{"id":593,"date":"2018-01-02T09:05:12","date_gmt":"2018-01-02T09:05:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/?p=593"},"modified":"2018-01-05T19:07:05","modified_gmt":"2018-01-05T19:07:05","slug":"44-writing-hacks-greatest-writers-ever-lived","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/44-writing-hacks-greatest-writers-ever-lived\/","title":{"rendered":"44 Writing Hacks From Some of the Greatest Writers Who Ever Lived"},"content":{"rendered":"

Writing looks fun, but doing it professionally is hard. Like really hard<\/a>. \u201cWhy on earth am I doing this?\u201d-hard.<\/p>\n

Which is probably why so many people want<\/i> to write<\/a>, yet so few actually do. But there are ways to make it easier, as many writers can tell you. Tricks that have been discovered over the centuries to help with this difficult craft.<\/p>\n

In another industry, these tricks would be considered trade secrets. But writers are generous and they love to share (often in books about<\/i> writing). They explain their own strategies for how to deal with writer\u2019s block to how to make sure your computer never eats your manuscript. They give away this hard-won knowledge so that other aspiring writers won\u2019t have to struggle in the same way. Over my career, I\u2019ve tried to collect these little bits of wisdom in my commonplace book<\/a> (also a writer\u2019s trick which I picked up from Montaigne) and am grateful for the guidance they\u2019ve provided.<\/p>\n

Below, I\u2019ve shared a collection of writing hacks from some amazing writers like Kurt Vonnegut<\/a>, George Orwell<\/a>, Stephen King<\/a>, Elizabeth Gilbert<\/a>, Anne Lamott<\/a>, and Raymond Chandler<\/a>. I hope it\u2019s not too presumptuous but I snuck in a few of my own too (not that I think I\u2019m anywhere near as good as them).<\/p>\n

Anyway, here\u2019s to making this tough job a tiny bit easier!<\/p>\n

[*] When you have an idea for an article or a book\u2014write it down. Don\u2019t let it float around in your head. That\u2019s a recipe for losing it. As Beethoven is reported to have said, \u201cIf I don\u2019t write it down immediately I forget it right away. If I put it into a sketchbook I never forget it, and I never have to look it up again.\u201d<\/p>\n

[*] The important thing is to start. At the end of John Fante\u2019s book Dreams from Bunker Hill<\/i><\/a>, the character, a writer, reminds himself that if he can write one great line, he can write two and if he can write two he can write three, and if he can write three, he can write forever. He pauses. Even that seemed insurmountable. So he types out four lines from one of his favorite poems. What the hell, <\/i>he says, a man has to start someplace<\/i>.<\/p>\n

[*] In fact, a lot of writers use that last technique. In Tobias Wolff\u2019s autobiographical novel Old School<\/i><\/a>,<\/i> the character types the passages from his favorite books just to know what it feels like to have those words flow through his fingertips. Hunter S. Thompson often did the same thing. This is another reason why technologies like ebooks and Evernote are inferior to physical interaction. Just highlighting something and saving it to a computer? There\u2019s no tactile memory there.<\/p>\n

[*] \u201cThe greatest part of a writer\u2019s time is spent in reading; a man will turn over half a library to make one book.\u201d Samuel Johnson<\/p>\n

[*] Tim Ferriss<\/a> has said<\/a> that the goal for a productive writing life is \u201ctwo crappy pages a day.\u201d Just enough to make progress, not too ambitious to be intimidating.<\/p>\n

[*] They say breakfast (protein) in the morning helps brain function. But in my experience, that\u2019s a trade-off with waking up and getting started right away. Apparently Kurt Vonnegut only ate after he worked<\/a> for 2 \u00bd hours. Maybe he felt like after that he\u2019d earned<\/i> food.<\/p>\n

[*] Michael Malice<\/a> has advised \u201cdon\u2019t edit while you write<\/a>.\u201d I think this is good advice.<\/p>\n

