Interesting Writing Habits of Authors

Have you ever wondered what the habits of writers are in their writing adventure?

We know that every writer has a different writing adventure. Trying to express the world of your dreams with words, weaving a text is of course an admirable endeavour. In this endeavour, each writer can develop his/her own unique method. Or they may follow similar routines such as writing a certain number of words every day. We have compiled the habits of some writers in the writing process for you.

In his attic room, in front of his tiny window overlooking a grey wall, he writes regularly every day. He prepares his mind for writing by writing scribbles on a manuscript before continuing his works. He wrote nearly a hundred works during his lifetime. He wrote eighteen hours a day. He would not leave his desk until he reached the word count he had set. Some days he drank fifty cups of coffee to resist sleep. When he didn’t have coffee, he chewed coffee beans.

Born in 1883, Franz Kafka started working at the Work Accident Insurance Institute in 1908. For this reason, he could spare time for writing at night. He would do some exercise after dinner and start writing at 23.00. In one of his letters, he stated that he could sit down to write at 10.30 and write until 03.00, depending on his strength, desire and luck. But there were also times when he wrote for twelve hours straight.

Jane Austen would wake up earlier than the other women in the house and start writing after playing the piano for a while. While Austen was writing, her mother and sister would knit quietly beside her.

He used to write in his parked car. He would write his works section by section on the cards he could carry with him and would continue to write when he was travelling. It is also known that he sometimes preferred to write in a bathtub full of water.

Haruki Murakami gets up at four in the morning and starts writing. In order not to break away from the text, the author usually continues writing for six hours. When he stops writing, he runs ten kilometres or swims one and a half kilometres. In the evenings, he goes to sleep at 21.00. Murakami is one of the writers who regularly continues his habits during the writing process every day. The author states that repetition makes it easier for him to reach the depths of his mind.

The writer used to start writing at the first light of the day because he liked silence. He would continue writing from the first hours of the morning until noon. It is known that he liked to write while standing up. It is also known that he preferred to write in periods of one or two hours rather than writing for long hours.

Ernest Hemingway says in one of his letters, “I would rather write economically and produce few and concise texts than work for 6 hours, write for pages and produce something I will not like.”

Tolstoy continued his writing process every day without fail. He also stated that he paid attention to this in order not to get out of routine. As Tolstoy isolated himself while writing his writings, he would also lock the doors of the rooms adjacent to his study.

Woolf is among the writers who started writing at the first light of the morning. During the day, the author would go for a walk.

We know that Agata Christie always ate apples while writing her novels.