Count to Seven and Get Naked
by JUSTIN MORROW
Rituals and Routines of History’ s Greatest Writers
The novelist and one-time filmmaker Norman Mailer once remarked that writing is a“ spooky art,” and every writer can attest to the fact that when they are in“ the zone,” the pages seem to write themselves, characters come to life and surprise you with their actions, and unexpected plot twists occur that fit perfectly. Yes, it’ s one of the best feelings in the world. Of course, its opposite, writer’ s block, is a sort of hell-ish limbo( yes, I’ m aware they’ re two different things) and even has its own brain state. I previously wrote about ways for writers to combat Resistance, the pernicious force that tries to keep the writer / artist / floral arranger from their work, and now you can read about the daily routines and odd rituals of some of the most famous writers. See what worked for the masters after the jump!
Writing is a“ mystical” process, in that most writers couldn’ t explain where their best work comes from, and is, at its best, a sort of dance between the subconscious and fingers. But, some see the screenplay as just a blueprint, the literary equivalent of a technical manual. This prejudice is a hold over from the silent-era, when“ scenario writers” came up with the plots( frequently cribbed from works of literature) and others toiled on the“ title cards” that described the action. The image was the primary thing( after all, these were motion pictures), and Jack Warner famously referred to his army of underpaid scribes as
“ schmucks with Underwoods,”( the Underwood being a choice typewriter of the time). Directors were heroes in pith helmets; screenwriters were( and still are, to some degree) neurotic intellectuals like Barton Fink.
These neurotic and intellectual artists are also usually superstitious by nature, having their own rituals that can verge on OCD. They’ re secretly haunted by the fear that the muse will desert them at any time. If something works once, it might work again, even though science has proved that what we perceive as“ hot streaks” are illusory, a product of math and patterns we can’ t see( e. g. a basketball player on a run.)
A single successful shot suffices to increase a player’ s likelihood of taking the next team shot, increase the average distance from which this next shot is taken, decrease the probability that this next shot is successful, and decrease the probability that the coach will replace the player.
Even fighter pilots’ performance has been shown to be a case of“ regression to the mean,” a fancy science term meaning in this case that no matter how good or bad you perform on a certain day, you’ ll eventually return to the general area where you started( which doesn’ t mean practice won’ t make you better, unless we’ re talking about roulette.)
None of this, however, has ever stopped an anyone from sticking to their own superstitious rituals, and over at Brain Pickings, they have a great post on the daily habits of famous writers. Another great resource
E. B. White
64 | WGSA MAG July 2013