[*] In addition to making a distinction between editing and writing, Robert Greene<\/a> advises to make an equally important distinction between research and writing. Trying to \u201cfind where you\u2019re going\u201d while you\u2019re doing it is begging to get horribly lost. Writing is easier when the research is done<\/a> and the framework has been laid out.<\/p>\n

[*] Nassim Taleb wrote in Antifragile<\/i><\/a> that every sentence in the book was a \u201cderivation, an application or an interpretation of the short maxim\u201d he opened with. THAT is why you want to get your thesis down and perfect. It makes the whole book\/essay easier.<\/p>\n

[*] Break big projects down into small, discrete chunks<\/a>. As I am writing a book<\/a>, I create a separate document for each chapter, as I am writing them. It\u2019s only later when I have gotten to the end that these chapters are combined into a single file. Why? The same reason it feels easier to swim seven sets of ten laps, than to swim a mile. Breaking it up into pieces makes it seem more achievable. The other benefit in writing? It creates a sense that each piece must stand on its own.<\/p>\n

[*] Embrace what the strategist and theorist John Boyd called the \u201cdraw-down period.\u201d<\/a> Take a break right before you start. To think, to reflect, to doubt.<\/p>\n

[*] On being a writer: \u201cAll the days of his life he should be reading as faithfully as his partaking of food; reading, watching, listening.\u201d John Fante<\/a><\/p>\n

[*] Don\u2019t get caught up with pesky details. When I am writing a draft, I try not to be concerned with exact dates, facts or figures. If I remember that a study conducted by INSERT UNIVERSITY found that XX% of businesses fail in the first FIVE\/SIX? months, that\u2019s what I write (exactly like that). If I am writing that on June XX, 19XX Ronald Reagan gave his famous \u201cTear Down This Wall\u201d speech in Berlin in front of XX,XXX people, that\u2019s how it\u2019s going to look. Momentum is the most important thing in writing, so I\u2019ll fill the details in later. I just need to get the sentences down first. \u201cGet through a draft as quickly as possible,\u201d is how Joshua Wolf Shenk put it.<\/p>\n

[*] Raymond Chandler<\/a> had a trick of using small pieces of paper so he would never be afraid to start over. Also with only 12-15 lines per page, it forced economy of thought and action\u2014which is why his stuff is so readable.<\/p>\n

[*] In The Artist\u2019s Way<\/i><\/a>, Julia Cameron reminds us that our morning pages<\/a> and our journaling don\u2019t count as writing. Just as walking doesn\u2019t count as exercise<\/a>, this is just priming the pump\u2014it\u2019s a meditative experience. Make sure you treat it as such.<\/p>\n

[*] Steven Pressfield<\/a> said that he used to save each one of his manuscripts on a disk that he\u2019d keep in the glovebox of his car. Robert Greene<\/a> told me he sometimes puts a copy of his manuscript in the trunk of his car just in case. I bought a fireproof gun safe and keep my stuff in there\u2014just in case.<\/p>\n

[*] My editor Niki Papadopoulos at Penguin: \u201cIt\u2019s not what a book is. It\u2019s what a book does.<\/i>\u201d<\/p>\n

[*] While you are writing, read things totally unrelated<\/a> to what you\u2019re writing. You\u2019ll be amazed at the totally unexpected connections you\u2019ll make or strange things you\u2019ll discover. As Shelby Foote<\/a> put it in an interview<\/a> with The Paris Review<\/i>: \u201cI can\u2019t begin to tell you the things I discovered while I was looking for something else.\u201d<\/p>\n

[*] Writing requires what Cal Newport calls \u201cdeep work<\/a>\u201d\u2014periods of long, uninterrupted focus and creativity. If you don\u2019t give yourself enough of this time<\/a>, your work suffers. He recommends recording your deep work time each day\u2014so you actually know<\/i> if you\u2019re budgeting properly.<\/p>\n

