Kazuo Ishiguro 2014 Fiction Morning 9AM–10:30AM The Guardian interview

Dan Brown 2017 Fiction Morning 4AM–12PM The New York Times interview

Philip Pullman 2017 Fiction Morning–afternoon 10AM–1PM The New York Times interview

Ian Fleming 1964 Fiction Morning–evening 10AM–12PM, 6–7PM Playboy interview

Joseph Campbell ? Nonfiction Morning–evening 9AM–6PM Biography Campbell refers to “reading” in this anecdote of his youth; unclear if that includes writing or if he changed later.

Charles Dickens ? Fiction Morning–afternoon 9AM–2PM Biography

Robert Frost ? Fiction Afternoon–evening 1PM?–3AM Biography

Winston Churchill ? Nonfiction Morning–evening 11AM–1PM, 11PM–2AM Biography

Frank Herbert 1969 Fiction Morning–evening 5AM–7AM, 5PM–1AM McNelly interview

Harry Harrison 1968 Fiction Afternoon 12:30PM–5PM McNelly interview

Toni Morrison 2015 Fiction Morning 6AM–10AM Goodreads

Michael Connelly 2017 Fiction Morning 4AM–7AM Goodreads Inferring times from his preference to write “before the light gets up in the sky…before the rest of the city wakes up…dark morning hours”

Stephenie Meyer 2016 Fiction Evening 8PM–12PM Goodreads

Stephen King 2014 Fiction Morning 8AM–12PM Goodreads

Paulo Coelho 2014 Fiction Evening ?PM–4AM Goodreads

Brandon Sanderson 2012 Fiction Evening 12PM–4PM, 4PM–3AM FAQ , online interview

Margaret Atwood 1990 Fiction Morning–afternoon 10AM–4PM Paris Review Her later GoodReads interview suggests she loosened her schedule after her daughter grew up.

Saint-Exupéry 1947 Fiction Evening 11PM–8AM Biography

Neil Gaiman 2004 Fiction Evening ?PM–?AM Interview anthology

John Irving 1986 Fiction Morning–afternoon ?AM–?PM Paris Review interview Inferred from his description 8-hour days which terminate before “the evening”, reserved for research.

Donald Hall 2018 Fiction Morning–afternoon 5AM–?PM Paris Review interview

Hunter Thompson ? Nonfiction Evening 12AM?–6AM? Biography

Michel Houellebecq 2010 Fiction Morning 1AM–?AM Paris Review

Joyce Cary 1954 Fiction Morning 9AM–? Paris Review interview “He rose, he said, early, and was always at his desk by nine.”

Ursula K. Le Guin 1988 Fiction Morning 7:15AM–12PM Polish interview Based on her “ideal schedule”: “7:15 a.m.—get to work writing, writing, writing. / Noon—lunch.”

William Gibson 2011 Fiction Morning–afternoon 9AM–?PM Paris Review interview Schedule varies in how late Gibson goes into the afternoon/evening, but assuming his Pilates classes are 1 hour, he doesn’t start before ~9AM.

Gene Wolfe 2002 Fiction Morning 4AM–? 2002 Locus interview

Beatriz Williams 2018 Fiction Morning–evening 7AM?-1PM, 7PM-?PM Goodreads Writing starts after “kids are off to school” (which for Americans would generally be 7–9AM depending on age), and resumes in “the evening” (presumably after a family dinner)

Deborah Harkness 2018 Fiction+nonfiction Morning–evening ?AM-?PM Goodreads Harkness describes writing for the first hour every day as a “warm-up…the rest of the day kind of clicks along”.

Ruth Ware 2018 Fiction Morning–afternoon 7AM?–?PM Goodreads Like Williams, writing is done in between children going to school & returning.

Naomi Novik 2018 Fiction Afternoon–evening Noon?–3AM? Goodreads “I bitterly lament the loss of my former schedule. [Laughs] I would go to sleep at 3 a.m. and wake up at 11, and that was so nice.”

Max Lugavere 2019 Nonfiction Morning–evening 8AM?–1AM? New York Times profile

Chloe Benjamin 2018 Fiction Morning–afternoon 9AM–noon Goodreads

Josiah Bancroft 2018 Fiction Any Any Goodreads

Janet Fitch 2017 Fiction Morning–afternoon 9:30AM–3PM Goodreads

Celeste Ng 2017 Fiction Morning–afternoon 7AM?–?PM Goodreads During school hours.

Meg Wolitzer 2018 Fiction Morning ?AM–?PM Goodreads Previously during school hours.

Lisa Genova 2018 Fiction Morning ?AM-1PM? Goodreads Genova writes for 4 hours regularly at Starbucks; that suggests starting around 9AM and finishing around 1PM.

A.E. Housman 1933 Fiction Afternoon 1PM-4PM? The Name And Nature Of Poetry “Having drunk a pint of beer at luncheon…I would go out for a walk of two or three hours”

John Peale Bishop <1952 Fiction Morning ? Attributed by Ghiselin 1952 “John Peale Bishop recommended going as soon as possible from sleep to the writing desk.”

Mohsin Hamid 2017 Fiction Morning–evening ? Goodreads Hamid preferred “late at night…a vampire-like existence” but due to children now follows “completely different” school-hours .

Colson Whitehead 2016 Fiction Morning–afternoon 10AM–3PM Goodreads

Michael Chabon 2012 Fiction Evening 10PM–4AM Goodreads

Augusten Burroughs 2016 Fiction+nonfiction Any ? Goodreads

Nora Roberts 2016 Fiction Morning 7:30AM–3:00PM Goodreads

Elin Hilderbrand 2016 Fiction Any ? Goodreads

Julian Fellowes 2016 Fiction Morning–evening 9:30AM–8PM Goodreads

Anonymous 2016 ? Morning 5AM–noon Goodreads As described by Julian Fellowes

Michael J. Sullivan 2016 Fiction Morning 9AM?–noon Goodreads “…Most people write from whenever they wake up until noon or one. That’s your writing period. I do it every day…during that period of three or four hours.”

