# Ideal writing conditions.



## Lordy (Jul 1, 2014)

I know that this may sound like a silly question, and will definately vary from person to person, but are there any ideal writing conditions? The main one I'm thinking of is it better to write in silence, or have music playing in the background. Really interested to hear what you folks prefer.


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## Bishop (Jul 1, 2014)

At work, I write in silence because my office is at -5 decibels at all times. Any louder, and us anti-social IT people cower in fear of socialization. At home, I write with ambient music on from one of the many chillout or ambient channels at DI.fm an internet radio site.


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## garza (Jul 1, 2014)

Middle of a firefight in deep bush can inspire great prose about the beauty of nature. Lying flat on your belly  in a rice paddy is less comfortable because of the need to keep your notebook dry. Harnessed up and hanging out the side of a Huey taking pictures of a smoking village can give you ideas for how to describe a landscape. Having a 14-year-old Salvadoran guerrilla put a rifle to your head, turn, and ask his 18-year-old sergeant whether to shoot can give you ideas for an article about juvenile delinquents. Running 80 miles an hour up highway 61 with some fellows, suspected to be Ku Klux Klan members, behind you with rifles doing their best to kill you can inspire an article on highway safety. Sitting in a Stokely Carmichael meeting with a young lady behind you beating you over the head with an umbrella with every point Carmichael makes can give you new insights into the whole question of civil rights and the responsibility of the media. Sitting in the press gallery at the National Assembly at midnight listening to budget debate that began at ten that morning can make you consider whether one-man rule may not be such a bad idea. 

Silence? Music playing in the background? You joke, of course. There is no ideal writing condition. There's only the world around us. It is what it is. Live with it, and write about it.


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## Sam (Jul 1, 2014)

Lordy said:


> I know that this may sound like a silly question, and will definately vary from person to person, but are there any ideal writing conditions? The main one I'm thinking of is it better to write in silence, or have music playing in the background. Really interested to hear what you folks prefer.



Ass on seat and fingers on keyboard.


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## garza (Jul 1, 2014)

Well now, that sort of brings it down to the basics. Any questions?


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## Lordy (Jul 1, 2014)

Some great replies guys. Thanks. It's just something that intrigued me. I know Shaun Hutson likes to blast out heavy metal while he writes, whereas Jame Herbert [RIP] used to chill out to classical, and others prefer silence.


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## Bishop (Jul 1, 2014)

Lordy said:


> Some great replies guys. Thanks. It's just something that intrigued me. I know Shaun Hutson likes to blast out heavy metal while he writes, whereas Jame Herbert [RIP] used to chill out to classical, and others prefer silence.



While metal is my favorite musical genre, if I listen to it while I write I find myself writing only action scenes. :O


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## Lordy (Jul 1, 2014)

Bishop said:


> While metal is my favorite musical genre, if I listen to it while I write I find myself writing only action scenes. :O



Love the answer. It's my favourite as well, along with punk, so I'll bear that in mind.


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## tabasco5 (Jul 1, 2014)

1.  National forest campground with a view of a lake, stream, or mountain.  The final hour to sunset sitting in a folding chair or at a picnic table.  Once the sun is down, move it inside the tent and use a headlamp for light.

2.  Canoe/kayak by yourself on a remote isolated river.  Set your site up on a beach, folding chair with feet in water.  Campfire behind.

3. A balcony.

4. The writing office.

No music for me.  No one home except the dog.  Occasional distractions are welcomed.

Also, purple foam earplugs come in handy for noise cancelling.


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## dale (Jul 1, 2014)

disassociation comes a few different ways. but for me, it's all that matters. i can have that in the city or in the country. i can achieve
it with led zeppelin, the cure, alice in chains, beethoven, or silence. i can achieve it with vodka, wine, opiates, speed, or sober. if i can
achieve disassociation? i can write in a way i feel is "ideal".


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## Bloggsworth (Jul 1, 2014)

There are no external ideal writing conditions; if you have a mind to write, you will do it where you stand/sit/lie, in a train, on a plane; in a café, a classroom or a launderette.


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## Jeko (Jul 1, 2014)

Pen & paper, and nothing interesting going on away from the slowly filling page.


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## bazz cargo (Jul 1, 2014)

Somewhere where I cannot be interrupted.


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## Plasticweld (Jul 1, 2014)

Bloggsworth said:


> There are no external ideal writing conditions; if you have a mind to write, you will do it where you stand/sit/lie, in a train, on a plane; in a café, a classroom or a launderette.



I am of this mind set also.

