Do you need (more) drugs? (Not sure) Do you have to want and be able to write novels? (No) Do you have to be extroverted? (No) Do you have to have had an interesting life? (Depends on what you mean) Do you have to have been a child prodigy? (No) Etc, etc You might have to not wait for talent, madness, inspiration... You might have to “go back to school” perhaps in unexpected ways... You might still have to do some scary or crazy things... Like Gladwell said Galenson said about, for example, Picasso vs Cézanne, *there's more than one way to do it* https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2008/10/20/late-bloomers-malcolm-gladwell