Jay McInerney 2016 Fiction Morning 9:30AM–12:30PM Goodreads

Iris Murdoch 1990 Fiction+nonfiction Morning–evening ?AM–noon, 4:30PM–8PM Paris Review

Isabel Allende 2015 Fiction Morning ?–noon? Goodreads “I work many hours a day, usually starting in the morning. I’m much better then than in the afternoon or the evening.”

Conor Franta 2016 Nonfiction Morning ? Goodreads

Paula Hawkins 2015 Fiction Morning–afternoon 9AM?–5PM? Goodreads “I’m used to just getting up, coming downstairs, sitting at my desk and writing. Sometimes if the writing’s going really well I can write almost all day and all night but usually it’s a pretty normal day, not quite 9 to 5 but not that far off.”

Helen Oyeyemi 2016 Fiction Evening? ? Goodreads “It changes from book to book. With these stories, I think I was up very late at night, writing, like, at 2 a.m. And then I’d just sleep a lot and wake up and write some more. But with other books, I’ve had much more structure.”

Danielle Steele 2019 Fiction Morning–evening 8AM–4AM? Glamour profile “To pull it off, she works 20 to 22 hours a day…She gets to her office—down the hall from her bedroom—by 8:00 A.M…‘If I have four hours [of sleep], it’s really a good night for me’” May be a ‘short sleeper’.

Alan Bradley 2015 Fiction Morning 4:30AM–10AM Goodreads

Erik Larson 2011 Nonfiction Morning 4:30AM–noon Goodreads

Laurell K. Hamilton 2015 Fiction Morning–afternoon? ? Goodreads Multiple schedules reported: 5AM–8AM? (before day job), 10AM–3PM (full-time writer), then miscellaneous (while childrearing).

Judy Blume 2015 Fiction Morning ?AM–noon Goodreads After walk/breakfast/shower, until noon.

Orhan Pamuk 2015 Fiction Evening? ?PM–4AM Goodreads Pamuk thanks “coffee and tea” and says “especially before my daughter was born I used to write until four in the morning.”, suggesting starting only in the evening.

Yu Hua 2015 Fiction Any ? Goodreads

Anthony Doerr 2015 Fiction Morning ? Goodreads

Liane Moriarty 2014 Fiction Any ? Goodreads “when I have child-free time”

Pierce Brown 2014 Fiction Morning–afternoon 8AM?–noon, 3PM–7PM Goodreads 8 hours total, morning until noon (=8AM), afternoon until 7–8PM (=3–4PM)

David Mitchell 2014 Fiction Morning–afternoon 9AM?–4PM? Goodreads “I…write at the kitchen table when the kids are at school.”

Sarah Waters 2014 Fiction Morning–afternoon 9AM–4:30PM Goodreads

Jacqueline Winspear 2014 Fiction Morning–afternoon 6AM–?AM,?AM–?PM Goodreads Winspear gives a detailed idealized schedule: she wakes ~5:30AM, writes for several hours, walks/breakfasts, writes additional hours, exercises, writes additional hours, and stops sometime before dinner.

Nick Harkaway 2014 Fiction Morning–afternoon 8:30AM–noon, ?PM–6PM Goodreads

Diana Gabaldon 2014 Fiction Morning, afternoon, evening 11AM–noon, 1PM?–2PM?, midnight–4AM Goodreads Gabaldon writes briefly during the day, then wakes up at midnight to do her main writing.

Herman Koch 2014 Fiction Morning 9AM–11AM Goodreads

Charlaine Harris 2014 Fiction Morning 9AM?–? Goodreads

Michael Cunningham 2014 Fiction Morning ? Goodreads “I need to write first thing in the morning…I’m at the computer anywhere from four to six hours.”

Jane Green 2014 Fiction Morning 9AM?–noon? Goodreads “Once my kids have gone to school, I…just switch off for three hours.”

Laura Lippman 2014 Fiction Morning 8AM–noon Goodreads

Sue Monk Kidd 2014 Fiction Any ? Goodreads “But I write all day long.”

Ishmael Beah 2014 Fiction+nonfiction Morning, evening ?PM-?AM Goodreads Both late night & early morning: “I like to write late at night when everything is really quiet—especially here in New York—and I’ll work right through until the morning. But if I’m home in Sierra Leone, it’s different, and I usually write early in the morning or when I can”

Ruth Ozeki 2013 Fiction Morning–afternoon ?AM-3PM? Goodreads Starts in the morning after meditation, then “Usually I write until mid-afternoon”.

Walter Mosley 2017 Fiction Morning ? Paris Review

Susan Cain 2013 Nonfiction Morning ? Goodreads “I wake up in the morning, and the first thing I do is go to my favorite café.”

M. L. Stedman 2012 Fiction Morning–afternoon ? Goodreads “I only write in the daytime—never at night.”

George Saunders 2013 Fiction Morning–afternoon ?AM–?PM Goodreads “On a perfect day I walk the dogs, get a cup of coffee, and go over there and just stay for seven or eight hours.”

Melanie Benjamin 2013 Fiction Afternoon 1?PM-4?PM Goodreads “I sit down in the afternoon to write generally. I don’t write more than two, three hours at a time.”

Harlan Coben 2013 Fiction Morning 8AM–noon Goodreads

Elizabeth Strout 2013 Fiction Morning ? Goodreads

Kate Atkinson 2013 Fiction Morning ? Goodreads

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie 2013 Fiction+nonfiction Morning ? Goodreads “When the writing is going well, I’m obsessive—I roll out of bed and go to work.”

Colum McCann 2013 Fiction Morning 5AM–8AM? Goodreads “…waking up at about five o’clock in the morning…I have a couple of hours before any of my kids have woken up, and that’s what I call the ‘Dream Time’.”

