How do you write? The time, space, support continuum

An extract from The New Author

You’ve made the decision to write. So when, where and how are you going to do it? Here are some characteristic approaches.

The Hemingway - tortured author, tapping away on a typewriter in a mountain retreat. Wild hair, scant meals, sleep-deprived, continuously slightly drunk and chain-smoking.

The Media Junkie – listening to fast music on iPod or laptop, oblivious of the surroundings which might be a café, train, family TV room or workplace. Laptop has ten windows open for ‘research’ including email, twitter, facebook and Wikipedia.

The Midnight Oil – when the house is quiet and everyone else’s day is over, this one is just starting work. Typing through the tiredness and pain barrier. Pulling together the inspiration of observations and events from the preceding daylight hours. Pausing to reflect upon the words written, listening to the drip of the bathroom tap, the hum of a transformer in some electrical apparatus somewhere in the house.

The Peacemaker – a scented candle, Buddha Bar on the music system. Pilates exercises performed with control and precision, establishing the inner core. Elsewhere in the house family rampage at a safe distance, out of earshot. Writing flows from the spirit. Characters talk aloud and their dialogue falls upon the keyboard. 

The Early Bird – rising at the hour of milkmen from yesteryear, moving from bedroom to study and pushing the door firmly shut. Chapters formulated subconsciously during sleep are thrown onto the page to be edited during some lull in the day. As the family stirs, heading off to the bathroom and using time under the shower to think a way out of the present predicament of the main character.

What do you think of these approaches? I’ve tried them all at different times over the years. Any consistent method can be productive, providing you ring-fence the time and space. That needs support and understanding from the other people in your life. They need to understand and appreciate your needs as a writer.

The above post is an extract from The New Author, a non-fiction self help guide for writers, social media marketers and self-publishers. Available in paperback and various ebook formats through a wide range of internet stores including Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords et al (see Ruby's Shop for full details).








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