[*] Software does not make you a better writer. Fuck Evernote. Fuck Scrivner. You don\u2019t need to get fancy. If classics were created with quill and ink, you\u2019ll probably be fine with a Word Document. Or a blank piece of paper. Don\u2019t let technology distract you. As Joyce Carol Oates<\/a> put it in an interview<\/a>, \u201cEvery writer has written \u201cby hand\u201d until relatively recent times. Writing is a consequence of thinking, planning, dreaming \u2014 this is the process that results in \u201cwriting,\u201d rather than the way in which the writing is recorded.\u201d<\/p>\n

[*] Talk about the ideas in the work<\/i> everywhere. Talk about the work itself nowhere. Don\u2019t be the person who tweets \u201cI\u2019m working on my novel.<\/a>\u201d Be too busy writing for that. Helen Simpson<\/a> has \u201cFaire et se taire\u201d from Flaubert on a Post-it near her desk, which she translates as \u201cShut up and get on with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

[*] Why can\u2019t you talk about the work? It\u2019s not because someone might steal it. It\u2019s because the validation you get<\/a> on social media has a perverse effect. You\u2019ll less likely to put in the hard work to complete something that you\u2019ve already been patted (or patted yourself) on the back for.<\/p>\n

[*] When you find yourself stuck with writer\u2019s block, pick up the phone and call someone smart and talk<\/i> to them about whatever the specific area you\u2019re stuck with is. Not that you\u2019re stuck, but about the topic. By the time you put your phone down, you\u2019ll have plenty to write. (As Seth Godin<\/a> put it, nobody gets \u201ctalker\u2019s block.\u201d<\/a>)<\/p>\n

[*] Keep a commonplace book<\/a> with anecdotes, stories and quotes you can always use\u2014from inspiration to directly using in your writing. And these can be anything. H.L. Mencken<\/a> for example, would \u201cmethodically fill a notebook with incidents, recording scraps of dialogue and slang, columns from the New York Sun<\/i>.\u201d<\/p>\n

[*] As you write down quotes and observations in your commonplace book, make sure to do it by hand. As Raymond Chandler<\/a> wrote, \u201cwhen you have to use your energy to put words down, you are more apt to make them count.\u201d<\/p>\n

[*] Elizabeth Gilbert<\/a> has a good trick<\/a> for cutting: As you go along, \u2018Ask yourself if this sentence, paragraph, or chapter truly furthers the narrative. If not, chuck it.\u2019 And as Stephen King<\/a> famously put it, \u201ckill your darlings, kill your darlings, even when it breaks your egocentric little scribbler\u2019s heart, kill your darlings.\u201d<\/p>\n

[*] Strenuous exercise everyday. For me, and for a lot of other writers, it\u2019s running<\/a>. Novelist Don DeLillo<\/a> told The Paris Review<\/i><\/a> how after writing for four hours, he goes running to \u201cshake off one world and enter another.\u201d Joyce Carol Oates<\/a>, in her ode to running<\/a>, said that \u201cthe twin activities of running and writing keep the writer reasonably sane and with the hope, however illusory and temporary, of control.\u201d<\/p>\n

[*] Ask yourself these four questions from George Orwell<\/a>: \u201cWhat am I trying to say? What words will express it? What image or idiom will make it clearer? Is this image fresh enough to have an effect?\u201d Then finish with these final two questions: \u201cCould I put it more shortly? Have I said anything that is avoidably ugly?\u201d<\/p>\n

[*] As a writer you need to make use of everything that happens around you and use it as material. Make use of Seinfeld\u2019s question<\/a>: \u201cI\u2019m never not working on material. Every second of my existence, I am thinking, \u2018Can I do something with that?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

[*] Airplanes with no wifi are a great place to write<\/a> and even better for editing. Because there is nowhere to go and nothing else to do.<\/p>\n