Barbara Delinsky 2013 Fiction Morning 6AM–noon Goodreads

Khaled Hosseini 2013 Fiction Morning–afternoon 9:30AM–2PM Goodreads

Melissa Marr 2013 Fiction Evening ?PM–5AM Goodreads

Thomas Keneally 2013 Fiction Morning–evening ?AM–7:30PM Goodreads Multiple stints.

Marisha Pessl 2013 Fiction Morning–afternoon 10:30AM–5PM Goodreads

Jojo Moyes 2013 Fiction Morning–evening 6AM–7PM Goodreads

Wally Lamb 2013 Fiction Morning–afternoon 9AM–2PM Goodreads

Anita Shreve 2013 Fiction Morning 7:30AM–12:30PM Goodreads

Karen Marie Moning 2012 Fiction Morning 4:30AM–10AM? Goodreads Writes for 4 hours, takes a break for breakfast, then edits, apparently stopping before lunch.

Kate Morton 2012 Fiction Any Goodreads

Zadie Smith 2016 Fiction Morning–afternoon 10AM–3PM Goodreads Inferred from childcare description.

Junot Díaz 2012 Fiction Morning ?AM–noon Goodreads

Martin Amis 2012 Fiction+nonfiction Morning–evening ?AM–7PM Goodreads “after breakfast…until 7 o’clock”

Sherrilyn Kenyon 2011 Fiction Evening 7PM–3:30AM Personal website

Jonathan Tropper 2012 Fiction Morning–evening 9AM–?PM Goodreads

Emily Giffin 2012 Fiction Morning, evening ?AM–?PM? Goodreads “I always start out my writing day with a strong cup of black coffee and find that my writing flows more the first thing in the morning (after I get my children off to school) or very late at night.”

Stephen Baxter 2012 Fiction Morning–afternoon 9AM–5PM Goodreads

Terry Pratchett 2012 Fiction Morning–afternoon 9AM–5PM Goodreads Same interview as Stephen Baxter, “It’s pretty much like that for me.”

Richard Ford 2012 Fiction Morning–afternoon 8:30AM–1PM, 3:15PM–5PM Goodreads

Peter Carey 2012 Fiction Morning 9AM–12:30PM Goodreads

Lionel Shriver 2012 Fiction Morning–evening? ?AM–?PM Goodreads “When I get up, I read the paper at the kitchen counter…then I go up to the office…and I stand in front of the desk 12 hours a day.”

Anne Lamott 2012 Fiction+nonfiction Morning? 9AM?–? Goodreads Lamott seems to imply she starts at 9AM in discussing the importance of routine.

Lisa Lutz 2012 Fiction Morning ?AM Goodreads

Alan Zweibel 2012 Fiction Morning 5AM–?PM Goodreads

Dave Barry 2012 Fiction Morning ?AM–?PM Goodreads

Daniel Handler 2012 Fiction Morning–afternoon? 9AM?–?PM Goodreads

Veronica Roth 2011 Fiction Afternoon? ?PM–5PM Goodreads Roth is facetious about trying & failing to write in the morning, so perhaps she writes in the morning as well.

Paula McLain 2011 Fiction Morning–afternoon 9AM–2PM Goodreads

Jon Ronson 2011 Nonfiction Morning 7AM–11AM Goodreads

Erin Morgenstern 2011 Fiction Any any Goodreads

Sue Grafton 2011 Fiction Morning–afternoon 9AM–3PM? Goodreads

David Guterson 2011 Fiction Morning 4AM–? Goodreads

Jeffrey Eugenides 2011 Fiction Morning ?AM Goodreads

Marisa de los Santos 2008 Fiction Morning ? Goodreads

Steven Pressfield 2008 Fiction+nonfiction Afternoon? ? Goodreads

Jackie Collins 2008 Fiction Morning–afternoon 8AM–4PM Goodreads

Christina Schwarz 2008 Fiction Any ? Goodreads

Rob Walker 2008 Nonfiction Morning? ? Goodreads Walker appears to have been both: “I’m definitely not an up-all-night kind of writer, though I used to be. Now I’m more of an early riser.”

Selden Edwards 2008 Fiction Morning ?AM–noon Goodreads “breakfast till lunch”

Diane Johnson 2008 Fiction+nonfiction Morning?–afternoon? ?-3PM? Goodreads “my gym has a coffee room with two cubicles. I go there, write, work out and take the bus home mid-afternoon.”

Neal Stephenson 2008 Fiction Morning–afternoon? ?AM–11AM, ?PM–?PM Goodreads Stephenson writes in the morning as usual but also “Then I go exercise and spend the afternoon working on something completely unrelated.”—more fiction writing, or one of his many non-writing projects?

Thomas Frank 2008 Nonfiction Morning–evening ?AM–?PM Goodreads

Anne Rice 2008 Fiction Morning–afternoon ?AM–?PM Goodreads “Best time is late morning or early afternoon.”

Anita Shreve 2008 Fiction Morning 7:30AM–noon Goodreads

Dennis Lehane 2008 Fiction Morning, evening ? Goodreads “I usually write in the morning or very late at night”

John Grogan 2008 Nonfiction Morning? 5AM–7AM? Goodreads Grogan wrote 5AM–7AM for his first book before his journalist job, but quit & switched to an unspecified schedule afterwards.

Malcolm Gladwell 2008 Nonfiction Morning ?AM–noon Goodreads “I might write for a couple of hours, and then I head out to have lunch and read the paper. Then I write for a little bit longer if I can”

Maeve Binchy 2009 Fiction Morning 8:30AM–1PM Goodreads

Gordon Snell 2009 Fiction Morning 8:30AM–1PM Goodreads Binchy interview.

Christopher Moore 2009 Fiction Morning ?AM–?AM Goodreads

Dan Simmons 2009 Fiction Morning ? Goodreads Simmons describes “wonderfully wasted” mornings with slow breakfasts but still seems to start before the afternoon.

