A quick PSA: The next two to three posts will be scheduled. I’m hitting the road again April 5th and I won’t be back in my own bed until April 18th. Because of this, I’ll have a lot of cool content coming your way, but it might not be for a few weeks. Hasta la vista, suckers.
A few weeks ago when I did my Kurt Vonnegut piece (which you can find here: link) I mentioned wanting to do a post about writers and their weird writing habits. Unfortunately, that isn’t this post. If you’re looking forward to that one, don’t worry, it’s in the works. It just so happens there are already tons of articles about weird writing habits, so I’m still trying to find my angle. While I was researching for that post, though, I became curious about the writing routines and advice of some of my personal favorite authors. That’s what I’ve written for you today.
As I said, these kinds of lists are everywhere. People are always curious what other successful people are up to, it’s a given, but I hope this list is somewhat unique in that I didn’t specifically look for “successful” or “top” authors. I’ve compiled a list of my own, personal favorites, and I hope you see someone on here that’s one of your favorites as well.
Without further ado, here is some great advice from some great authors.
- Leigh Bardugo
I love Leigh Bardugo. Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom are my favorite YA fantasy novels of all time. Bardugo’s first piece of advice will likely resonate with us all: you have to embrace a terrible first draft. Very, very few people write near perfection the first time. Often it’s a culmination of several ideas we’re thinking all at once, and putting that down on paper can be difficult. Remember that there’s always time to fix it, and there’s nothing wrong with scrapping a project and starting over! Bardugo also says she’s a huge fan of outlining. She doesn’t just put pen to paper (or fingers to keys, rather), but she spends time outlining her ideas and giving her novel structure before sitting down to write.
These tips are especially functional for those in the fantasy genre. For many fantasy authors, their first draft IS their outline, and they only begin writing once the outline is finished. This helps the author keep track of characters, places, names, and important plot points in the novel. If you’ve ever read a story with a major plot hole, you can be reasonably sure the author didn’t do an outline.
What you should read: Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom, King of Scars, A Language of Thorns and Roses
P. S. Is anyone else super excited about the Rule of Wolves release? I’ve got the audiobook locked and downloaded for my trip. - Maya Angelou
If you haven’t read I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, you’re missing out. Maya Angelou said she would wake up at 5:30 in the morning to start her day. She didn’t start writing right at 5:30, though, which is something I see frequently misrepresented. While many authors do have early wake-up times, that isn’t necessarily when they start being productive, if you know what I mean. In Angelou’s case, she dressed for the day, shared a cup of coffee with her husband, and then around 6:30 would leave for work. She didn’t begin writing until around seven in the morning, which is a much more reasonable time for most of us. I happen to be a morning person, but even I’m tired of “self-helpers” telling me to wake up before dawn to be productive. If that’s your thing, go for it, but waking up at a reasonable hour is perfectly acceptable.
A routine-lover like myself, Angelou would follow this process each day with the goal of writing until two in the afternoon. If it was a good day for writing, she’d stay longer, and if she was having a tough time, she would wrap it up and try again the next day. Just as it is important to keep oneself motivated, it is equally important to know when you’re being unproductive with your time.
Books!: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Wouldn’t Take Nothing For My Journey Now - Jodi Picoult
This is one of my favorites because Jodi Picoult has gone on record to say she doesn’t believe in writer’s block. Neither do I. There’s always something to write, but sometimes we are so afraid to write it badly that we never get started. Her advice is to write anyway. She said she writes everyday, and though I couldn’t find a start time, I don’t believe it’s the ass-crack of dawn. Picoult says you can’t edit a blank page, but you can edit a badly written one. Keep that in mind whenever you feel stuck.
Also keep in mind a lot of the authors I’m covering here are full-time writers. This may not be the case for you. When someone says they write eight hours a day, that’s great, but you don’t have to write eight hours a day to be successful. Start with one hour, if that’s all you can find time for, and go from there.
Books I like by Jodi Picoult: My Sister’s Keeper, The Tenth Circle - Jane Austen
It is said that Jane Austen wrote her most prevalent works in a place called Chawton Cottage, in Hampshire. She liked to sit by a window with ample light and used a small, walnut table as a desk. So, no excuses for those of you who don’t have a proper place to write. I’m sure you can procure a small table and a window, or a picture of a window. Her method of writing was to create a full first draft, read through and cross out phrases or edit passages, and then rewrite the draft in entirety. Austen would do this multiple times until she was satisfied with the work, and would read her drafts aloud to family members for their input. This last part is the most unrelatable to me, because I hate sharing my work with anybody. Except you guys, you’re cool. As a routine, Austen tried to write everyday, which is a common factor amongst most authors. Repetition leads to improvements! Why do you think I started a weekly blog?
My recommendations for Jane Austen: Pride & Prejudice (obviously), Emma, Mansfield Park - Ken Kesey
Yes, acclaimed author of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest made the cut. I can’t in good conscience say he’s one of my favorite authors because I’ve only read Cuckoo’s Nest, but that happens to be my FAVORITE book, so he’s on the list. He also has a great piece of advice attributed to him which I thought was worth sharing: write what you DON’T know. We’re often told to write what we know, and I don’t think that’s terrible advice, but Kesey has a point when he says writing what we know can be “dull”. I would elaborate on this and say, “Write what a majority of people don’t know.” This creates a shared experience of reading something unique, and is probably interesting to write as well. Although, it’s never a bad idea to stick with what you know because there is always something you’ll know that someone else won’t.