[*] Print and put a couple of important quotes up on the wall<\/a> to help guide you (either generally, or for a specific project). Here\u2019s a quote from a scholar describing why Cicero\u2019s speeches were so effective which I put on my wall while I was writing my first book<\/a>. \u201cAt his best [Cicero] offered a sustained interest, a constant variety, a consummate blend of humour and pathos, of narrative and argument, of description and declamation; while every part is subordinated to the purpose of the whole<\/i>, and combines, despite its intricacy of detail, to form a dramatic and coherent unit.\u201d (emphasis mine)<\/p>\n

[*] Focus on what <\/i>you\u2019re saying, worry less about how<\/i>. As William March wrote in The Bad Seed<\/i><\/a>, \u201dA great novelist with something to say has no concern with style or oddity of presentation.\u201d<\/p>\n

[*] A little trick I came up with. After every day of work, I save my manuscript as a new file (for example: EgoIsTheEnemy2-26.docx) which is saved on my computer and in Dropbox (before Dropbox, I just emailed it to myself). This way I keep a running record of the evolution of book. It comforts me that I can always go back if I mess something up or if I have to turn back around.<\/p>\n

[*] Famous ad-man David Ogilvy<\/a> put it bluntly<\/a>: \u201cUse short words, short sentences and short paragraphs.\u201d<\/p>\n

[*] Envision who you are writing this for. Like really picture them. Don\u2019t go off in a cave and do this solely for yourself. As Kurt Vonnegut<\/a> put it in his interview<\/a> with The Paris Review: \u201c<\/i>\u2026every successful creative person creates with an audience of one in mind. That\u2019s the secret of artistic unity. Anybody can achieve it, if he or she will make something with only one person in mind.\u201d<\/p>\n

[*] Do not chase exotic locations \u201cto do some writing.\u201d Budd Schulberg<\/a>\u2019s novel The Disenchanted<\/i> <\/a>about his time with F. Scott Fitzgerald expresses the dangers well: \u201cIt was a time everyone was pressing wonderful houses on us. \u2018I have a perfectly marvelous house for you to write in,\u2019 they\u2019d say. Of course no one needs marvelous houses to write in. I still knew that much. All you needed was one room. But somehow the next house always beckoned.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

[*] True enough, though John Fante<\/a> said that when you get stuck writing, hit the road.<\/p>\n

[*] Commitments (at the micro-level) are important too<\/a>. An article a week? An article a month? A book a year? A script every six weeks? Pick something, but commit to it\u2014publicly or contractually. \u201cQuantity produces quality,\u201d as Ray Bradbury<\/a> put it.<\/p>\n

[*] \u201cDon\u2019t ever write anything you don\u2019t like yourself and if you do like it, don\u2019t take anyone\u2019s advice about changing it. They just don\u2019t know.\u201d \u2013Raymond Chandler<\/a><\/p>\n

[*] Neil Strauss gave me another helpful iteration of that idea (which I later learned is from Neil Gaiman<\/a>): \u201cWhen someone tells you something is wrong with your writing, they\u2019re usually right. When they tell you how to fix it, they\u2019re almost always wrong.\u201d <\/i><\/p>\n

[*] Ogilvy<\/a> had another good rule<\/a>: \u201cNever use jargon words like reconceptualize<\/i>, demassification<\/i>, attitudinally<\/i>, judgmentally<\/i>. They are hallmarks of a pretentious ass.\u201d<\/p>\n

[*] Print out the work and edit it by hand as often as possible. It gives you the reader\u2019s point of view.<\/p>\n

[*] Hemingway advised fellow writer Thomas Wolfe<\/a> \u201cto break off work when you \u2018are going good.\u2019\u2014Then you can rest easily and on the next day easily resume.\u201d Brian Koppelman (Rounders, Billions) <\/i>has referred to this as stopping on \u201cwet edge.\u201d It staves off the despair the next day.<\/p>\n