Jodi Picoult 2009 Fiction Morning? ? Goodreads

Joyce Carol Oates 2009 Fiction Morning, evening 8AM–1PM, ?PM–?PM Goodreads, NYRB

Alexander McCall Smith 2009 Fiction+nonfiction Morning 10AM–noon Goodreads Not quite a pure morning writing: “although I sometimes write later in the afternoon and in the evening.”

Elmore Leonard 2009 Fiction Morning–evening 9AM–6PM Goodreads Originally 5AM–7PM before job; increasingly later.

China Miéville 2009 Fiction Any ? Goodreads

Lisa See 2009 Fiction Morning 9AM–11AM? Goodreads “I begin to write in earnest around 9…Sometimes I can get that [1000 words] done in 2 hours; sometimes it takes all day.”

Alice Hoffman 2009 Fiction Morning 4:45AM–?AM Goodreads

Lev Grossman 2009 Fiction Morning ? Goodreads

Rebecca Wells 2009 Fiction Evening ? Goodreads Wells gives several schedules over the years, but her current one seems quite late, possibly starting at midnight.

Anita Diamant 2009 Fiction+nonfiction Morning–afternoon? ?AM Goodreads

James Ellroy 2009 Fiction Morning ?AM-?PM Goodreads “I get up very early in the morning…I work every day for a long period of hours, drinking lots of coffee…”

Nick Hornby 2009 Fiction+nonfiction Morning–afternoon 9AM–5PM Goodreads

Audrey Niffenegger 2009 Fiction Evening ? Goodreads

Greg Mortenson 2009 Nonfiction Morning 4AM–7:30AM Goodreads

Elizabeth Gilbert 2010 Fiction+nonfiction Morning–afternoon 7AM–3PM? Goodreads “By mid-afternoon I’m sort of spent.”

Chris Bohjalian 2010 Fiction Morning 6AM–10:30AM Goodreads

Elif Shafak 2010 Fiction+nonfiction Any ? Goodreads

Frances Mayes 2010 Fiction Morning 5AM–8AM Goodreads

Chang-rae Lee 2010 Fiction Morning–afternoon ?AM–?PM Goodreads

Anna Quindlen 2010 Fiction+nonfiction Morning–afternoon? 10AM–?PM Goodreads Quindlen doesn’t specify an end-time but as a prolific author only starting at 10AM, she presumably must go into the afternoon.

Yann Martel 2010 Fiction Any ? Goodreads

Charlaine Harris 2010 Fiction Morning–afternoon 9AM?–?PM Goodreads Originally a more typical 8AM–11:30AM.

Bret Easton Ellis 2010 Fiction Any ? Goodreads

Terry Brooks 2010 Fiction Morning 6AM–noon Goodreads

Philippa Gregory 2010 Fiction Afternoon–evening ?PM–?PM Goodreads “then in the afternoon I have the pleasure of writing. If I am trying to get through a scene or get on with the novel, then I reread and write again at night.”

Janet Evanovich 2010 Fiction Morning 5AM–noon Goodreads

Sara Gruen 2010 Fiction Morning 8AM?–?PM Goodreads After kids leave for school, a 1.5 hour delay to get into the mindset, then she’s “good for 2,000 words”, so perhaps to noon?

Ken Follett 2010 Fiction Morning–afternoon 7AM–5PM Goodreads

David Sedaris 2010 Fiction+nonfiction Morning–afternoon, evening 10:30AM–1:30PM, 8PM–9:30PM Goodreads

Paul Auster 2010 Fiction Morning–afternoon 9:30AM–4:30PM Goodreads

Lauren Oliver 2010 Fiction Morning?–afternoon? ?AM–?PM? Goodreads “I do most of my own writing when I’m shuttling between meetings on the subway”, which suggests during the working day.

Justin Cronin 2010 Fiction Morning, evening 9AM?–3PM?, 10PM–12PM? Goodreads “I think I’d write at night all the time if I could do it any way I wanted, but that’s not concomitant with the demands of a house with children in it.”

Rebecca Skloot 2010 Nonfiction Morning 5AM–10AM Goodreads

Aimee Bender 2010 Fiction Morning 8AM–10AM Goodreads

Kim Edwards 2011 Fiction Morning 8AM?–?AM Goodreads

Orson Scott Card 2011 Fiction Any ? Goodreads

Jonathan Evison 2011 Fiction Morning 5AM–?AM Goodreads

Karen Russell 2011 Fiction Morning ?AM–?AM Goodreads “now I’m back in my old Starbucks…I try to write for four hours in the morning.”

Ted Dekker 2011 Fiction Morning ?AM–?AM Goodreads

Jean M. Auel 2011 Fiction Evening Midnight?–5AM? Goodreads Auel starts writing when her husband goes to bed, and she says “I often catch the sun rising.”

Geraldine Brooks 2011 Fiction Morning–afternoon 8AM?–3PM? Goodreads School schedule.

Jeffery Deaver 2011 Fiction Any? ? Goodreads

Ann Patchett 2011 Fiction Any? ? Goodreads Somewhat contradictory to Elizabeth Gilbert; see excerpts.

Ben Mezrich 2011 Nonfiction Any? ? Goodreads

Sapphire 2011 Fiction Morning ?AM–?AM Goodreads

Grant Morrison 2011 Fiction Morning–evening 8:30AM–?PM Goodreads

Richelle Mead 2011 Fiction Morning–afternoon? ?AM–5PM? Goodreads

Aravind Adiga 2011 Fiction Morning, evening 6AM–?AM, ?PM–?PM Goodreads

Madeleine Wickham 2011 Fiction Morning–afternoon ?AM–3PM Goodreads

Ellen Hopkins 2011 Fiction Morning 6AM?–noon? Goodreads “up with first light” means dawn or ~5–6AM & “6 to 8 hours is the goal”, so she presumably finishes by noon or 1PM.

Umberto Eco 2008 Fiction+nonfiction Morning, evening ?AM–?PM, 11PM–2AM Paris Review Eco disclaims a regular schedule but admits when he can, he writes in two segments: morning, and then late evening.

