Mental Floss

WRITING







A portrait of the writer Mark Twain—author of several unfinished manuscripts—circa 1900.

When an author dies with their work unfinished, do we let it molder in vaults, stash it away in archives, or publish it for all the world to see—even if that’s not what the writer wanted?

Bess Lovejoy














istock (book template/background)

Charlotte Brontë's 1847 novel 'Jane Eyre' was an instant hit—and many of its themes were taken from the author's real life.

Joy Lanzendorfer


GETTY IMAGES

Forget “under 30” or even “under 40” lists. Some of the world's most celebrated writers didn’t hit their literary stride until their mid-forties or later.

Caitlin Schneider


Portrait of Robert Burns, painted by Alexander Nasmyth.

Polish up on this list of words and phrases from Robert Burns’s complete works. Highlighting the imagination of his Scots language, they are ripe for revival by Robbie revelers old and new.

Jared Spears
iStock

In the 1980s, a group of great thinkers, authors and communicators penned a series of How To's for honing one's writing skills. The source of these amazing troves of advice was an ad campaign put out by a paper company.

Hannah Keyser