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by Kris Maze
Have you wondered what other authors have done to be more productive? What unusual methods they used to finish their novels? Read about seventeen famous writers and their quirky hacks to get words on the page.
Many of us have figured out our best writing routines, honing our schedules and bribing our muses with ceremonious gifts. Even so, I am compelled to study the habits of successful writers and see what lies behind the curtain. Perhaps it is an attempt to reverse engineer their productivity and enhance my writing life. Maybe these tips can make you smile and appreciate your own writing life as it is.
At the closing of this year-that-shall-not-be-spoken, here is a collection of some of the most interesting habits I’ve read about, followed by the famous authors who use(d) them. See for yourself what worked for these well-known scribes. Could these routines help you write more in 2021? You decide.
Using a long sheet of drawing paper, or scroll, is one of my favorite planning tools. I use it during my early drafts to sequence a novel and I know of other writers who spread their manuscripts throughout their dining and living rooms as space dictates. But it seems we did not invent this method.
Writers who used a scrolling system:
Edgar Allan Poe - He attached the pages of his final drafts together with sealing wax. Open with caution.
Jack Kerouac - He envisioned his novel, On the Road, in a burst of inspiration. In order to type the book quickly, he taped pages together, so he wouldn’t have to reload his typewriter. Kerouac would have been a future fan of the dot matrix version of word processing.
Eudora Welty - Poet and Pulitzer Prize winner, she preferred stick-pins to put together her drafts. She wrote to a friend, “I used to use ordinary paste and put the story together in one long strip, that could be seen as a whole and at a glance — helpful and realistic. When the stories got too long for the room I took them up on the bed or table & pinned and that’s when my worst stories were like patchwork quilts, you could almost read them in any direction . . . I like pins.”
Vladimir Nabokov - He wrote Lolita from the back of a car, using a carrying case full of notecards. Having the full novel in place in his mind, he wrote various scenes on the cards, putting them in order in the case which also doubled as his desk. When asked why he wrote in his car, he said, “it's the only place in the country with no noise and no drafts.” I guess that’s important when writing a novel on tiny slips of paper.
Agatha Christie - The quintessential mystery writer ate apples while taking long baths. Not that that isn’t eccentric enough; she examined murder photos for inspiration at the same time. (And I thought adding bubbles and listening to writing podcasts was inspirational.)
Friedrich Schiller - Known for his close friendship with Goethe and his own poetry and philosophical writings, Schiller kept apples in his desk and let them rot. He liked the way they smelled and found it made him more productive. Did Schiller also invent a precursor to potpourri?
Virginia Woolf - She would compose her prose while standing. She compared this method to painting with an easel and it eased her into her writing mode.
Truman Capote - He lay in bed for his best thoughts. He explained in a 1957 interview with the Paris Review, “I am a completely horizontal author. I can’t think unless I’m lying down, either in bed or stretched on a couch and with a cigarette and coffee handy… No, I don’t use a typewriter. Not in the beginning. I write my first version in longhand (pencil). Then I do a complete revision, also in longhand.”
Dan Brown - The writer of the Da Vinci Code series shared in an interview with the Guardian that he hangs upside down to clear his head and defeat writer’s block.
Alice Walker - The American novelist thinks of her writing time as inviting her muse to tea as the guest of honor. She states, "If you are expecting someone to come to tea but you’re not going to be there, they may not come, and if I were them, I wouldn’t come. So, [writing a book is] about receptivity and being home when your guest is expected, or even when you hope that they will come."
Edgar Allen Poe - He argued with the authors of written books... by putting notes in the margins. He wrote about the benefits of writing in books he read: “In the marginalia … we talk only to ourselves; we therefore talk freshly — boldly — originally — with abandonment — without conceit.”
Lewis Carroll - The writer of Alice in Wonderland couldn’t overcome his days in academia. As a math teacher at Oxford, he used a colored pen to correct papers. He kept this habit while writing fiction, using purple ink.
Alexandre Dumas - He was an organized writer and used different colored paper for his types of writing. He chose blue for fiction, yellow for poetry, and pink for articles. Once, he was forced to write fiction on cream-colored paper, which he claimed made his writing terrible that day.
James Joyce - The Irish writer used large blue pencils on his drafts and wore a white coat when writing. More than superstition, it helped with his poor eyesight. Some writing habits are simply pragmatic.
Dr. Seuss - The beloved children’s author owned over 300 hats, which he wore for inspiration while writing. Yes, one of his favorites was a tall red and white striped hat, a la the Cat in the Hat.
Victor Hugo - It’s easy to imagine the writer’s success, considering that under a deadline he once wore nothing but a shawl to force him to stay in his house and write. Hugo self-imposed this constraint and asked his friends to steal his clothes in support. How Miserables.
