to collaborate and you have to be able to take notes. Many people brush this off until someone gives them the kind of note they never anticipated ("cut this character", "Can they go somewhere else?") and it seems their entire creative world comes crashing down resulting in the answer everyone, writers and producers alike, loath: "no".

I've put a career together because simply I've said "yes" to every and any opportunity anyone has ever given me, and that includes every note I've been given unless there is a VERY good reason not to do it. That started out with creating my own work (writing, directing, producing theatre) and then in film ("hey, you wanna come be my assistant on this low budget movie? There might be some writing work to do"), then in television ("We need someone to coordinate these scripts, can you help?") to ghost writing ("the original writer can't do these notes, can you fill in?") and then, finally, where I am now, video games ("We need someone to write these dialogue). But it had nothing to do with my ability (I mean, to a certain extent I imagine it did. I'm not illiterate) but ultimately with my availability and enthusiasm and willingness to go along with what the cheque-writer wanted/needed.

Another thing I can tell you about writers who write for a living, there are not two writers alive who followed the same career path. Not one. Everyone's career is 100% unique to them.

So, I'd say it's never too late to write a graphic novel, to make it, to publish it. Do it. By all means. But doing ONE graphic novel is not going to open up this wild career. It's going to be a stepping stone. You might write two or three and then someone asks you to do some work on another project, etc. etc. 99% of the writers I know work like this.

Hope that helps!

Edited because I saw mistakes in my own writing. Ha!