Odd Type Writers: From Joyce and Dickens to Wharton and Welty, the Obsessive Habits and Quirky Techniques of Great Authors by Johnson Celia Blue

Author:Johnson, Celia Blue [Johnson, Celia Blue]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9781101623985
Publisher: Penguin Group US
Published: 2013-06-04T04:00:00+00:00

In the Shadow of Masters

Many great writers developed their voices, in part, by tracing the words of their favorite predecessors. While Jack London handwrote Rudyard Kipling’s stories, Ray Bradbury hammered out pieces by authors he admired on a typewriter to help perfect his own prose. In moments of utmost despair, Bradbury dropped entire paragraphs by Tom Wolfe into his drafts. “Because I couldn’t do it, you see. I was so frustrated!” he proclaimed in an interview for the Paris Review. As a teen, Joan Didion learned to type while copying out Ernest Hemingway’s work. She was particularly impressed by his “perfect sentences.”

Rewriting a favorite novel is one way to absorb the style of a literary master. Other writers chose to read a particular book every day before they set to work. The process of reading helped each of these authors warm up before setting pen to paper. French author Stendhal read a government text every day before composing his novel The Charterhouse of Parma. In a letter to Honoré de Balzac, Stendhal wrote, “In order to acquire the correct tone I read every morning two or three pages of the Civil Code.” Somerset Maugham developed a ritual of reading Voltaire’s Candide before diving into a new novel. “So that I may have in the back of my mind the touchstone of that lucidity, grace and wit,” he noted.

Willa Cather read the Bible before she wrote. According to Thornton Wilder, Cather wanted “to get in touch with fine prose.” He noted that she regretted choosing an archaic text, but the habit had already stuck. Maya Angelou also found inspiration in the Bible, which she kept nearby when she worked. When asked why she used the Bible, Angelou responded, “For melody. For content also. I’m working at trying to be a Christian and that’s serious business.”

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