John Grisham on his regimented writing routine | Author Shorts

[@RaycoBB-t7t]

Hello, Mr. Grisham. I am Japanese woman of 72 who has been studying English for all her life but still not has achieved to the level she has been wanting. I just want to say that compared to Pelican Brief, your English and sentences have refined and no words are wasted in Gray Mountain. And might I add that you have reached to the level of Agatha Christie? Thank you for giving me such a joy to read books.

[@queenofweaves916]

I’ve been a fan for 25 years he is one of my favorite authors. The very first book I read was A time to kill. I was 22 and pregnant with my first child. I’ve always loved to read, and what better place than on the long Bart train ride from Berkeley to San Francisco to see my ob/gyn doctor. So after picking up a roast beef sandwich piled high with jalapeños from Togo’s I waddled into Walgreens and picked up a paperback. I had never heard of John Grisham before but he was a New York Times bestseller so out of curiosity I picked up the book and the rest is history. The moment I started reading the book, I knew it was going to be a movie. I could see it clearly. I couldn’t put the book down. I got lost in its pages and didn’t find my way out until the last page, and I’ve been hooked since day one.

[@Musicienne-DAB1995]

What a great story. (You remember the roast beef sandwich so clearly. Pregnancy cravings?)

[@gastondeveaux3783]

This is impressive. And you could say that it can apply to any discipline. The kind of disciplined ritual, and repeating it day in day out, for weeks , months, years, decades, that is a great recipe. Success is not the end point. Success is the things you do regularly. The good habits.

[@blessingmunhenzva9768]

You are my inspiration. I love the pace. Mr Grisham you rock.My first book I read was the Client. I got hooked instantly. I almost changed my career goal to become a lawyer but funds constrained me .

[@bookswiper]

Grishams firm is in my opinion the best book ever written. I always mention it first if I remember a bestseller and I have read many books. Thank you for creating these many great books.

[@moniqueneagle7091]

I love this guy and I read all his books since the past three years. One of them completely changed my life. For the better. Thanks to M. Grisham.

[@dietwater4620]

Which one

[@moniqueneagle7091]

@@dietwater4620 Le Clandestin. 👍

[@AdrianIsaacs]

I first noticed his books when I was in about sixth or seventh grade, which would have been early nineties. My grandma had copies of The Firm and The Client, and I picked them up and read some of them while I was at her house, but I never finished them. Just recently, I finally resolved to read one of this books. It was The Street Lawyer. I really liked it, and just today, I picked up a copy of The King of Torts. I'll be getting to that shortly.

[@Sayko434]

His writing doesn't need to evolve. Different strokes for different folks. I love his work

[@presleyhekere3757]

I love his work... A great writer

[@andyontheinternet5777]

I've been following a similar routine, and it has been effective. My main difference is that I haven't done much outlining, so it takes longer to write some scenes and revisions are tougher.

[@JEDIAL9]

Thanks, Mr. Grisham. I am bushing up and concluding my second novel. Unfortunately, I work full time and what have you but I do a lot scribbling in handheld pads. Soon enough, I am sure of it, I will be a full time author! In the meantime, however, I enjoy the rocky journeys and the lessons acquired empirically and so forth. Now to your word of writing wisdom to my idiosyncrasy, it has come natural for me to write the ending first. So I actually don't dive into the book unless I have a good conclusion! So, my first chapter is, more or less, my end chapter.

[@kanghwanlee3]

I guess his and King's such different approaches on knowing the ending is understandable considering the types of stories they write

[@DreamfactoryZero]

I'm a fan of king, but his endings usually aren't the best.

[@Alkemisti]

That's _so_ sick. I could never be ten minutes away from my fax machine.

[@MrsCrazyrange]

Jukka J. Rintala I LOVE it, very witty ;)

[@AWildBard]

haha

[@horatioaquaponics7818]

Just getting better looking as he matures but watch that sun, John. (oh and love the writing!)

[@ariyapourns.7551]

Thank you Mr. Grisham for your writing regiment. I've already started my plots on different files of paper. My goal is to finish the stories; I wish I could finish a book in 6 months.

[@gastondeveaux3783]

It's regimen. 😂. Sorry, I can't help it.

[@gregorz482]

Thank you for your effort,I love your books.

[@nikmona1288]

I've been published in a few short story anthologies and a podcast, and my goal is to finish the rough draft of my first novel within the next 2 months (50,000 words in and going strong!). I love watching interviews or conversations with authors and writers; not necessarily because I want to emulate their style or their routines, but because I enjoy their insights and seeing what works for different people. John Grisham is one of my favorite authors to hear talk about the craft, but I have to make a confession: I've never read a single one of his books! I saw a video of him in discussion with Stephen King a few months ago and just fell in love with his thought process and the way he approaches the art of storytelling. So I have a question for those of you who are fans of his writing: What novel do you think is the best introduction to the works of John Grisham?

[@reaganwiles_art]

I read Henry Miller, Faulkner, Nabokov, Singer, Poe, Dickens, Tolstoy, Celine all that I think are great writers: Grisham and King are great writers. I have read about six or eight Grisham books, not the whole truckload. I liked one called the Advocate. I liked the Firm. I liked the one about the cigarette companies and class-action suits The Runaway Jury. The Street Lawyer, the Rainmaker, The Client. A Time to Kill.

[@CharlesMcKinneyIV]

His first book that I read just this year was The Partner and it was great from start to finish. I recently finished The Pelican Brief, another winner, and now I'm reading The Firm. How's your novel going? I'm a professional editor if you're seeking a serious and meticulous review of your manuscript. Best wishes!