Maya Angelou - She worked out of a hotel room and asked the staff to remove all distractions like artwork and barred anyone from disturbing her during the day. She rented a room on a monthly basis. This is one way to keep from getting interrupted.
Could you relate to any of these writing productivity habits? What extreme measures have you taken to make a deadline? What is your favorite writing hack you use to get into the Writing Zone? Help us celebrate the writer's lifestyle and share your thoughts in the comments below.
Kris Maze is an author, freelance writer, and teacher. She enjoys writing twisty, speculative fiction with character driven plots. After years of reading classic literature, mysteries, and thrillers, she sought to write and publish her own books.
She is currently working on a futuristic YA trilogy and writing short stories. She also writes for various publications including a regular post at the award winning Writers in the Storm Blog.
When she isn’t spending time with her favorite people and pets, Kris Maze is taking pictures, hiking, or pondering the wisdom of Bob Ross. You can follow her author journey at her website at KMazeAuthor.com
by Ellen Buikema
National Novel Writing Month, aka NaNoWriMo, is an organization that promotes creative writing worldwide via annual writing challenges where participants attempt to write fifty thousand words in a month. I pondered whether or not to attempt their challenge for several years and finally opted to give it a try in 2020, the unhappy year many wish wasn’t. With a plethora of time available due to the curtailing of social activities during the pandemic, I took the NaNo plunge.
NaNoWriMo changed the way I write. Below is my story of moving from Pantser to Plantser.
We live in a beautiful area by the Sea of Cortez that attracts tourists from all over the world. This means lots and lots of noise. Fresh air therapy is good for minimizing exposure to COVID-19, so we throw open the windows to keep the breeze passing through our living space as often as possible. Unfortunately, the joyous sound of happy travelers . . . travels.
When we lived in a quieter area I could write any time. If writer’s block ever reared its ugliness, I’d step away from the laptop and find someplace out of the way to get horizontal and let my mind go blank. Sometimes Bailey, our lovable black lab, would lie down next to me to lend his special brand of calm and help me think. A few minutes of mind-clearing (sweeping out the panicked thought of not being able to think) and I’d be ready to continue the story.
Now that we live in the land of loud, it’s become vitally important to discover the quietest times of day. That ended up being from 3 AM to around 1 PM. Out of necessity I became a morning writer, and my writing schedule is between 8 AM and 1 PM.
The goal of 50,000 words in one short month scared the bejesus out of me. Prior to NaNoWriMo I rarely wrote more than 1000 words in a day, and I've never written every day of the week. The idea of no writing breaks caused some anxiety too.
I decided to wrap my stubborn streak around me and figure this out for a positive potential outcome. When moving to a new location, I completely unpack and organize one room. When I need a break from staring at disorder, I have a blissfully organized place to gaze at before I attack more of the unpacking. I applied this to the writing word count.
Instead of panicking, which causes brain freeze (not the fun ice cream-induced kind), I set a 1600-2000 word target, with breaks along the way. Those breaks made all the difference for me.
I wrote before and after breakfast, took a break to play solitaire with an old deck of cards, and did my lie down and let-the-mind-go-blank thing until an idea popped in. This worked well even without Bailey who has passed over the Rainbow Bridge.
Being a happy Pantser, I typically don’t do detailed planning. I start with the beginning and end points, and have a basic idea rolling through my mind of how to get from point A to point Z. I suspected that 50,000 words in a month would require more planning than usual.
Here is what helped:
My internal editor was not a happy creature. For the first few days, I suffered through an internal war. Eyes drawn like a magnet to flaws, I had to force myself not to re-read and change things. Instead, I made use of the strikeout feature in Microsoft Word. (Here are the shortcuts for this feature if you need them [link], or Ctrl+D will get you right to strikeout.)
I reminded myself repeatedly that NaNoWriMo is not an exercise in perfection. My 50,000+ word novel could end up being a hot mess and still have good bones.
I never expected to complete the NaNo goal my first time around. I didn't even know I had it in me. I certainly couldn't have done it alone.
What kept me going:
I wrote the last chapter the day after I hit the 50,000 word count goal. My internal editor awaits the next step.
Do you have a best place and time to write? What are your writing rituals? What methods do you use to help with writer’s block?
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Author, speaker, and former teacher, Ellen L. Buikema has written non-fiction for parents and a series of chapter books for children with stories encouraging the development of empathy—sprinkling humor wherever possible. Her Works In Progress are The Hobo Code, YA historical fiction and Crystal Memories, YA fantasy.
Find her at http://ellenbuikema.com or on Amazon.
Top Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
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