To Each His Own Eccentricities

Every author has his or her favorite routines. One might prefer to compose in a crowded office, surrounded by stacks of notes and photographs. Another might opt for the environment of a beach cabaña, and pour out prose only between lunchtime and the first margarita of the afternoon. And then there are those folks--those annoying folks--who manage to rise at some ungodly hour of the morning, and get more done before they set off to their regular jobs than the rest of us accomplish in an entire day.

Recently, The Times of London asked eight well-known British writers--including Fay Weldon and William Boyd--to reveal when, where, and how they go about their literary labors. John Mortimer, the 83-year-old creator of that pleased-with-his-lot barrister Horace Rumpole (most prominent from the old Rumpole of the Bailey TV series), had his say on the matter, as well:

I live in a house my father built in the Chiltern Hills. I’ve lived here since I was a child. I write in a room that used to be the garage. It’s converted and full of books and photographs.

I write with a rather soft pen. I don’t know what you would call it: it’s softer than a Biro, soft and red. I have hundreds of them, a huge supply. I write on the pads which court barristers write on. My supply of those is probably running out. They have rather long pages. You get them in a book, which I tear off. Each page is almost exactly 300 words. Then somebody has to type out what I have written. I can’t read it really, but that wonderful woman can.

If I write a film script, people are changing it the whole time. If I write a book I don’t change it much: Rumpole and the Reign of Terror was published on October 5 and I’m working on the next Rumpole after that, which should be finished by spring. I write in the morning. I used to get up at six--four even--but I don’t so much any more. Now I get up at seven or eight, and try and write till lunch time. I don’t write after lunch.

You can read the entire Times piece here.

(Hat tip to Campaign for the American Reader.)