The Dennis Wheatley 'Museum' - Dennis Wheatley’s Writing Technique

The pencil draft

A page from the pencil manuscript of 'The Haunting of Toby Jugg' displaying one of DW's comparatively rare uses of an eraser

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...and a page from the pencil manuscript of 'The Prisoner In The Mask' showing DW's more frequent use of crossing out

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Throughout his life, apart from a brief flirtation with dictation which started just before the onset of World War Two (see a later exhibit), having done his preparation, DW always wrote his novels by hand and in pencil.

As he wrote in 'Officer and Temporary Gentleman':

'I write with pencil and rubber. One can always see what one has written so avoid using the same multi-syllable word in a paragraph. It is also easier and neater to scrub out a sentence than make an untidy mess scratching out ink work, then having to write the replacement in the margin.'

And it is can be observed that DW's handwriting got better the more novels he wrote.