Your special writing environment.

[Trazalca]

When writing anything, what do you find works for you for a suitable
writing environment?

Do you listen to music when you write? If so, what kind?
Do you need to be in a special room of your house?
Is there an eccentric activity you do before or during your writing?

I've heard tales of authors that can only write under certain conditions,
while others can write just about anywhere.
One author I learned was unable to write unless she was wearing
a chef's hat. It was a quiet device she used in her family home
to let her kids know not to disturb her while writing.
But once the kids got older and moved out, she found she could
not bring herself to write anything unless she was wearing that hat first.

Another I heard was of a lady author who only wrote one chapter a night,
and while taking a bubble bath, surrounded by lit candles.

Another author writes his political thriller novels by hand, and never uses a typewriter/keyboard.

For myself, the quiet is enough, but music is only distracting to me if it goes against the grain of the mood of the chapter I'm in the middle of.

You?

[Kaeos]

Music.

Okay, ususally yes, I need some quiet. Mostly that meaning no kids. But I typically need some type of specific music to set my mood right.

There's some music that just lights a fire under my ass and I type for hours. Sometimes it's just the right song to help me frame out a difficult scene or chapter.

Sometimes it's a song that comes on the radio when I'm driving that somehow turns on a light in my head and that light shines right down on one of the (many) stories I have swirling around half comlplete and the song just starts to fill in the words for me and by the time it's over I just want them to play the damn thing again so I can complete the paragraph, so I can cut to the end of the scene I just watched play itself out in my inagination......

Yeah man. It's music for me.

[God's Swollen Goiter]

It is impossible for me to write while clothed. I also like to have--but can do without--the following on hand: earplugs, a Staedler #2 HB Cadet, three sources of light, reasonably barren walls, a large chunk of kneaded rubber, a number of twelve-ounce glass bottles of club soda and a sturdy-yet-unrestrictive elbow brace.

[neglet]

It is impossible for me to write while clothed.

Ah, so you're one of those people who's more comfortable writing in a public place, like a cafe? :smirk:

[neglet]

I'm one of those people who feels uncomfortable in total silence. I usually have music playing while I'm writing, doesn't really matter what kind. (Most often nowadays I just play my collection from the computer in shuffle mode, unless I'm in a particular mood for something. But that mood doesn't have anything to do with what I'm writing.) The lone exception is if I'm writing poetry. Then there can't be music or I can't hear the rhythm of what I'm writing.

Having worked from home ever since my son was born (12 years ago!), I've learned to tune out other noises: the TV, kids playing, my hubby working on power tools... As long as I have my computer and the noise isn't too irritating, I'm good to go.

This means I can write about anywhere. I did quite a bit of traveling the last month, so I wrote while waiting around in airports. I wrote in hotel rooms. The best place was on a laptop in the car in the middle of the Arizona desert--not much scenery to look at, no computer games as a distraction (hubby's work machine), nothing to do but write. I was incredibly productive in the car!

At home, there are more distractions. My cat, currently sitting in my lap, demanding attention and making it difficult to pull the keyboard drawer out. This place, and all the lovely game sites. Still, I get into a routine and I can get things done. (Sent an invoice out today, yippee! Also about one paragraph away from finishing a novel. That last paragraph is the toughest, hence I'm wasting time here--er, letting my subconscious work.) But if you can just get yourself started, wherever you are, eventually the writing will take over. If it won't, then maybe it needs more "thinking time."

[ellenora]

Anymore... I just sit at my computer and write. sometimes I have music playing on my system and sometimes not. I don't do anything special anymore. I just write... sometimes I can't seem to write fast enough to get the ideas down.

[petkusj@theAfterNet.net]

I write best in the morning or very late at night. I can't listen to music and I can't listen to NPR, which means that while writing, I am very ill informed.

Jennifer

[kah]

Honestly, I am the most productive at Denny's: late at night, sitting at the counter with a cup of coffee, a plate of biscuits and gravy, about a pack of cigarettes, half a dozen pens (gel tip), and a spiral notebook. Sadly, I haven't figured out how to write at home, or on the computer (I usually use it only for the final draft), or with my son's squawking, so I haven't written anything in almost a year.

[Asonokirk V 2.0]

All I need is to be able to focus, and I can't do that in some external environment or in the presence of another person, so home is the only place I'm comfortable. As long as I'm alone, I have no problems. As for background, anything is fine (TV, music, WWIII), but I am distracted if another person is present.

[jwesty]

i'll be the first to say it... or admit to it, really. i like to smoke a bowl or two of weed before I write. after being stressed all day at work, then at home because of bills, the wife or the kids... i find that it just relaxes my mind so that i can focus on writing. it opens up my mind and frees me creatively.

do i need it to write? no. but, it makes things a lot easier and i have a hell of a lot more fun.