Authors Electric

Kathleen Massara at Flavorwire did a series a while ago on the weird writing habits of famous authors. Truman Capote was a completely horizontal type who could only think lying down. John Cheever wrote in his underwear, a very common habit in these days of laptops in bed but perhaps not then. William Faulkner drank whisky. Definitely not for me that one, nor music or views thanks very much, though I love listening to radio plays & stories on BBC Radio 4 Listen Again when ebook formatting. The BBC International Short Story Award finalists are there for the taking at the moment. Vladimir Nabokov used index cards, a common one these days for early plotting, characters & ideas. Nabokov was one of those tool fuss-pots, his cards had to be of a particular type: “My schedule is flexible, but I am rather particular about my instruments: lined Bristol cards and well sharpened, not too hard, pencils capped with erasers.” T. S. Eliot tinting his face green to appear corpse-like is...