David McCullough 1999 Nonfiction Morning–afternoon 8:30AM–noon, 1PM?–?PM Paris Review

Hermione Lee 2013 Nonfiction Any ?AM–3PM, ?PM–?PM Paris Review “Then we’ll make supper, and then I’ll probably do a bit more writing in the evening.”

Michael Holroyd 2012 Nonfiction Morning ? Paris Review

Richard Holmes 2017 Nonfiction Afternoon ? Paris Review

Rose Tremain 2017 Fiction Morning ? Paris Review

Robert Caro 2016 Nonfiction Morning–afternoon ? Paris Review Caro says he skips lunch with friends while writing, gets up earlier and earlier during a chapter, and works “pretty long days”.

Stacy Schiff 2017 Nonfiction Morning–afternoon? ? Paris Review Schiff implies she starts writing in the morning through to afternoon by referring to skipping lunch with friends, like Caro: “there is the problem of lunch, in which the writer’s day craters. I avoid midday commitments when I’m writing, which endears me to no one.”

Robert Crumb 2010 Fiction Any? ? Paris Review “I could never work regularly like that. I work in erratic spurts.”

Harold Bloom 1991 Nonfiction Any? ? Paris Review “There isn’t one for me. I write in desperation.”

George Steiner 1995 Fiction+nonfiction Morning ?AM–noon? Paris Review “All my best work tends to be done in the morning, especially the early morning, when somehow my mind and sensibility operate much more efficiently. I read and take notes in the afternoon, then sketch the writing I want to do the next morning. The afternoon is the time for charging the battery.”

Helen Vendler 1996 Nonfiction Any? ? Paris Review “I have no routine. I hate routines. I have no fixed hours for sleeping, eating, waking, working…I’m a night person, so I tend to write later in the day rather than earlier, but I have no fixed hours”

Simone de Beauvoir 1965 Fiction+nonfiction Morning–evening 10AM-1PM, 5PM–9PM Paris Review

Jean Genet 1965 Fiction Any? ? Paris Review Simone de Beauvoir: “Genet, for example, works quite differently [than me]. He puts in about twelve hours a day for six months when he’s working on something”

Kenneth Roberts 1969 Fiction Morning ? Paris Review Description by E.B. White

Hilton Als 2018 Nonfiction Morning ? Paris Review

Mary Karr 2009 Nonfiction Morning 5AM–?AM Paris Review

Adam Phillips 2014 Nonfiction Morning 6AM–? Paris Review Phillips seems to write on non-work Wednesdays but comes in at 6AM on work days; however, he “claims to require very little sleep” and probably starts around then on Wednesdays too.

Geoff Dyer 2013 Fiction+nonfiction Any? ? Paris Review

Gay Talese 2009 Nonfiction Morning, evening ?AM–?PM, 5PM–? Paris Review First thing in morning, break, then after ‘lunch’ resumes.

B.F. Skinner 1993 Nonfiction Morning, evening 12AM–1AM, 5AM–7AM Bjork biography Skinner had a biphasic schedule.

John McPhee 2010 Nonfiction Morning–evening 9AM–7PM Paris Review McPhee says he starts at 9AM but is “gonging around” until 5PM when he actually starts writing for 2 hours.

Luc Sante 2016 Nonfiction Morning ? Paris Review

Amy Clampitt 1993 Fiction Morning ? Paris Review

Andrei Voznesensky 1980 Fiction Any ? Paris Review

W. H. Auden 1988 Fiction Morning ?AM–3PM Paris Review According to Anthony Hecht.

Aharon Appelfeld 2014 Fiction Morning–afternoon 10AM–1PM, ?PM–?PM Paris Review An additional two hours after a late afternoon lunch.

Candace Bushnell 2019 Fiction+nonfiction Morning 11–12AM New York Times

Alain Robbe-Grillet 1986 Fiction Morning–evening 11AM–4PM, 8PM–12AM Paris Review

Alan Hollinghurst 2011 Fiction Morning? ? Paris Review Hollinghurst was a “evening-and-alcohol writer” for his first novel but turned himself into a “morning-and-caffeine writer” for all later ones,

Robert Fagles 1999 Fiction Morning–? 7:30AM–? Paris Review

August Kleinzahler 2007 Fiction Morning 8AM–1AM Paris Review

Matthew Weiner 2014 Fiction Evening ? Paris Review

Alberto Moravia 1954 Fiction Morning 9AM–noon Paris Review

Aldous Huxley 1969 Fiction+nonfiction Morning ? Paris Review “four or five hours” in the morning

Alice Munro 1994 Fiction Morning–afternoon 8AM–11AM Paris Review Historically, mixed schedule around school & work; currently, exclusively morning.

Ali Smith 2017 Fiction Afternoon-evening 2PM–9PM Paris Review

Amos Oz 1996 Fiction+nonfiction 7AM–3PM Paris Review Starts ~6:45AM, then is there “at least seven or eight hours every day”.

Amy Hempel 2003 Fiction Evening? ? Paris Review Used to be “All night” but shifted to at least partly daytime.

Andrea Barrett 2003 Fiction Morning ? Paris Review

Angus Wilson 1957 Fiction Morning–afternoon 8AM–4PM Paris Review

Carl Phillips 2019 Fiction Any ? Paris Review

Anita Brookner 1987 Fiction Morning–evening ?AM–?PM Paris Review

Ann Beattie 2011 Fiction Afternoon–evening? ?–?PM Paris Review Beattie apparently had a reputation for writing late at night, but disclaims it now.

David Mamet 1997 Fiction Any ? Paris Review

Annie Proulx 2009 Fiction+nonfiction Any ? Paris Review

Anthony Burgess 1973 Fiction+nonfiction Morning–afternoon ? Paris Review

Thomas Mann 1973 Fiction Morning–afternoon 9AM–1PM Paris Review As described by interviewer & Burgess.

