The day jobs that inspired famous authors

The 9 to 5s that inspired great literary works

The day jobs that inspired famous authors

They say you should always write about what you know; and what you know is likely to be the day job that you have to give eight hours of your life to every day to get those bills paid.

For many authors, the jobs they had before becoming successful were more than just a way of bringing in money - sometimes, they also helped them by providing inspiration for the literary works they later produced, catapulting them to a life of fame and riches and escape from that old 9 to 5.

Job site Adzuna has created this excellent infographic to celebrate National Novel Writing Month, telling the stories of a host of authors and their previous day jobs - take a look below and find out a few tales of inspiration you never knew before.

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As a Staff Writer at Shortlist, Holly dabbles in a bit of everything. Having started her career as a news reporter, she has since decided to return to the world of the living.