5 Bits Of Writing Advice From Patricia Highsmith

In this post, Writers Write explores bits of writing advice from Patricia Highsmith.

About Patricia Highsmith

Patricia Highsmith was born 19 January 1921 and died 4 February 1995. She was an American thriller writer who penned more than 20 novels, including Strangers on a Train, The Price of Salt, and The Talented Mr. Ripley, as well as numerous short stories. She wrote a series of five novels featuring the character, Tom Ripley.

She was called ‘the poet of apprehension’ by novelist Graham Greene, because of her suspenseful stories.

Many of her novels, including The Talented Mr. Ripley and Strangers On A Train were adapted for film and television.

Highsmith loved controversy: broke up relationships, carried snails in her handbag for shock value, and hated almost every group equally. She remains controversial for her anti-Semitic, racist, and misanthropic statements.

5 Bits Of Writing Advice From Patricia Highsmith 

1. Write Alone

‘I can’t write if someone else is in the house, not even the cleaning woman. I like to work for four or five hours a day. I aim for seven days a week. I have no television – I hate it. I listen to the BBC World Service starting at 2 in the morning until 4. I switch off the light and listen in bed. I don’t set the alarm to get up. I get up when I feel like it.’ – BFI.org.uk, 1988 Interview

Writers don’t surround their desk with others, and tell them to gather around when they type. Writing is a lonely craft, that asks little distraction.

Patricia Highsmith wanted to write completely alone. She had her own writing routine, and hated interference. She wrote more than 20 books doing this, and had time for other things.

Set your writing routine, and write alone.

2. Anything Is Possible

‘…an imaginative writer is very free-wheeling; he has to forget about his own personal morals, especially if he is writing about criminals. He has to feel anything is possible.’ – Armchair Detective, 1981 Interview

An interviewer asked what she thinks of George Bernard Shaw, and the idea that writers have to think criminally. This is what Highsmith said in response: she believed that writers should give their characters free reign, and see what happens.

Writing fiction is about experiences, and conveying ones that you (as writer) didn’t have yourself.

3. Argue With Yourself

‘Every book is an argument with myself,’ – NY Times, Quoted 2021

Writing is a discussion, a constant debate, for the writer and their characters. A story proposes an idea, and then pulls it apart every time you edit. Highsmith was quoted as saying that she sees every book as a lone argument.

Approach writing the same way. Discuss everything, and always have a counterpoint. This is how you see your own plot holes, and fix them, all at once.

4. Use Your Emotion

‘I am now cynical, fairly rich … lonely, depressed, and totally pessimistic.’ – DW, Quoted January 1970 Diary Entry

Highsmith was hated, and she hated everything. Her chronic alcoholism intensified with age.

When she achieved her writing goals, she was still not happy. Assume that the same will be true for you, even when you are fourteen royalty checks into your career. Philosophy calls it the ‘hedonic treadmill’, that humanity is always chasing one more thing.

Use your emotion, it makes for powerful writing. Always set new goals, or you will get stuck.

5. Play Games

‘Writing fiction is a game, and one must be amused all the time to do it.’ – from Plotting and Writing Suspense Fiction

Many writers challenge themselves when they write. Take time to daydream because you’re working while you think. Create a playlist to write by. Pin pictures of people and places that look like your characters and settings on a vision board.

Highsmith admits to ‘editing with crayon (doing so “gives one the proper cavalier attitude”) and napping on the job (it helps solve problems).’

Immerse yourself in the story.

The Last Word

In this post, Writers Write looked at writing advice from Patricia Highsmith. We have writing advice from many other writers, and hope you can learn from them too.

Source for image: Unknown author / Harper & Brothers, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Patricia-Highsmith-1962.jpg

By Alex J. Coyne. Alex is a writer, proofreader, and regular card player. His features about cards, bridge, and card playing have appeared in Great Bridge Links, Gifts for Card Players, Bridge Canada Magazine, and Caribbean Compass. Get in touch at alexcoyneofficial.com.

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