Anthony Powell 1978 Fiction Morning ? Paris Review

Arthur Koestler 1984 Fiction+nonfiction Morning–afternoon 9:30AM–1PM Paris Review

William Weaver 2002 Fiction Morning ?AM–noon Paris Review

Barry Hannah 2004 Fiction Evening ?PM–?AM Paris Review Hannah describes writing after his college teaching job when he was younger, sometimes as late as 4AM.

Beryl Bainbridge 2000 Fiction Any ? Paris Review

Charles Wright 1989 Fiction Any ? Paris Review Wright says he did work in the afternoon for years, but that was not his most common pattern, instead working on things at any time of day where possible.

Blaise Cendrars 1950 Fiction Morning 6AM–?AM Paris Review Ascribed to Cendrars by PR.

Carlos Fuentes 1981 Fiction Morning 8:30AM–12:30PM Paris Review

Chinua Achebe 1994 Fiction Morning–evening? ? Paris Review <q“>I am not an early-morning person; I don’t like to get out of bed, and so I don’t begin writing at five A.M…I write once my day has started. And I can work late into the night, also.”

John Guare 1992 Fiction Morning? ?AM Paris Review “I like to get up in the morning and go to work.”

Christopher Isherwood 1974 Fiction Morning? ?AM Paris Review Attributed by the interviewer: “Isherwood works every morning and then usually walks to the ocean to swim.”

Cynthia Ozick 1987 Fiction Evening ? Paris Review “all night” and “through the night”.

Claude Simon 1992 Fiction Afternoon–evening 3:30PM–8PM Paris Review

Alice McDermott 2019 Fiction Morning–evening 9AM–6PM Paris Review Previously, until 3PM when her children returned home.

Dag Solstad 2016 Fiction Morning? ? Paris Review Solstad implies that he doesn’t write in the afternoon by describing how on one day of his “3-1-3 system” that he gets drunk in the afternoon; on the other hand, he might be implying that he writes in the afternoon on all the other days.

David Grossman 2007 Fiction Morning 6AM–12PM Paris Review

Don DeLillo 1993 Fiction Morning–afternoon ?AM–?PM, ?PM–?PM Paris Review He works for 4 hours in the morning, breaks for run, then 3 hours in the afternoon.

Edmund White 1988 Fiction Morning ? Paris Review

Edna O’Brien 1984 Fiction Morning–afternoon ?AM–2PM Paris Review

Czeslaw Milosz 1994 Fiction Morning ? Paris Review

Elias Khoury 2017 Fiction Any ? Paris Review

Elie Wiesel 1984 Fiction Morning ? Paris Review 4 hours.

David Ignatow 1979 Fiction Any ? Paris Review At evening during original printing job; morning while on grants; but any time at time of interview while a teacher.

Elizabeth Spencer 1989 Fiction Morning–afternoon 8AM?–2PM Paris Review

Ernest Hemingway 1958 Fiction+nonfiction Morning 6AM–noon Paris Review

Eudora Welty 1972 Fiction Morning? ? Paris Review

Erskine Caldwell 1982 Fiction Morning–evening 6AM–11AM, 4PM–7PM Paris Review

Derek Walcott 1986 Fiction Morning 5AM–9AM Paris Review

Francine du Plessix Gray 1987 Fiction+nonfiction Morning–afternoon 11AM–7PM Paris Review

Gabriel García Márquez 1981 Fiction+nonfiction Morning–afternoon 9AM–2:30PM Paris Review As a journalist, wrote late at night.

Gore Vidal 1987 Fiction Morning ?AM–?AM Paris Review For 3 hours in the morning after waking.

Graham Greene 1953 Fiction Morning? ?AM Paris Review He seems to imply regularly writing in the morning after rereading previous day’s work.

Günter Grass 1991 Fiction Morning–evening 10AM–?PM, ?PM–7PM Paris Review Break for coffee.

Guy Davenport 2002 Fiction Any ? Paris Review

Gustaw Herling 2000 Fiction Morning ? Paris Review As described by PR: “Most mornings..Herling rose…and went to his desk to continue”

Ha Jin 2009 Fiction Morning–afternoon 7AM–?PM Paris Review Short break for breakfast, then writing until “late afternoon”

Harry Mathews 2007 Fiction Morning–afternoon 11AM–?PM Paris Review Previously, began at 9AM.

Haruki Murakami 2004 Fiction Morning 4AM–10AM Paris Review

Heinrich Böll 1983 Fiction Morning–afternoon ?AM–12:30PM, ?PM–?PM Paris Review

Henry Green 1958 Fiction Evening ? Paris Review As summarized by Paris Review, based in part on Green’s memoir.

Henry Miller 1962 Fiction Morning ? Paris Review Miller also mentions writing midnight–dawn, or morning–afternoon, when he was younger (pre-1950s).

Hilary Mantel 2015 Fiction Morning ? Paris Review

Ian McEwan 2002 Fiction Morning 9:30AM–? Paris Review

Isaac Bashevis Singer 1968 Fiction Morning–afternoon? Paris Review

Italo Calvino 1992 Fiction Afternoon ? Paris Review

Ismail Kadare 1998 Fiction Morning ? Paris Review Only 2 hours.

James Baldwin 1984 Fiction Evening 12AM?–6AM Paris Review

William Styron 1984 Fiction Morning? 6AM–? Paris Review As described by James Baldwin while staying at Styron’s guest house, both starting/ending at dawn.

Jack Kerouac 1968 Fiction Evening 12AM–6AM Paris Review “midnight till dawn”

James Jones 1958 Fiction Morning 8:30AM-2:30PM Paris Review Up at 7, fiddles ~1.5 hours, writes ~6 hours.

Frederick Seidel 2009 Fiction Any ? Paris Review “…quite early in the morning and work throughout the day with occasional interruptions. And again at night”

Javier Marías 2006 Fiction Any ? Paris Review

Geoffrey Hill 2000 Fiction Any ? Paris Review

Sam Shepard 1997 Fiction Morning 7AM?–noon Paris Review

Jeffrey Eugenides 2011 Fiction Morning–evening 10AM–6PM? Paris Review

Jerzy Kosiński 1972 Fiction Any ? Paris Review Kosiński slept biphasically, but emphasizes writing at any time.

