Jules Verne on the Writing Process

If you have students moaning about revising their papers a time or two, let them read this quote from author Jules Verne who wrote (among others) Around the World in Eighty Days and 20,000 Leagues under the Sea. What a picture of determination, commitment, and endurance! "I rise every morning before five—a little later, perhaps, in the winter—and at five am at my desk, remaining at work till eleven, I work very slowly and with greatest care, writing and rewriting until each sentence takes the form that I desire. I have always at least ten novels in my head in advance, subjects and plots thought out, so that, you see, if I am spared, I shall have no difficulty in completing the eighty novels which I spoke of. But it is over my proofs that I spend most time. I am never satisfied with less than seven or eight proofs, and correct and correct again, until it may be safely said the last proof bears hardly any traces of the original manuscript. This means a great sacrifice of pocket, as well as of time, but I have always tried my best for form and style, though people have never done me justice in this respect." Click on the quote to read the full piece entitled "Jules Verne at Home: His Own Account of His Life and Work." Emphasis is mine.