> [!cite]- Metadata > 2025-05-15 22:49 > Status: #secondary #article > Tags: `Read Time: 2m 47s` | **Author** | **Strategy** | | ---------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Haruki Murakami | Get into a strict routine and exercise | | Ransom Riggs | Start a collection | | Daniel Handler | Don't overlook the ordinary | | James Salter | Travel | | Marilynne Robinson | Keep a running list of figurative language | | Richard Siken | Work with a different medium for a while, then return to writing. Or read something you hate. | | Anne Carson | Write while you're making art with a different medium | | Cormac McCarthy | Talk to people | | Tobias Wolff | Takes notes about your childhood | | Denis Johnson | Take notes about random things | | Chuck Palahniuk | Write yourself out of real-life issues | | Michael Chabon | Throw away your book and start again | | J.M. Ledgard | Get ideas from your day job | | Lauren Groff | Return to something you love | | Nicholson Baker | Set Deadlines | | Rachel Kushner | Engage in the world | | Paul Rome | Move somewhere new | | Ann Patchett | Use the process of elimination | | Jose Saramago | Ask hypothetical questions | | Herman Koch | Do some field work. Write drunk | | Eileen Myles | Don't "outgrow" ideas. Don't write drunk | | Bill Clegg | Reconsider familiar things/places | | Ben Lerner | Narrate your life | | Colson Whitehead | Watch movies | | B.J. Novak | Be curious about weird things | | Urusla K. Le Guin | Pick any story from the air and run with it | | David Mitchell | Explore extended metaphors | | Khaled Hosseini | Watch the news | | Junot Diaz | Keep an inspirational journal | | Jeffery Eugenedies | Latch onto Roman and Greek Myths. Research medical conditions. | | Mark Haddon | Take a normal situation and make it not normal | | Emma Donoghue | Draw from other writing | | Jennifer Egan | Exploit little moments in your life | | Jon McGregor | Listen to "run-of-the mill" stories | | Donna Tartt | Visit yard sales | | Madeline Miller | Read ancient literature and fill in the gaps | | Lydia Davis | Read the opposite of what you want to write | | Annie Proulx | Research other occupations | | Ian McEwan | Really listen to your parents'/grandparents' stories | | Miranda July | Take long car rides | | Mitch Albom | Write about people close to you who have died | | Judy Blume | Go people-watching and imagine their lives | | John Darnielle | Start with a title, then build a character | | Joshua Ferris | Put one project on hold and work on something else | | Rick Moody | Let an idea sit | | Geraldine Brooks | Walk in graveyards | | Raymond Carver | Embellish your own life | | Melanie Banjamin | Go to an art exhibit | | Richard Matheson | Create an evil character out of the mundane | | Gabriel Garcia Marquez | Take a different look at disease. | ##### **My thoughts:** Looking through this list again I'll note a few of the approaches that resonate with me: Don't overlook the ordinary travel keep a running list of figurative language work in a different medium talk to people take notes about random things get ideas from your day-job ask hypothetical questions don't outgrow ideas narrate your life watch movies be curious about weird things explore extended metaphors watch/listen to the news keep an inspirational journal latch onto myths research different occupations go people watching and imagine their lives create an evil character out of the mundane take a different look at disease --- ### **References** [How 50 Famous Authors Find Writing Inspiration - Bookfox](https://thejohnfox.com/2016/06/writing-inspiration/)