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. 1977 Fall;10(3):515–525. doi: 10.1901/jaba.1977.10-515

Self-control techniques of famous novelists1

Irving Wallace 1
PMCID: PMC1311220  PMID: 16795568

Abstract

A statement by a famous contemporary novelist is presented that indicates how he and others, independently of formal behaviorism, used behavioristic methods—specifically, self-recording charts and regularly scheduled daily work hours—to accelerate and maintain their writing outputs. On the basis of his statement and an analysis of his self-recorded data, it is argued that a meaningful and useful analogy can be drawn between writing a novel and emitting a simple operant response on a fixed-ratio schedule.

Keywords: self-control, self-recording, self-reinforcement, fixed-ratio schedules, novel writing, famous novelists

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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