Legend has it that writers are a solitary breed, holing themselves up in their garrets and pounding out works of fiction on their typewriters, and to a certain extent, I agree: it’s sometimes hard to get writing done when there are people who want to talk to you, particularly if those people aren’t writers themselves. Maybe you’re in your living room and your family wants to watch TV. Maybe the family in the house behind yours has decided to have a night-long Lady Gaga karaoke festival. Or maybe, even, you’re alone in your bedroom or study, but the people who live in the apartment below you have decided to have a knock-down, drag-out fight with their children, and you can’t help but overhearing.
So, yes: sometimes a writer really just wants a pen, some paper, and a pair of earplugs with which to shut out the world.
But even writers who live for their alone time can’t shut out the world entirely — it would be detrimental to their writing. The less interactions you have with others, the more quickly you start to lose the very skills that have made your writing what it is. Being out in the world means you hear the rhythms of real dialogue; you’re absorbed in the sights and smells and sounds of the real world — and you can put those details to use in your writing.
With that in mind, I do most of my writing in cafes, which I realize is a cliche in its own right. However, I’ve had some success with it: I wrote 41,000 words of KING, one of my current works-in-progress, while I was holed up in the study room at Bricks and Scones in Los Angeles. When I’m not in L.A., I’ve also found great writing environments at Campbell’s Orchard Valley Coffee, Mountain View’s Red Rock Cafe, and Iowa City’s famous Prairie Lights. (Starbucks, sadly, has not proved to be as productive an environment.)
The above cafes allow me to be in the world — listening to conversations and generally being a grade-A Creeper in ways that other authors will understand — while simultaneously avoiding any extended human interaction. And if that sounds curmudgeonly, well, what did I say about writers being a solitary breed?
Fellow authors/writers: Where do you write? Where do you do your best work, and why?
I learned to filter out background noise while studying for State Boards. I sat in a mall, in a cafe, and studied. Now I can write anywhere screaming children aren’t. That I can’t filter out. Coffee shops are great. The cafe in Borders was, now it’s closed.
I agree with you about the screaming children! I actually just discovered a coffee shop in a local Barnes & Noble, so I’m hoping it might do the trick. Thanks for stopping by!
Very true Rachel. Very distracting. Also, noise canceling headphones
I am older so the problem with children is only on the outside of the apartment. And no, you are not a curmudgeonly just a writer. When it gets too loud, I put my ears on.
Fortunate in that my husband is very handy, we get invited to live in lovely secluded places where he can do the work while I write. We stay without pay except for his work. The last place was Sea Ranch in Northern California. It was heavenly. Took me a while to get back to noise.
I have to have my own space. Small table with everything on it and books. I wrote one screenplay in a coffee shop but my preference is away from it all.
I love how you write.
Sonia
Thank you, Sonia!