J. G. Ballard 1984 Fiction Morning–afternoon ?AM–?AM, ?PM–?PM Paris Review 2 hours in late morning, 2 early afternoon.

Ishmael Reed 2016 Fiction Morning ?AM–? Paris Review

Joan Didion 1978 Fiction+nonfiction Afternoon? ? Paris Review Didion emphasizes needing to review what she wrote “an hour alone before dinner”

Jim Harrison 1988 Fiction Afternoon, evening 2PM–4PM, 11PM–1AM Paris Review

Tennessee Williams 1981 Fiction Morning 6AM–?AM Paris Review ‘dawn’/‘daybreak’, stopping apparently before lunch.

John Barth 1985 Fiction Morning 6AM–noon Paris Review

John Dos Passos 1969 Fiction Morning 6AM?–1PM Paris Review Dos Passos says he can’t sleep past 7AM and describes getting up “early in the morning” to finish by 1PM, suggesting before 7AM.

Arthur Miller 1999 Fiction Morning ?AM–? __Paris Review_

Jack Gilbert 2005 Fiction Morning ? Paris Review

John Edgar Wideman 2002 Fiction Morning ?AM–?AM Paris Review 4–5 hours, starting from “early morning”

Tom Stoppard 1988 Fiction Evening 11PM?–? Paris Review Stoppard writes “when everybody has gone to bed and I feel completely at peace”

Sinclair Lewis 1986 Fiction Evening ?AM–?AM Paris Review As described by his former assistant, John Hersey: he would “get up in the middle of the night, cook up some coffee, and work for two or three hours”

John Mortimer 1988 Fiction Morning ?AM Paris Review

John le Carré 1997 Fiction Morning 5AM–noon Paris Review

John Updike 1968 Fiction Morning ?AM Paris Review

Jonathan Lethem 2003 Fiction Morning ?AM Paris Review

Joseph Heller 1974 Fiction Morning–afternoon ?AM–?PM Paris Review

Joyce Carol Oates 1978 Fiction Morning ?AM–noon? Paris Review Oates writes before breakfast, and on good days, eats only at 2–3PM

José Saramago 1998 Fiction Morning? ? Paris Review Saramago describes himself as “very regular…very disciplined” and mentions writing 2 pages that morning and implying another 2 “tomorrow”

Peter Morgan 2019 Fiction Morning 6AM–?AM New York Times

Brendan Behan ? Fiction Morning 7AM–noon Wikipedia

J. P. Donleavy 1975 Fiction Morning–afternoon 8AM?–4PM? Paris Review

Julian Barnes 2000 Fiction+nonfiction Morning–afternoon 10AM–1PM Paris Review

J. H. Prynne 2016 Fiction Evening ?PM–?AM Paris Review

Katherine Anne Porter 1963 Fiction Morning ?AM–?AM Paris Review Porter tries to start working when she gets up “very early in the morning” and works 3–5 hours.

Kenzaburo Oe 2007 Fiction Morning 7AM–11AM Paris Review

Ken Kesey 1994 Fiction Evening ? Paris Review

John Ashbery 1983 Fiction Afternoon ?PM–?PM Paris Review “late afternoon”

Kingsley Amis 1975 Fiction Morning–afternoon 10:30AM–2:15PM Paris Review

John Hall Wheelock 1976 Fiction Evening ?PM–?PM Paris Review

Anthony Trollope 1883 Fiction Morning 5:30AM–8:30AM Autobiography

Louis Auchincloss 1994 Fiction Evening ?PM Paris Review Auchincloss qualifies this by noting he wrote during work and weekends as well.

Louis Begley 2002 Fiction Morning–evening? ? Paris Review Based on movies & afternoon naps interrupting writing.

Luisa Valenzuela 2002 Fiction Evening ? Paris Review

Karl Shapiro 1986 Fiction Morning–afternoon ? Paris Review While writing his autobiography, otherwise, any time.

Kay Ryan 2008 Fiction Morning–afternoon 7AM?–1PM? Paris Review

Manuel Puig 1989 Fiction Afternoon–evening 4PM–8PM Paris Review

Marguerite Young 1977 Fiction Morning–afternoon 9AM–5PM Paris Review During the writing of her major novel, Miss MacIntosh, My Darling

Margaret Drabble 1978 Fiction Morning 9:45AM–noon Paris Review

Marilynne Robinson 2008 Fiction+nonfiction Any ? Paris Review

Mark Helprin 1993 Fiction+nonfiction Morning 5:30AM–9AM Paris Review

Mario Vargas Llosa 1990 Fiction Morning ?AM–?AM Paris Review

Martin Amis 1998 Fiction+nonfiction Morning–afternoon 11AM–1PM Paris Review

Mary McCarthy 1962 Fiction Morning–afternoon 9AM–2PM Paris Review

Mary Lee Settle 1990 Fiction Morning 6AM?–7AM? Paris Review Settle rises with the sun and writes for an hour.

May Sarton 1983 Fiction+nonfiction Morning 8AM?–11PM Paris Review Sarton wakes at 5AM but listens to music or writes letters to get started, writes for 2–3 hours, and finishes at 11AM.

Mavis Gallant 1999 Fiction Morning ? Paris Review

Octavio Paz 1991 Fiction Morning–afternoon ? Paris Review Paz originally wrote anytime or often late at night, but by ’91 had shifted to “late morning and into the afternoon”.

Maya Angelou 1990 Fiction+nonfiction Morning–afternoon 6:30AM–1:30PM Paris Review

Pablo Neruda 1971 Fiction Morning ? Paris Review

Nadine Gordimer 1983 Fiction Morning 8AM?–noon? Paris Review Gordimer writes in the morning but for 4 hours after breakfast, implying starting ~7–8AM to finish while still ‘morning’.

