7 Productivity Tips Writers Can Learn From Hannibal Lecter
Author Brian Raftery collects a tongue-in-cheek list of productivity tips writers can learn from Thomas Harris’ Hannibal Lecter character.
Hannibal Lecter is many things: Cunning cannibal; esteemed psychiatrist; dedicated fava bean fanatic. But ever since Lecter was introduced in Thomas Harris’ 1981 novel Red Dragon, it’s been clear the serial killer has the soul of an artist.
Stuck in the bowels of the Baltimore State Hospital for the Criminally Insane, Lecter devotes his time to sketching, reading, and corresponding with the outside world. And though his missives tend to be as short as his temper, there’s plenty to learn from Lecter’s approach to the written word.
1) Study the classics.
The first time readers meet Lecter, in Red Dragon, he’s asleep in his cell, a copy of Alexandre Dumas’ 1873 cooking guide Grand Dictionnaire de Cuisine splayed across his chest. It’s one of several titles Lecter keeps nearby, according to Harris, who notes the killer’s living space as being “stacked with softcover books.” And given Lecter’s propensity for quoting older texts—whether he’s citing the Bible, or the words of Marcus Aurelius—it’s clear he’s a devotee of old-school texts.
2) Create a distraction-free workspace.
Not only is Lecter’s cell relatively spare, it’s surrounded by both steel bars and a stout nylon net—the ideal setting for a man who needs to be alone with his work! And Lecter’s an expert at controlling his creative environment: When he wants to quiet a noisy fellow inmate in the 1988 book The Silence of the Lambs, he simply convinces the man to swallow his own tongue. The result? A writing area that’s both uncluttered and unbothered.
3) Stay in touch with your audience.
In Red Dragon, Lecter strikes up a brief epistolary relationship with “The Tooth Fairy,” a mass murderer who declares himself “an avid fan” of Hannibal the Cannibal’s work. Lecter responds with an inspiring letter, one that ends with a thoughtful bit of peer-to-peer advice: “Kill them all.”
4) Don’t get too wordy.
When Lecter writes to Red Dragon’s Will Graham—the former FBI agent who’s recently been stabbed in the face, thanks to Lecter’s efforts—the doctor keeps his message short and sweet. “I wish you a speedy convalescence and hope you won’t be very ugly,” Lecter notes in his sign-off message. “I think of you often.” It’s the kind of simple, unfussy prose that stays with the reader long afterward.
5) Never stop hustling!
Even behind bars, Lecter finds time to contribute to such publications as The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry and The General Archives, while writing the occasional book review for The American Journal of Psychiatry. He doesn’t freelance for the money: After all, Lecter is serving a life sentence for nine counts of first-degree murder, so it’s not as though he’s worried about making rent. Instead, Lecter keeps writing in order to stay in touch with his peers, and to pursue his non-lethal passions. We should all be so prolific.
6) Make the library your home.
In the 1999 novel Hannibal, it’s revealed that Lecter so wanted to be put in charge of Florence's palatial Capponi Library—a sprawling and beloved collection of literature—that he killed its former curator and took his place. That’s dedication to literature.
7) Don’t be afraid to ask for feedback.
At one point in The Silence of the Lambs, we learn that, while stabbing one of his patients in the heart with a stiletto, Lecter took the time to ask: “Looks like a straw down a doodlebug hole, doesn’t it?” The victim didn’t live long enough to respond. But Lecter’s gracious query is proof it’s never too late to solicit feedback from your audience—even if they’re otherwise preoccupied.
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