Writing habits of famous writers
Writing habits of famous writers
Who cares? That is, unless what works for them keeps you accountable and makes writing a priority.
Hello everyone. It’s been a busy June. My apartment has been full of lovely guests, with more coming, and a few things are brewing here behind the scenes at Honing House which has been taking up a bit of time.
So, I’m a bit late getting the newsletter(s) out this month. Thanks for your patience.
I’d like to kick things off with a little announcement about my own writing: you can read two new short stories of mine over at Bull. I’ve had a great response already from those who have read them, and I hope you enjoy these flashes as well.
Now, onto the regularly scheduled programming.
Getting the writing done
I’ve got a small summer break from teaching duties at Emerson, and I’m using the spare time to get down to some serious work on my novel.
I’ve come to believe that writing effectively, and really finding the tempo for longer work, requires a period of intense focus—something the summer offers. But having too much time on your hands can be a problem too. Novels, unless you already have an agent and a publication date, don’t have deadlines. In terms of priorities, it can be easy to put it at the bottom of the to-do list.
Over the years, I’ve read extensively about the writing habits of successful writers to find ways to keep the creative locomotion going. Of course, there’s a lot of contradicting advice out there.
Do this. Don’t do that.
Even worse, reading so much advice, it’s easy to be lulled into the idea that what works for others will also work for you, especially when writers are prone to the hyperbolic or the completely fictionalized.
But I think some rules apply universally. There seem to be just two really, both of which I’ve used to build a solid routine for myself and to keep the writing prioritized.
Hopefully, these two rules will help spur you towards your next great written work.
Keep regular writing hours.
Marukami, a writer with over 30 novels to his name, has written extensively about his process as a novelist. He’s a bit fanatical about keeping regular office hours for his writing, claim to wake up at 4 a.m. to work for five or six hours. All before taking a swim and training for his next marathon.
In an old interview from The Paris Review, Joan Didion was quoted about her own writing process:
“I need an hour alone before dinner, with a drink, to go over what I’ve done that day. I can’t do it late in the afternoon because I’m too close to it. Also, the drink helps. It removes me from the pages. So I spend this hour taking things out and putting other things in. Then I start the next day by redoing all of what I did the day before, following these evening notes. When I’m really working I don’t like to go out or have anybody to dinner, because then I lose the hour. If I don’t have the hour, and start the next day with just some bad pages and nowhere to go, I’m in low spirits. Another thing I need to do, when I’m near the end of the book, is sleep in the same room with it. That’s one reason I go home to Sacramento to finish things. Somehow the book doesn’t leave you when you’re asleep right next to it. In Sacramento nobody cares if I appear or not. I can just get up and start typing.”
George Saunders claims routine is less important, that it’s crucial instead to break up old habits and remind ourselves each day why we’re writers in the first place. But once you’ve done that, you also need to sit your butt down in the chair and write.
What’s universal between these three approaches is that a writing habit needs to be consistent.
It’s probably too much of a luxury for most writers (myself included) to have the time Marukami does to work on a novel. Still, blocking out time each day to work on or think about your project ain’t a bad idea.
For example: I usually write for two to three hours in the morning after I hit the gym. This is my ideal scenario. But sometimes, given the nature of my teaching work, I can’t always write in the morning. When I was a young writer, any minor variation to this plan meant despair, which ultimately lead to not writing that day. The routine was broken! How could I possibly function?
Luckily, I’m older now. Wiser (or so I like to think). If my morning routine is shot, I don’t panic. Instead, I turn to my calendar, look for some space, and block out those 2-3 hours I missed. I treat that blocked time like a work meeting, or as if I have a doctor’s appointment. Meaning: I take the writing time seriously.
So much of writing is about touch and feel. Knowing, at the gut level, where things are going. Blocking out time each day—whether it’s an ideal morning scenario, or something else—ensures we don’t lose forward momentum.
Find an accountability partner.
Returning to the aforementioned lack of deadlines when writing a novel: having an accountability partner can light a fire under your ass when you’re prone to procrastination.
While I can’t find too much concrete information on famous writers who have used this method (though many writers have), I’ve found through personal experience that having someone you can regularly send pages to on a set schedule can be an absolute game changer.
Your accountability partner could be a writing group that has rotating submission requirements, an online fiction exchange, or trading work with a trusted writing friend (something I’ve done for years).
Or, you can subject yourself to something more brutal… a bit masochistic.
I’m a slow writer, one who’s extremely concerned with getting it just right. I won’t say I’m a perfectionist (we all make mistakes), but sometimes I can get hung up on the details. To get this current novel done, I know I need a bit more forward momentum—so I’ve set extremely strict guidelines on how much I need to produce during a week and found an accountability partner to keep me to it.
Here’s the deal: each Friday, I’m promised to send a new section of the book to my wife. This weekly deadline is on the calendar. It’s discussed at home. It’s a deal I can’t run away from. My brother in Christ … I live with her. There’s no hiding from my responsibility if I blow a deadline.
Talk about stress!
The thing is, it works. First and foremost, I have my incredibly supportive wife’s cheerleading to keep me going. To meet her expectations, I’ve pumped out more work over the past few weeks than I have in months. Best of all, the work is of much higher quality and it’s more focused than what I might produce working on my own deadlines. Why? Well, my wife is a tough (but fair) critic. I’m lucky to live with someone who is well read, and likes the same kind of fiction I do. So when the writing works and she praises it, I know I’m onto something. If it doesn’t work, and she stops reading, I know it’s time to double back and do better.
Since the writing is aimed at pleasing an audience I love and respect, the stakes are higher, and it makes me more eager to do my best and rise to the occasion.
Try it for yourself.
Upcoming class
Thanks for reading.
As a quick reminder: the start of our Introduction to Fiction Writing—Seven Week Summer Course is coming up on July 9. This introduction to fiction class will teach you the basics of fiction writing in seven, once a week modules. Here's what you can expect to learn:
Week 1: What is fiction anyway?
Week 2: Finding material and turning it into fiction
Week 3: Inciting incidents and common story shapes
Week 4: Creating characters and conflict
Week 5: Basics of perspective
Week 6: Creating compelling details
Week 7: Tactics for writing and revising your story
Week 8: Bringing it all together!
There are still spots available. If you’ve ever wanted to make the leap into writing fiction, this is the class for you.