How To Form A Writing Routine That Suits Your Style
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We all have different ways of doing things. Be it the perfect method for scrambling eggs (I add hunks o’ butter) or the precise cross-hatching required to create the ideal wood stack (I am more a “fling ‘em on and hope it doesn’t fall over” kinda guy), we all have our ways.
Writing is no different. Here are some examples:
My friend, the hugely successful historical fiction author Diana Gabaldon, writes at night. She developed a routine that might seem mad to many. Because she had young children, she organized her day around them. Once they were asleep, around 7pm, she went to sleep too…for about three hours. Then she’d wake up and start writing. At 4am or so she’d grab a couple more hours of snooze, then get the kids up.
Have you seen the size of her books? This obviously works well for her. And she didn’t change the routine when the kids grew up and left home. She still haunts the midnight hour. She also uses what’s called the “quilting method” of writing. Instead of starting at the beginning and working her way through to the end, she thinks, “Oh I’ll write this scene tonight three quarters through the book, then I’ll go back to page 20 — oh, and maybe I need to nail that epilogue.”
That’s her routine — for time and for technique — and it’s served her well.
Me? Well, I need my eight hours of sleep every night. The idea of dropping off only to then rise and write for five hours is very strange to me. It doesn’t suit. My magic hours are the ones straight after I wake. Apart from a splash of cold water, some hot coffee, and a piece of toast, I let little come between dream time and writing time. I like to remain connected to those subconscious urgings that have run through my mind all night. Because a writer is never off the clock (really, if you are engaged in a book, it’s always there in your mind, even when you appear to be giving full attention to your partner, children, mother, etc.). So I fuel my day’s writing with my night ramblings.
My epic novel, Vlad, The Last Confession, was the hardest thing I ever wrote. Partly due to the darkness of the story, partly due to the task of rendering very complex history into my customary historical thriller. So my routine with that book was even more severe than usual. I set the alarm for 5:55am every morning. (While on a school visit, after telling this story, one student asked, “Why don’t you sleep till 6am?” I replied, “That would be a lie in!”). I was at my desk by 6:15am, writing in the winter as light crept into the sky.
Those two methods, Diana’s and mine, are obviously very different. Yet both lead to the same end: the completion of a book that the public buys and reads. And truly, that’s the point. Everyone will have their own way of doing it, their own schedule in life that must be accommodated in order to write. There may be a family, a partner, a job. Writing must fit into life.
But here’s the deal — and it factors into something I wrote in the last post.
Writing is writing.
As I wrote before, writing is not thinking about writing. In the end, it is the task of setting words onto paper or screen, through keyboard or even dictation. Everyone has to accommodate other aspects of their lives to get to the point of writing, but the part of any routine that is absolutely essential is actually getting the words out.
It sounds obvious, doesn’t it? But it is surprising how many people think that writing is something that happens spontaneously, like when the mood takes you. For me, the most important part of the routine is sitting down and doing it.
Here’s an old truism: the art of writing is the art of putting your bottom in the seat.
I remember when I first started writing novels and told people of my routine, many would comment: you must be so disciplined. I remember bridling at that thought. I thought it made me sound too rigid, unyielding. Until I realized: no one was going to write my novels for me. I had to put my bottom in the seat (preferably while it was still dark outside) and write.
Whatever routine you follow, whatever hours you can allot to the act of writing, it begins with that. Sitting down and starting.
Many — perhaps most — people have very busy lives. Between work, friendship, and family, they have lots of things to do. I’ve seen too many people give up on their creative dreams and their wonderful ideas because they feel they don’t have enough time to write them down, to finish their book. They think, “Once I’ve done all these things I need to do, then I’ll do some writing” — and they are disappointed when it doesn’t materialize. They think it must be a lack of talent, a failure to understand how to to tease them into a story. While it is true that there is a craft to learn and lessons to be applied, it all begins with that bottom in the seat and a commitment to something you have decided is important to you.
I suggest that the routine you need to follow is the one that suits your life — but it must be a routine, not random, or a haphazard “I’ll get to it when I can.” If you have to get up at 6am to feed your baby, or go to work, set the alarm for 5:15am. Put in half an hour. Write a page. Do that for a year and you have a book.
It doesn’t matter what works for you. How you write is really in the category of “whatever works,” as Diana’s and my very different approaches suggest. But setting yourself a target that fits into your lifestyle and other commitments will get a book written, trust me. Set the alarm, switch on the computer (or grab your quill), and write a page. As you progress, you may find the alarm is going off earlier. You write two pages instead of one. On weekends, you may even write ten!
Writing is writing — and it happens after you put your bottom in that seat, and write this word and then the next one.
Chris Humphreys teaches writing when he’s not writing award-winning and bestselling novels of his own. Chris has authored more than eighteen published books over his two decade career, with such illustrious houses as Doubleday, Knopf, and Orion. Learn more about Chris on his website.
