I Tried Neil Gaiman's (classic) Writing Routine for 7 Days...Here's What Happened

Neil Gaiman has been a tremendous source of inspiration to me as an author. As I work through the first draft of my current epic fantasy novel (Kingdom of Dragons), I decided to emulate Neil Gaiman's writing routine to try and re-ignite my passion for my book.

00:00 - Introduction
01:38 - Principle 1: write every day.
02:00 - Principle 2: use pen and paper.
02:27 - Principle 3: use designated writing zones.
03:00 - Principle 4: write or stare.
03:42 - Day 1
06:32 - Day 2
07:06 - Day 3 & beyond
10:49 - Closing thoughts

✏️ MY FREE WRITING ADVICE BOOK:

📙 MY BOOKS:

🔨 MY FAVOURITE WRITING TOOLS:

💬 CONNECT WITH ME:

(Note: I don't always get a chance to reply to every email. However, I do my best to read as many of them as possible, and it's my preferred method of communication.)

#neilgaiman #thesandman #writingvlog

[lizanna]

When good omens 2 was announced, Neil Gaiman talked about the night he and Terry plotted out the sequel. They were sharing a hotel room while promoting good Omens and Neil went out and came back late, trying to creep in without turning on the light so as not to take Terry. Terry turns on the light and says 'what time do you call this? Your mother and I were worried sick'

[cjpreach]

"Write or Stare" is AWESOME advice! I expect too many people will overlook this gem.

[missyllaineous]

I ended up sticking to handwriting for a number of reasons. The biggest two being 1) that it's easier to write to myself about the story with notes in the margins or writing a couple of synonyms next to each other so I don't get caught on one sentence for an hour trying to decided between them. It gets pretty fun to make a messy page that feels alive instead of the neatness of a computer page. And 2) I hate rereading my writing and editing. I have a bad habit of doing my editing on the first draft which slows me down and makes it way too easy for me to forget some details in early chapters as I reach the end of my story. The process of typing it up forces me to go through it again and remember all the things I like about it

[bukworm]

I REALLY appreciated you admitting to only putting down 50 words that one day. I've been writing every day for a while now and some days I've only hit 250 words in a session. On those days I've always felt so miserable, kind of like I not only let myself down, but that I also let down all the characters I was going to write for. Your confession made me feel a little less crazy, so thank you for that.

[littletodger]

My goodness, Perth is flat—but beautiful. Then you sprinkled it with a little stardust and magic. I just had my first novel published and felt something of a fraud, but needing to believe that I could call myself a writer. You helped me go from being an imposter to being proud to be a writer. I write from 2am to 4am. You live writing all day every day. That is the lesson I needed. Thank you Jed.

[gman]

I really love Neil Gaiman's voice. He narrated the audiobook for his Norse Mythology and it was a fantastic experience.

[Cristobels-Green-Boots]

Donna Tartt writes by hand, in notebooks: any idea that ‘comes up’
incidentally, she develops as far as possible & then SHE STAPLES IT IN!
It’s there — & not only as an add-on:
The story can continue from there: or not....
🙏🏻💔🙏🏽

[papl]

I'm not an lit author, I'm a scientist. But Mr. Gaiman's "work ethic" as well as Mr. Terry Pratchett's have pushed me to not only work hard, but enjoy what I do for a living.

[willwestray]

I respect the commitment to writing and trying that approach. He easily could’ve made an excuse to not write, and he had good reason not to lol, but he stuck with it. That’s how you get it done, respect.

[RobertWF]

I like the idea of writing down ideas & scenes in a notebook, then stitching them together.

More fun than slogging through from start to finish in order!

[tdd]

I'm a big fan of pen and paper for the zero draft. My bit of advice: get it digital every scene or two. For some folks, a couple hundred thousand words to transcribe can feel impossible.

[corvinscorner]

I bought his master class for my 19th birthday... in March 2019. Now it's been a little over 4 years and I can't get rid of the habit of handwriting my first drafts. I'm so repulsed by that blank Word Document page and computer screens by now... But once I have a paper in front of me the sentences FLOW. It's so freeing. Takes a bit more time (I kinda see the typing down as a first minor editing stage though) but it's so worth it. Keeps me from procrastinating, worrying about wordcount etc.

[Jed_Herne]

Kingdom of Dragons (the book I was writing in this video) is out now!

[ladyredl]

I’ve always handwritten my draft 1, (zero?) with a different color for each day. I’m just sitting here feeling cool because one of my favorite writers does the same.
Pro tip: fountain pens are great for hand fatigue!

[Mohammed-djol]

One thing I would recommend to immerse yourself even more in the writing session; use a fountain pen. Believe me, you will become obsessed about handwriting when you get your first fountain pen, and you will start to collect fountain pens "new hobby" 😃

[singinginthejukebox]

I was about to go get ready for bed but wanted to end the night watching this video and halfway through I switched over to my worldbuilding doc to keep working on it while finishing up listening to your video. I had no intention of writing tonight, but there you have it. So thank you for making these, they seriously do help and inspire.

[katkat]

i'm a screenwriter and i met neil gaiman during his book signing in manila. i cut my classes just to see him and i told him that. he asked me if my deed to see him was worth it. i said, YES.

cut to 2020, i did neil gaiman's masterclass workbook as a working material for the last film i was writing. i like the exercise where he tasks the writers to write one of the character's struggle but in their perspective. i was writing a psycho thriller story and i had to talk to a therapist to get myself grounded. it was a creepy yet rewarding experience. my character had motivation and depth, the producers liked it. we're in post-production currently.

if any of my films ever hits global fame, i will not hesitate to mention that neil gaiman was and will forever be my major influence in my writing career. i will tell him missing those classes way back in college was worth it just to see him.

[Jed_Herne]

Plus, when you sign up, you'll get 3 free fantasy short stories (by yours truly) that you can't find anywhere else.

[PhotoBombomb]

Great vlog Jed, you should do more of these. Looks like you had a blast hiking too!

[Ozgipsy]

I was at that 2020 talk. Good luck with your book.