Paul Muldoon 2004 Fiction Afternoon noon?–?PM Paris Review

Jerry Saltz 2018 Nonfiction Morning ?AM–?PM Longform podcast

Nathalie Sarraute 1990 Fiction Morning ? Paris Review

Naguib Mahfouz 1992 Fiction Afternoon–evening 4PM–7PM Paris Review

Peter Levi 1979 Fiction Any? ? Paris Review

Mary Oliver 2006 Fiction Morning 5AM–9AM? Paris Review

Philip Larkin 1982 Fiction Evening 8–10PM Paris Review

Norman Mailer 1964 Fiction+nonfiction Morning–afternoon 10AM–12:30PM, 2:30PM–4:30PM Paris Review

Orhan Pamuk 2005 Fiction Morning–afternoon? ? Paris Review

Norman Rush 2010 Fiction Morning–afternoon 9AM–?PM Paris Review

Patrick O’Brian 1995 Fiction Morning–afternoon 9AM?–noon, 3:30PM?–5PM? Paris Review After breakfast, then “after tea I go on until about dinnertime”

Paula Fox 2004 Fiction Morning–afternoon 9:30AM–1:30PM Paris Review

P. D. James 1995 Fiction Morning 8AM?–noon Paris Review

Penelope Lively 2018 Fiction Morning–afternoon 9:30AM–5PM Paris Review

Robert Pinsky 1997 Fiction Any ? Paris Review

Peter Taylor 1987 Fiction Morning–afternoon 8AM?–2PM Paris Review

P. G. Wodehouse 1975 Fiction Morning–evening 8AM?–7PM Paris Review

Philip Roth 1984 Fiction Morning–afternoon ?AM–?PM Paris Review

Ray Bradbury 2010 Fiction Morning–afternoon ?AM–?PM Paris Review Bradbury mentions a biphasic sleep schedule.

Raymond Carver 1983 Fiction Morning?–evening? ?AM–?PM Paris Review Carver writes up to 15 hours at a stint, cycling through days.

Reynolds Price 1991 Fiction Morning–evening 9AM–?PM Paris Review Price always begins in the morning but says when beginning, “more or less all day and sometimes at night”

Richard Powers 2002 Fiction Morning–afternoon 6AM?–5PM Paris Review “sunup to sundown”

Richard Price 1996 Fiction Morning–afternoon 10AM–4PM Paris Review

Roberto Calasso 2012 Fiction Morning–afternoon ?AM–3:30PM Paris Review

W. D. Snodgrass 1994 Fiction Morning 5AM–7AM Paris Review

T. S. Eliot 1959 Fiction Morning–afternoon 10AM–1PM Paris Review Eliot caveats that a schedule is kept only for his plays or ‘occasional verse’ and his major poems like the Quartets were not written on a schedule.

Robert Stone 1985 Fiction Morning–afternoon? ?AM–?PM Paris Review

Russell Banks 1998 Fiction Morning–afternoon 8AM?–1PM Paris Review While with kids, 10PM–2AM; estimate based on “4–5 hours” stopping at “one o’clock”

Salman Rushdie 2005 Fiction Morning? ?AM–?AM Paris Review Rushdie starts immediately on waking and describes a few hours of writing and a “few hundred words”, so probably doesn’t go into the afternoon.

Samuel R. Delany 2011 Fiction Morning–afternoon 5AM–5PM Paris Review

Shirley Hazzard 2005 Fiction Morning, evening ? Paris Review “mostly early morning and then late in the day”

Shelby Foote 1999 Fiction+nonfiction Morning ? Paris Review

T. Coraghessan Boyle 2000 Fiction Morning–afternoon? ? Paris Review

Tahar Ben Jelloun 1999 Fiction Morning–afternoon ?AM–?PM Paris Review

John Cheever 2004 Fiction Morning–afternoon ?8AM–noon, 1PM?–5PM? Paris Review Tobias Wolff describes Cheever as imitating banker hours

Tobias Wolff 2004 Fiction Morning–afternoon ? Paris Review Wolff suggests it’s somewhat like Cheever’s.

Thomas McGuane 1985 Fiction Afternoon ?PM–?PM Paris Review

Tom Wolfe 1991 Fiction+nonfiction Morning–afternoon ?AM–?PM Paris Review

Vladimir Nabokov 1967 Fiction Morning–afternoon? ?AM–?PM Paris Review As summarized by interviewer.

Wallace Stegner 1990 Fiction Morning 6AM?–noon Paris Review As summarized by interviewer, starting “before first light”.

William F. Buckley Jr. 1996 Fiction+nonfiction Evening 4:45PM–7:15PM Paris Review

William Faulkner 1956 Fiction Morning? ? Paris Review Somewhat inferred from Faulkner’s description of the ideal writing environment (a brothel) and patterning himself after Sherwood Anderson.

Sherwood Anderson 1956 Fiction Morning ?AM–noon Paris Review As described by Faulkner in Paris Review.

William Gass 1977 Fiction Morning 9:30AM–afternoon Paris Review

William S. Burroughs 1965 Fiction Morning–evening 9AM–7PM Paris Review

William Maxwell 1982 Fiction Morning–afternoon ?AM–12:30PM Paris Review

Wright Morris 1991 Fiction Morning–afternoon ?AM–?PM Paris Review

William Trevor 1989 Fiction Morning 6:40AM–noon Paris Review Trevor notes he used to work from 4:30AM to “breakfast time”.

William Styron 1954 Fiction Afternoon ?PM–?PM Paris Review

Zoey Ellis 2020 Fiction Morning 4AM–?AM NYT

Jack London 1903 Fiction+nonfiction Morning? ?AM–?AM Essay Implies he wrote in the morning, and reported wordcount wouldn’t extent to afternoon/evening.

Astrid Lindgren 2020? Fiction Morning ?AM–noon? Official website Finished writing “before lunch” due to job.

Joseph Conrad 1898 Fiction Morning–evening ?AM–?PM Letter 8 hours, but he wrote little & Boice 1997 describes it as mostly in the evening.