Writing is one of the most valued skills in the modern world, but also one of the skills that is most difficult to master. Even writers who have experienced exceptional success will spend a lifetime studying the art of writing in order to forever improve. Written communication skills are currently among the most sought-after skills for new hires, and writing is also an art form that can help us to explore self-expression. Writing has become a standard practice to express and exchange thoughts and valuable information centuries ago, and now we are happy to collect some fascinating facts about writing and writers.
Top Jaw-Dropping Facts about Writing
Are you procrastinating instead of writing? We all do it sometimes, and it often seems like there is no remedy for this. Fortunately, there is. Here are some inspiring facts about writing that may get you going right away.
- The earliest writing is 5,500 years old. While humans have drawn symbols and images since the Stone Age, the first true writing is generally believed to be Sumerian cuneiform, which developed around 3500 BCE from pictographs. The cuneiform writing system was initially used to record business transactions—including several complaints and demands for refunds!—before expanding to include what we would recognize today as literature. The most important early work written in cuneiform is the Epic of Gilgamesh, the oldest written epic in the world. The Gilgamesh epic was created by compiling earlier shorter poems together to make a book-length story about a hero’s quest for immortality.
- Agatha Christie couldn’t actually write easily. Agatha Christie was one of the world’s most famous writers, and her mystery novels are some of the most famous in the world. However, she suffered from a condition called dysgraphia, which makes it difficult for a person to write, so Christie dictated her novels to another person. This also had the benefit of making them more conversational and thus more popular with her readers.
- John Steinbeck used up to 60 pencils per day. In the days before computers, it wasn’t uncommon for authors to write their books by hand. John Steinbeck could use up to 60 pencils per day when writing and reportedly used 300 pencils to complete his masterpiece, East of Eden. Each pencil could write up to 35 miles of writing.
- Creative writers don’t have a dominant brain hemisphere. It’s often said that the left hemisphere of the brain controls analytical and reasoning skills while the right hemisphere controls artistic and creative thought. Because of this, many believe that creative writers are right-brain dominant. However, studies have found that this isn’t the case and that many creative writers actually don’t have a dominant hemisphere but are more or less equally balanced between the two. Indeed, there is very little evidence that there are truly dominant brain hemispheres at all since both sides of the brain are always working together.
- Creative writing is similar to professional athletics. A German researcher, Martin Lotze, studied the brains of both professional athletes and professional writers and found that their brain activity was very similar during athletic competition and the writing process. Interestingly, Lotze found that professional writers and amateur writers had a key difference: Professional writers used their speech-processing center of the brain to develop their stories, while amateur writers relied on their vision centers to imagine the story first.
- Introverts make the best writers. There is a stereotype that writers are lonely, maladjusted introverts who don’t enjoy interacting with other people. While this stereotype isn’t completely true, studies have found that introverts are more creative and thus better creative writers. One of the reasons for this is likely that introversion gives someone more time to think alone, and thinking alone helps to spark creativity.
- Writer’s block is normal. Unlike athletics, where you can build skills regularly, creativity isn’t something that can be turned on at will. Because creativity doesn’t always turn on when you want it to, there are going to be times when you will face writer’s block. This is completely normal. Usually, giving your brain a little rest and distracting yourself with a different activity can help to get the creative juices flowing again.
- Student writers can benefit from an outside perspective. If you are facing a challenge with your writing, writer’s block, or aren’t sure of your writing skills, you can benefit from getting help from a professional writer at an online academic writing company. When you have professional writers showing you how to write papers by creating a fast and effective model essay on the topic of your choice, you’ll have access to the kind of essay writing that will show you the best way to approach any topic. A company like Smart Writing Service uses highly trained professional writers to deliver the kind of high-quality writing help that can make all the difference in your next academic essay.
- Our language is constantly changing. The English language changes at an astonishing rate. By one estimate, a new word is added to the dictionary every two hours. The conventions for how to use words also change at regular intervals. For example, some of the leading style guides, such as Chicago, APA, MLA, and AP change their rules for how to use punctuation, pronouns, and specific words and phrases at regular intervals. Writers need to keep up with the latest style changes to ensure their writing meets the mark.
- Writers can have odd habits. Vladimir Nabokov and Gertrude Stein preferred to write in parked cars. Anthony Trollope used a watch to ensure he wrote 250 words every 15 minutes. Find what works for you.
Facts Are not Enough: Start Writing Right Away
Writing is the way to express yourself, to share information, we write thousands of words every day just messaging with our friends, colleagues, peers, family. Still, there are people for whom writing is not a pleasant routine but an annoying challenge — students. Students need to write essays and research papers, and they often don’t have enough time to deal with everything at the same level of quality. What can we offer? We won’t give you many tips you will forget the next day. Our only advice is this — start writing. Even if you are in a bad mood, even if you don’t know the topic well enough or hate the discipline — just start writing and soon you will see that you have done half the work. Pablo Picasso always said that he believes in inspiration, but it only comes, when he is already working.