 Most of the things I would like to write would be classified as journalism not stories.  All of the pieces take far more research than I ever imagine when I start out.  I often read information from a couple of sources, research a topic and become fascinated by it then try and pass on the information and perspective I have gained by broadening my information base.  As a rule unless you are heavy into economics or politics you would be board to death with the things that thrill me.  I can say that it has been fun to do some fiction writing or short non-fiction stuff that is first hand letting me skip the whole research step... Nothing better than this is how it is based on what I see personally. 

There is a burning desire at some point that I either have a story or idea that I feel must  be passed on. This is what leads me to write more than any setting


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## Deafmute (Jul 1, 2014)

Ideal? or actual, because my actual writing setting tends to be while I am at work... in a psych ward... between patient screaming at me. Gee I wonder why its taking me so long to get this book done?


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## J.T. Chris (Jul 1, 2014)

Having $1,000,000 sitting in my bank account would be an ideal situation for me to write.


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## kevingordon (Jul 1, 2014)

Late at night, when everyone else is a sleep. My wife is nearly as bad as my children for requiring my time. It's not ideal as I would prefer not to be broken from a hard day at the office, but it's the best I am going to get from my life just now and you can't ask for more than that.


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## Nickleby (Jul 1, 2014)

Some types of writing are harder to do than others. It's a well-known scientific fact that you use another order of brain power to visualize what another person may be thinking, e.g. a character in a story. It takes yet another order of brain power to visualize what that person is thinking about what a third person is thinking. And so on. It's hard to do that while simultaneously driving a flaming gas tanker full tilt down the FDR and disarming a bomb.

To answer the question, it's a subjective choice. I can write in the middle of the night in total silence, or in the stands at a NASCAR track. The quality of the product may vary, but I'm going to write when the mood strikes.


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## Ixarku (Jul 1, 2014)

I prefer isolation and silence to think and work.  Most of my writing is done in my bedroom with everything electronic turned off except the lights and my PC.  However, I've also taken to keeping either a notepad or my tablet or both with me at work, and I'll often jot down notes at lunch time while I'm sitting at my desk.

I also once managed to write 500 or 1000 words on my tablet while sitting in the waiting area at my car dealership's service center, so at least I've proven that, if I try, I can tune out what's around me enough to work.  Still not ideal conditions, but it was a better use of time than picking my nose or surfing the internet while I waited.  Typing on a tablet still sucks though.


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## CraniumInsanium (Jul 3, 2014)

if you're gonna use music, play whatever you would exercise to. What gets the blood pumping? Dubstep, heavy metal, hip hop? Something you can ease into, and forget its playing while you lose yourself in wherever your imagination takes you.


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## aliveatnight (Jul 3, 2014)

I can write pretty much anywhere I need to. I used to do it at school, in the car or in my bedroom. I've even done it in the bathroom before. The place really doesn't matter, because when I'm writing that's all I'm aware of anyways.


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## Lordy (Jul 3, 2014)

It's been really interesting reading your reply's. A wide variety of answers there.


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## Greimour (Jul 3, 2014)

Not a silly question, nor is it the first time someone has approached this question.

My answer is HERE


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## Ixarku (Jul 3, 2014)

CraniumInsanium said:


> if you're gonna use music, play whatever you would exercise to. What gets the blood pumping? Dubstep, heavy metal, hip hop? Something you can ease into, and forget its playing while you lose yourself in wherever your imagination takes you.




Personally, I find that music is usually distracting when I'm trying to write.  Sometimes I can get away with having some light classical on in the background at a very low volume, but I rarely do that unless I'm brainstorming or working through a difficult idea.  Similarly, I can test software and write test plans with heavy metal blaring, but I can't study a new project or write anything that requires a lot of thought unless I minimize the distractions.


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## mmkp1990 (Jul 4, 2014)

Good old conundrum, if you use pen and paper, it will take longer to write, you use computer, then you can't help but search the net as we now rely on the internet in our daily lives. So before talking about writing conditions, the problem can all start by the tools we are using.

I prefer to be on my own where there is no one I know, music in my earphones. When I say no one I know, I mean I don't mind if I am home by myself, or if I am in a coffee shop where there are strangers. What I hate is when friends or family are in the same place, then I can' do it because I keep thinking they are skeptical on what I am writing. But like you said, everyone is different.


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## dvspec (Jul 4, 2014)

I usually write with instrumental music playing in the background.  It's called World Music on Pandora, but I have reduced it to a lot of Spanish guitar and Celtic stuff now with a little Asian woodwind mixed in for fun.  No French crap, no words and no live recordings.  Silence works better for those days I can't concentrate. 

I usually write at the kitchen table, but sometimes when that starts bothering me, I end up on the couch with the laptop in my lap.    