[@queenofweaves916]

Hi I hope you’ve read some of his work by now. He is absolutely amazing. I love his work so much it’s hard to pick just one. I’m going to say Sycamore Row because it hasn’t been made into a movie but is a delicious read just the same. In fact I’m going to read it again this summer.

[@sirrykr1679]

A time to kill is absolutely haunting.

[@oliolion]

He writes in an office with no fax machine? I could never be that disciplined.

[@mareker]

My office doesn't have fax as well ;P

[@randymoore4027]

Absolutely America’s finest writer alive! Would compare favorably with Hemingway and Mark Twain. Great drama and legal insight combined with descriptive narrative make John Grisham’s novels superb examples of our current times!

[@fiarandompenaltygeneratorm5044]

Tell me you know nothing about American literature without telling me you know nothing about American literature:

[@rajamohammed8683]

People from every class read John Grisham. His books are insisting the importance of humanity in legal matters and proceedings which has an appeal to the readers. I like his one man against a crowd theme and that man almost always wins by ways accepted by law. John Grisham is one of my favorite authors.

[@alena1vlog474]

He is getting more handsome and distinguished as he gets older!!!

[@Jay-ek2ym]

The Rainmaker is a classic

[@josephcusumano2885]

Very helpful sir, thanks!

[@itzdm0r3]

Good advice, I like it!

[@normadesmond6017]

admire his discipline. I have no discipline. I have about 10 ideas for a great book but life gets in the way.

[@brianniac23]

Interesting. Especially the difference to for example king.

[@jimdandy2318]

Actually, I can identify with knowing where you're going before you begin. Those answers are major a-ha moments you have when you first imagine the book. Clearing the mist is what I do as I write the rest.

[@jimdandy2318]

It's all investigation & problem solving.

[@BigEdDunkel]

No faxes?!

[@collectivedreamer4541]

A seasonal habit. That's a first

[@lynnturman8157]

I try to write one sentence every other Sunday afternoon. I'm hoping to have my first chapter done in 2028.

[@suwpoqzwn19]

Brilliant. Very similar to Stephen King.

[@LoffysDomain]

0:15 Twohundredfifty years?

[@morgenoghmanann8746]

Loffy ~ "That's been my schedule for ten or fifteen years."

[@williamneal9076]

WOW

[@rodderickjames-bp5rp]

❤

[@karishort7561]

I haven't had a phone in 4 months lol I don't want any distractions..

[@Magneticlaw]

That, is what is called 'discipline'.

[@bushandblair]

There are people that write great stories and there are people that are great writers...... and then there are people who make a great deal of money and forget that they can be both.......

[@OneBlurryLens]

Does he have anything with his coffee like a muffin or a pastry? And what kind of coffee does he drink?

[@jurjclooners829]

"yeah i get up in the morning n call up my ghost writer"

[@fiarandompenaltygeneratorm5044]

I think Grisham is genuinely writing his work - so is Stephen King. I don't think either qualifies as "great" literature. They are pop novelists, formulaic. But they do put the work in, and I can respect that...Now James Patterson, on the other hand, represents the worst in American publishing at the moment.

[@IlseMulAuthor]

Why is it obviously a good to write in January February and March?

[@andyontheinternet5777]

I find that time of year good for writing because there is less going on to take my attention away from the book.

[@barbarabrennan1753]

Yeh, but when you first sit down you have to have the general idea of characters and plot. Right?

[@barbarabrennan1753]

Camino winds already had the chracters. Were you watching the news and you got inspired.?

[@mostafasaadinasab6338]

#followers

[@mostafasaadinasab6338]

Awarded the Lawyer's copy rights duty ministry education Iranian

[@BudsCartoon]

This guy treats art like a 9-5 job. Mandated art. Art for cash.

[@Bewareofthewolves]

Making art requires discipline. Brilliant novels don’t just appear from the ether. Writers have to sit down and do the work. I’m not commenting on the quality of this man’s work as I’ve never read him.

[@BudsCartoon]

@@Bewareofthewolves Discipline when writing, sure, just like great bands can be a trainwreck but in studio be pros, but it still doesn't have to be treated like a 9-5. I guess just different strokes for different folks.

[@Bewareofthewolves]

@@BudsCartoon Sometimes art is the only means of income for a person so often art and work are connected, so in that sense it has to be treated like a job to some degree. I would agree though, that when art is treated like a job the work and integrity is compromised which ultimately leads to producing art that sells rather than art which is lasting.

[@elementeight8]

This is one of the most ignorant things I’ve read in a while. Well done. Enjoy mediocrity.

[@BudsCartoon]

@@elementeight8 And who are you???

[@MrJason9142002]

How can I write a book in Hindu?

[@barbarabrennan1753]

Here's a plot. A woman goes on the internet for research and ends up with the darkest people youd never imagine. Some are known to be dead. Knowing that can make you dead. Some are comedians dead. One in particular could be really sick. So sick that he may be pretending to be your son's father-in-law. You cant even suggest the notion to your son because you risk losing his connection. The dead comedian plants his face on your youtube feed knowing you cant stand him. He has been living around you in various guises. His daughter drives the senior bus. Both of them are sabotaging your life because noone suspects who they are. His ex-wife lives in the building as well and has befriended you. Your personal life gets warped because this guy is so expert at disguises and voices, he could turn up on the street disguised as a woman. The greatest fear of a parent is not knowing who is around her son and grandchildren.

[@FSmithSE1]

I NEED TO PROVIDE YOU A LETTER REGARDING OUTLINE OF A NEW BOOK FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION. EMAIL ? ADDRESS ? FRED SMITH U.S. NAVY RETIRED