[*] Keep the momentum: \u201cNever stop when you are stuck. You may not be able to solve the problem, but turn aside and write something else. Do not stop altogether.\u201d Jeanette Winterson<\/a><\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

That taps me out for now. But every time I read I compile a few more notecards. I\u2019ll update you when I\u2019ve got another round to share.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, stop reading stuff on the internet and get back to writing!<\/p>\n

Ready to create a writing routine of your\u00a0own?<\/h3>\n

Sign up now and receive our free guide \u201c12 Essential Writing Routines To Help You To Craft Your Own<\/span><\/a>.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Learn from the routines of superstar authors\u00a0Stephen King, Gertrude Stein, John Grisham, Ernest Hemingway, Neil Gaiman, and many more.<\/em><\/p>\n

Get the free guide\u00a0here!<\/span><\/a><\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Writing looks fun, but doing it professionally is hard. Like really hard. \u201cWhy on earth am I doing this?\u201d-hard. Which is probably why so many people want to write, yet so few actually do. But there are ways to make it easier, as many writers can tell you. Tricks that have been discovered over the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":594,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-593","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n44 Writing Hacks From Some of the Greatest Writers Who Ever Lived<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Writing is hard, but there are ways to make it easier\u2014tricks that have been discovered over the centuries to help with this difficult craft.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/44-writing-hacks-greatest-writers-ever-lived\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"44 Writing Hacks From Some of the Greatest Writers Who Ever Lived\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Writing is hard, but there are ways to make it easier\u2014tricks that have been discovered over the centuries to help with this difficult craft.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/44-writing-hacks-greatest-writers-ever-lived\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Writing Routines\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/writingroutines\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-01-02T09:05:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-01-05T19:07:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/pexels-photo-415105.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1219\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kevin Currie\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@writingroutines\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@writingroutines\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Kevin Currie\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"13 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/44-writing-hacks-greatest-writers-ever-lived\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/44-writing-hacks-greatest-writers-ever-lived\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Kevin Currie\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/#\/schema\/person\/a2da8a719a4aa9d1696b8bd8759fe175\"},\"headline\":\"44 Writing Hacks From Some of the Greatest Writers Who Ever Lived\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-01-02T09:05:12+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-01-05T19:07:05+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/44-writing-hacks-greatest-writers-ever-lived\/\"},\"wordCount\":2599,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/44-writing-hacks-greatest-writers-ever-lived\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/pexels-photo-415105.jpeg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Articles\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/44-writing-hacks-greatest-writers-ever-lived\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/44-writing-hacks-greatest-writers-ever-lived\/\",\"name\":\"44 Writing Hacks From Some of the Greatest Writers Who Ever Lived\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/44-writing-hacks-greatest-writers-ever-lived\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/44-writing-hacks-greatest-writers-ever-lived\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/pexels-photo-415105.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-01-02T09:05:12+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-01-05T19:07:05+00:00\",\"description\":\"Writing is hard, but there are ways to make it easier\u2014tricks that have been discovered over the centuries to help with this difficult craft.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/44-writing-hacks-greatest-writers-ever-lived\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/44-writing-hacks-greatest-writers-ever-lived\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/44-writing-hacks-greatest-writers-ever-lived\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/pexels-photo-415105.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/pexels-photo-415105.jpeg\",\"width\":1920,\"height\":1219},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/44-writing-hacks-greatest-writers-ever-lived\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"44 Writing Hacks From Some of the Greatest Writers Who Ever Lived\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/\",\"name\":\"Writing Routines\",\"description\":\"A behind-the-scenes look at the daily habits of writers and authors\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Writing Routines\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/writing-routines.