Writing Rituals and Superstitutions

by Grace Topping

Recently, while taking a walk, I found myself avoiding stepping on cracks lest I break my mother’s back. Stupid I know, especially since it’s been decades since I first heard that saying, and my mother has been gone for years. But old superstitions stay with us, especially as we draw closer to Halloween. Among other superstitions, many of us avoid walking under a ladder or won’t open an umbrella indoors. As silly as superstitions are, we still hear about people who cling to them—like baseball players who wear the same pair of lucky socks for every game, afraid if they don’t, they won’t play well. Or actors who won’t say the name Macbeth or whistle in a theater in fear of bringing bad luck. 

Writers are no different. We do things out of superstition, perhaps afraid that by not observing them we might become blocked, fail to land an agent or publisher, or have our works flop. Below are just a few rituals or superstitions that some writers are known for. 

Many of us are fearful or leery of the number thirteen. Some writers take it to another level by avoiding having thirteen words in a sentence or thirteen pages in a chapter. I wonder if a writer ever convinced a publisher not to have a chapter thirteen.  

John Steinbeck always had twelve sharpened pencils on his desk before he started writing. Not eleven or thirteen but twelve.

Some writers avoid beginning or ending a manuscript on certain days of the week. For Truman Capote, that was Friday. Capote also said he couldn’t write unless lying down. 

Isabel Allende always begins writing a new work on January 8th.

Carson McCullers wore her favorite sweater when she wrote—or perhaps as a starving artist, it was her only sweater. 

Playwright Friedrich Schiller couldn’t write without the odor of a rotten apple in his desk drawer. 

Charles Dickens claimed that sleeping with his head facing north helped his creativity. I face north while sleeping. Hopefully, inspiration will strike soon.

Joaquin Miller felt he could only write to the sound of rain, so he had sprinklers installed to spray down on his roof. When I hear rain, I only worry about flooding in the basement.

John Cheever would dress in a suit and tie, walk to the lobby of his apartment building, and proceed to his basement office where he would strip down to his boxer shorts to write. 

JK Rowling will only type the title on the first page after she types The End on the last page.

But the strangest of all, before writing, Edith Sitwell would lie in an open coffin to clear her mind. If you think this will inspire you, you can buy a coffin from Costco. But you might want to have them deliver it after dark so you don’t alarm your neighbors.

Whether using rituals or observing superstition, writers do whatever it takes to be creative. Do you have a writing ritual or superstition?

Grace Topping is the author of the USA Today Bestselling Laura Bishop Mystery Series.