Take Charles Dickens and his deaf cat, Bob.
Bob would watch Dickens as he read by candlelight.
If he felt in need of play time,
he would put out the candle with his paw repeatedly until the author got the idea.
Like Macak did with Nicola Tesla as a child,
Bob would follow Dickens about like a dog.
Dickens loved Bob. So much so that when Bob died, the master turned him into a letter opener!!
Not the whole cat, actually. Just a single paw,
which the author had stuffed and attached to an ivory blade.
The blade is engraved “C.D. In Memory of Bob 1862″
which is more grave marker than most pussycats can hope for.
Among the successful novelists who wrote lying down are Mark Twain, George Orwell, Edith Wharton, Woody Allen and Marcel Proust.
They were all known for churning out pages while lying in bed or lounged on a sofa.
American author and playwright Truman Capote even claimed to be a
“completely horizontal author” because he couldn’t think and write unless he was lying down.
Writers like Hemingway, Charles Dickens, Virginia Woolf, Lewis Carroll, and Philip Roth all liked writing standing up.
These great thinkers have been inspired to pen their finest pieces at their standing desk.
For health-conscious writers, this technique might work for you because standing desks offer many proven benefits.
Vladimir Nabokov, author of Lolita, Pale Fire, and Ada, was very particular about his writing instruments.
He composed all his works on index cards, which he kept in slim boxes.
This odd method enabled him to write scenes non-sequentially and re-order the cards any time he wanted.
Nabokov also stored some of his lined Bristol cards underneath his pillow.
This way, if an idea popped into his head, he could quickly write it down.
You can use index cards when doing your note-taking or plotting too.
It’s a different way to construct your story that can knock fun things loose.
Bob's foot became a letter opener - that is a little weird.
ReplyDeleteBut then, so was Charles Dickens! :-)
DeleteDickens seems to have loved his raven (following Grip's death, he actually purchased another pet raven, called Grip II),
so in 1840 when writing Barnaby Rudge, he decided to write his beloved bird into the novel.
It occurs to me that Vladimir Nabokov's method is the forerunner of Scrivener, which use for everything. By the way, I write standing up, usually at the kitchen.
ReplyDeleteIn the kitchen, you can munch snacks as you write! :-)
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