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/writing-routines.png\",\"width\":1280,\"height\":720,\"caption\":\"Writing Routines\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/writingroutines\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/writingroutines\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/writingroutines\/\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/#\/schema\/person\/a2da8a719a4aa9d1696b8bd8759fe175\",\"name\":\"Kevin Currie\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a895ee40fa4dc9bd6e05a5b3cc103d0f686e1b2c695f3dd8885f82d2a4dd379a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a895ee40fa4dc9bd6e05a5b3cc103d0f686e1b2c695f3dd8885f82d2a4dd379a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Kevin Currie\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"44 Writing Hacks From Some of the Greatest Writers Who Ever Lived","description":"Writing is hard, but there are ways to make it easier\u2014tricks that have been discovered over the centuries to help with this difficult craft.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/44-writing-hacks-greatest-writers-ever-lived\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"44 Writing Hacks From Some of the Greatest Writers Who Ever Lived","og_description":"Writing is hard, but there are ways to make it easier\u2014tricks that have been discovered over the centuries to help with this difficult craft.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/44-writing-hacks-greatest-writers-ever-lived\/","og_site_name":"Writing Routines","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/writingroutines\/","article_published_time":"2018-01-02T09:05:12+00:00","article_modified_time":"2018-01-05T19:07:05+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1920,"height":1219,"url":"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/pexels-photo-415105.jpeg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Kevin Currie","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@writingroutines","twitter_site":"@writingroutines","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Kevin Currie","Estimated reading time":"13 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/44-writing-hacks-greatest-writers-ever-lived\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/44-writing-hacks-greatest-writers-ever-lived\/"},"author":{"name":"Kevin Currie","@id":"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/#\/schema\/person\/a2da8a719a4aa9d1696b8bd8759fe175"},"headline":"44 Writing Hacks From Some of the Greatest Writers Who Ever Lived","datePublished":"2018-01-02T09:05:12+00:00","dateModified":"2018-01-05T19:07:05+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/44-writing-hacks-greatest-writers-ever-lived\/"},"wordCount":2599,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/44-writing-hacks-greatest-writers-ever-lived\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/pexels-photo-415105.jpeg","articleSection":["Articles"],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/44-writing-hacks-greatest-writers-ever-lived\/","url":"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/44-writing-hacks-greatest-writers-ever-lived\/","name":"44 Writing Hacks From Some of the Greatest Writers Who Ever Lived","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/44-writing-hacks-greatest-writers-ever-lived\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/44-writing-hacks-greatest-writers-ever-lived\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/pexels-photo-415105.jpeg","datePublished":"2018-01-02T09:05:12+00:00","dateModified":"2018-01-05T19:07:05+00:00","description":"Writing is hard, but there are ways to make it easier\u2014tricks that have been discovered over the centuries to help with this difficult craft.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/44-writing-hacks-greatest-writers-ever-lived\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/44-writing-hacks-greatest-writers-ever-lived\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/44-writing-hacks-greatest-writers-ever-lived\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/pexels-photo-415105.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/pexels-photo-415105.jpeg","width":1920,"height":1219},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/44-writing-hacks-greatest-writers-ever-lived\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"44 Writing Hacks From Some of the Greatest Writers Who Ever Lived"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/","name":"Writing Routines","description":"A behind-the-scenes look at the daily habits of writers and authors","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/#organization","name":"Writing Routines","url":"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/writing-routines.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/writing-routines.png","width":1280,"height":720,"caption":"Writing Routines"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/writingroutines\/","https:\/\/x.com\/writingroutines","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/writingroutines\/"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/#\/schema\/person\/a2da8a719a4aa9d1696b8bd8759fe175","name":"Kevin Currie","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a895ee40fa4dc9bd6e05a5b3cc103d0f686e1b2c695f3dd8885f82d2a4dd379a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a895ee40fa4dc9bd6e05a5b3cc103d0f686e1b2c695f3dd8885f82d2a4dd379a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Kevin Currie"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/593","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=593"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/593\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":609,"href":"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/593\/revisions\/609"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/594"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=593"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=593"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.writingroutines.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=593"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}