Roald Dahl’s 8-Rule Formula for Bestselling Creative Writing
How to create a signature writing style
Roald Dahl’s books were some of my favorites as a child. They made me squirm, they filled me with wonder, they made me howl with laughter. I couldn’t get enough of them. And with 250 million copies sold worldwide, I’m not the only one they’ve had such a powerful impact upon.
Dahl wrote many of these books from a small writing hut in the garden behind his home in suburban Britain. Dahl spent four hours each day writing here. In addition to Dahl’s writing desk, the hut contained various curious objects. In the hut Dahl kept:
- A model of a WWII warplane
- A heavy metal ball filled with the silver wrappings of chocolate bars
- An ancient stone from Babylon with Cuneiform script
- A lamp weighted with a golf ball
- His own hipbone (removed during surgery)
According to the manager of the Roald Dahl Museum, Rachel White, these objects give us “a glimpse of how [Dahl] used a very private and personal space to allow his ideas and imagination to flow.” In other words, this quirky collection of objects acted as hooks and prompts for Dahl’s vivid imagination.
