Kevin Rabelais uncovers an inter­esting feature of novelist Don DeLillo’s writing process in a recent interview for The Australian. A decade into his career, DeLillo began the practice, when he came to write a new paragraph, of loading a fresh page into his typewriter.

“It helped me see more clearly what was on the page … Instead of being confronted with a page of 350 words, it might have 50 words, or 100, and I could focus more clearly on words and sentences.”

Apparently DeLillo continues to use the technique. Entire forests tremble with fear every time he begins a new book. (Luckily the new one is a novella.)