As I said, I’ve only read the one novel, so I don’t have any other recommendations, but do read that one. - Dean Koontz
Alright, this is some advice for my more neurotic writers out there. Koontz says he works ten to eleven hour days, but during that time he will only finish five or six pages of writing. That’s about 2500-3000 words, which isn’t bad for a days work, but isn’t a lot for such a long time frame. Why does it take him so long? He obsesses over every word on the page, sometimes rewriting each draft thirty to forty times before calling it a quits. This process means it takes him around six months to write a standard novel, and up to a year for a long one. For those of us who read fantasy, that sounds like nothing. Patrick Rothfuss has been working on his upcoming novel for, what, ten years now? For your average writer, though, that’s quite a bit of time.
At the end of his journey, however, he has a polished product, not just the first draft. Koontz writes this way because it keeps him entertained the entire time he’s writing, rather than writing a first draft and becoming oppressed with boredom upon editing. He also claims to have a lot of self-doubt, but his rigorous polishing process helps absolve him of this because he knows he’s selected every word carefully. I think this is an especially good tip for those of us who struggle with doubting our own work.
If you would like to read Dean Koontz talk about writing in his own words, here’s the link for that: link
Recommendations: Odd Thomas, Watchers - John Green
If you don’t like John Green, get wrecked. Just kidding, your opinions are valid, just not as valid as mine because I’m the one running this whole shebang. I like John Green a lot, enough that I’m going to have an entire post dedicated to him at some point.
Anyway.
Green says he wakes up, writes for four hours, takes a break for lunch, and then works on non-writing related things for about five more hours. His writing schedule is one of the shortest I’ve seen, but I think that makes sense as he’s a man of many hats. Green is also a big fan of revision, claiming to get rid of up to 90% of his first drafts! When he makes big changes he isn’t sure about, he’ll save the new draft under a different name. On his website he shares the final draft names of two of his novels which are aok284 and okay192. These stand for, respectively, An Abundance of Katherines version 284, and The Fault in Our Stars version 192. That is a lot of rewrites.
Green also talks about dealing with self-doubt and feeling like his final drafts still aren’t good enough. I always think this kind of talk is refreshing and relatable. A lot of us feel like we aren’t good enough to accomplish our goals, but if the people who have accomplished those goals still feel that way, it shows it’s not really about the goals at all, is it? It’s our brains being evil little squish-balls. Squish them and get on with it.
Mr. Green has a website answering some FAQs about writing if you’d like to check it out for yourselves here: link
Books I liked: An Abundance of Katherines, Paper Towns, The Fault in Our Stars - Neil Gaiman
Guess who else doesn’t believe in writer’s block? Neil Gaiman. I’m telling you guys, it’s not a thing. Gaiman says he always keeps another story on the backburner in case he is stuck while writing his primary story. This is a good way to keep writing when you aren’t sure where to go in a particular piece. I have twenty-three blog posts open right now, most of which are random bits and pieces I will eventually form into a coherent post. When I’m stuck in one, I switch to another, and another, and another. There’s nothing wrong with that, it keeps me writing. Gaiman has also written several of his novels by hand for the first draft, switching to a laptop or computer for the second. He says it helps keep him succinct in his words, though he doesn’t talk much about the hand cramps.
A few other tips of his are to read outside one’s genre (this helps us avoid stereotypical conventions of our own genre), write every single day (no writer’s block, remember?), and keep writing no matter what. Gaiman says he finishes his works whether he’s inspired or not by putting one word after another. In his own words, “Perfection is like chasing the horizon. Keep moving.”
Some of my favorite books by Neil Gaiman: Neverwhere, Stardust, American Gods, The Ocean at the End of the Lane - Ursula K. Le Guin
Le Guin had the earliest start time next to Maya Angelou. At 5:30 in the morning she would wake up to, get this, think. She set 45 minutes aside for this process. I like to think of this as some sort of lazy meditation. After that, she took an hour for breakfast, and eventually started writing at 7:15 a. m. Again, this is much more reasonable than her 5:30 a. m. wake up time. If I were to adapt her schedule, I’d wake up at 7:00, spend thirty minutes for “meditation”, thirty for breakfast, and then begin writing at 8:00. That’s not so bad, right?
Le Guin only wrote for about five hours a day, one of the lowest times we’ve seen next to John Green. She spent her afternoons reading, listening to music, and doing a bit of business work. With an early bed time, she would go to sleep and start all over again the next day. I think her routine proves writing doesn’t have to be a strenuous or vigorous exercise if we don’t want it to be. You shouldn’t feel badly about not writing ten hours a day if a relaxed process is what’s better for you.
Some books for you to peruse: A Wizard of Earthsea (and the rest of the series), The Real and the Unreal: The Selected Short Stories of Ursula K. Le Guin
Upon researching these authors, I found an article (it was about Neil Gaiman, to be specific) where a woman was talking about trying to find her footing as a writer by researching one author a month and adapting their process. I hope this strategy worked for her, but it pushed me to end this post with some of my own words of advice. Researching other authors is great, and finding out their writing routines can be a good way to create a frame of reference for yourself, but you will not find your own unique style by emulating someone else.
You will not find your own unique style by emulating someone else.
Do I need to say it louder for the people in the back?
There is no harm in researching your favorite authors and seeing what works for them as long as you keep in mind that what works for them may not work for you. In fact, I would caution you against delving into other authors as a way to find yourself, because you might resurface sounding a lot like someone else. Research, learn, and adapt, but try your best to avoid imitation, even if it is a form of flattery.
The Lit Wiz