Many authors have writing habits/routines that could be described as bizarre. Here are ten famous authors’ bizarre writing habits:
James Joyce – This eccentric writer wrote in a white coat whilst lying on his stomach in bed. For writing materials he used cardboard and various coloured crayons. Joyce did this because he had poor eyesight. His white coat reflected the light.
John Steinbeck – Steinbeck was obsessed with pencils, particularly Blackwing 602’s. Drafts of his books were crafted in pencil, and he always kept 12 perfectly sharpened pencils aligned on his desk. He claimed pencils charged him with invention and energy.
Maya Angelou – This African-American author had a very strict writing routine that entailed leaving her home at 7 a.m. and travelling to a bare hotel room, where she would write until about 2 p.m. The only possessions Angelou would bring with her were a pack of cards, a Bible and a bottle of sherry.
Victor Hugo – This French novelist wrote The Hunchback of Notre-Dame and Les Misérables in the nude. The reason being that it helped him avoid procrastination. Hugo, unable to leave the house unclothed, would order his valet to hide his clothes until after he had finished his writing.
W. H. Auden – This obsessive poet used drugs to balance his routine. He swallowed the amphetamine Benzedrine every morning for 20 years. At night he took the barbiturate Seconal in order to get to sleep.
Honoré de Balzac – This French novelist and playwright maintained a relentless writing routine. He would go to bed at 6 p.m. and rise at 1 a.m. before writing for seven hours. At 8 a.m. he would rest for ninety-minutes and then write until 4 p.m. De Balzac allegedly drunk 50 cups of coffee a day.
Dan Brown – Best selling contemporary author Dan Brown is an early riser, who apparently takes a break every hour from his writing to do calisthenics (stretches, sit-ups and pull-ups etc.). His bizarre writing antics do not end there. Brown, a fan of inversion therapy, often hangs upside down in antigravity boots because it helps him relax.
Flannery O’Connor – Author and essayist Flannery O’Connor explained in The Habit of Being (collection of her letters) that she not only wrote at the same time every day, but also in the same place. That special place was facing her blank wood dresser, which provided no distractions.
Truman Capote – Capote had a preference for writing lying down. While he wrote he would drink coffee and smoke cigarettes. As the day progressed he would drink mint tea, before moving on to sherry and martinis. Capote, who described himself as a ‘horizontal writer’, always wrote his first two drafts in longhand with a pencil.
Vladimir Nabokov – Nabokov had a fixation on index cards. The majority of his novels were written out on these cards with a pencil. The cards were then paper-clipped and kept in boxes. Nabokov’s rather particular writing routine did not end here. Most of his writing was done standing up.
As for me, when I lived in London I was prone to wearing ear defenders when writing, to eliminate distracting sounds.
