Do you have a quirky little thing that you do to get yourself in the mood to write? Perhaps you don’t want to share your unique writing rituals, or maybe you even feel a little embarrassed by them. Well, the good news is that you are not alone!
We’d venture to say that every writer has their own special technique, whether it’s a good luck charm, a specific morning routine, or an exercise they like to do to get them into a creative mindset for their personal daily battle with the blank page. Believe it or not, even some of the most famous literary icons have adopted bizarre habits in an attempt to help them get motivated to write in the ways that best suit them.
The strange habits of famous writers range from practical things like keeping index cards under the pillow for jotting down ideas in the middle of the night, to more oddball habits like using a certain color of ink or paper, working at a standing desk, writing in the car, and even hanging upside down! Many successful authors were able to distinguish themselves from the rest of the pack because of these secret quirks.
Aside from innate skills and a strong passion for their craft, the best wordsmiths have to get in the right frame of mind before they can produce thought-provoking novels, stories, and poems. In fact, some of history’s greatest literary masters are almost as well-known for their unorthodox behaviors as they are for their creative genius.
These include such big names in literature as James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, Franz Kafka, Truman Capote, Victor Hugo, Edgar Allan Poe, Flanner O’Connor, Anthony Burgess, Friedrich Schiller, Agatha Christie, Alexandre Dumas, William Faulkner, Lewis Carroll, Ernest Hemingway, Gertrude Stein, Vladimir Nabokov, Jane Austen, Honore de Balzac, Arthur Conan Doyle, and Dan Brown.
Jack Milgram at Custom Writing recently put together a fun infographic about the strange habits of famous writers. He kindly gave us permission to post it here. Take a look at some of the unusual routines of these talented writers, and let them inspire your own writing process as you attempt to scribble words down on paper. Here it is:
Source: 20 Quirks & Strange Habits. The Weird Side of Famous Writers