When ideas were coming hot and heavy, I wrote 300 words in the car at stoplights and a restaurant drive through on my phone.


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## Neith (Jul 8, 2014)

I always like reading answers to these questions, since everyone has their own way of writing.

I've found if I'm just starting a story, I like silence otherwise I get easily distracted. As the story goes along and I get used to the pace/tone/voice/characters, I make playlists of songs that have reminded me of a character/conflict. Then when I'm having trouble getting "into" the story, I'll write with one of the playlists in the background (depending on what scene and what characters I'm writing at the time). I used to be able to write with the TV on in the background, but I can't anymore.


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## Justin Rocket (Jul 8, 2014)

For me, there are writing conditions which are better.  As I have a  spinal injury, sitting in a chair too long causes my chronic pain to rise to a level where my quality of writing drops.
I'd say that my best writing conditions would be in a room by myself with shades drawn shut.  There is a zero gravity chair and a day bed.  When I'm on the day bed, I have Dragon Naturally Speaking(tm) to transform my words into text.  I have a mini fridge nearby filled with water bottles and  a bowl of either Reese's pieces or M&Ms or Skittles nearby.
I have a good set of speakers on my computer and am listening to one of my channels on Pandora as background music.  Depending on the kind of writing I'm doing, I'm writing in a notebook with a quality pen or am typing into Libreoffice or am working on Storybook(tm) (I recently discovered "write or die" and want to test it out.)  I have some sort of application which throws an alarm if I'm browsing the Internet for more than ten minutes at a time.


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## Justin Rocket (Jul 8, 2014)

Neith said:


> I make playlists of songs that have reminded me of a character/conflict. Then when I'm having trouble getting "into" the story, I'll write with one of the playlists in the background (depending on what scene and what characters I'm writing at the time).



This is something I've been planning to do, but haven't started doing it yet.


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## aj47 (Jul 8, 2014)

Sam said:


> Ass on seat and fingers on keyboard.



Indeed.

I need quiet.  Talking, shouting, the TV isn't really a big deal.  Music is. I cannot work with music playing.  It sucks me in like a tornado.


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## Neith (Jul 8, 2014)

Justin Rocket said:


> This is something I've been planning to do, but haven't started doing it yet.



I was surprised how much it worked. I also have playlists for scenes, like "action," "romance," and "drama." And if I found a song that had a beat or lyrics that really jived with a character of mine, it made a scene with that character flow easier. Sometimes, if I was really blocked, listening to that character's designated song started me thinking! Downside is, you either have to stumble on songs that work or do a _lot _of music sampling.


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## Caragula (Jul 9, 2014)

Silence.


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## escorial (Jul 9, 2014)

ideal for me might stop me writing..a peaceful mind,calm an serene.


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## Newman (Jul 9, 2014)

Lordy said:


> ideal writing conditions?



For me, it's about writing in non-ideal conditions, which will be most of the time.

If I had to wait for ideal conditions, I'd hardly get anything done.


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## Chad Lutzke (Jul 9, 2014)

Unless I'm REALLY in the zone, it has to be quiet for me, other than some mood-setting music, for example I recently wrote a scene that took place in a forest so I put on some ambient music with forest sounds.  Reading over my shoulder as I type is completely forbidden.  I shut right down when that happens.


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## Lisibee23 (Jul 11, 2014)

I think my best writing condition is in Costa Coffee. I'm not sure why, but I seem to get a lot more done there... no TV, probably  x


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## Emily Logan (Jul 11, 2014)

Sam said:


> Ass on seat and fingers on keyboard.



Abso-freakin-lutely! The best way to write is TO WRITE.

However, having said that. Music on the couch (back problems prevent me sitting too long at my desk), paper and pen in hand is good for indoors. Outdoors, nice cushy, cool sand dune where I can watch the quiet lake and listen to the birds sing. Or simply a beautiful, quiet place in nature, short of the sand dune. No good place at work... :lol I don't work!


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## Emily Logan (Jul 11, 2014)

mmkp1990 said:


> Good old conundrum, if you use pen and paper, it will take longer to write, you use computer, then you can't help but search the net as we now rely on the internet in our daily lives. So before talking about writing conditions, the problem can all start by the tools we are using.
> 
> I prefer to be on my own where there is no one I know, music in my earphones. When I say no one I know, I mean I don't mind if I am home by myself, or if I am in a coffee shop where there are strangers. What I hate is when friends or family are in the same place, then I can' do it because I keep thinking they are skeptical on what I am writing. But like you said, everyone is different.



I find it interesting that different people need different types of music or no music at all. Myself, I prefer celtic music on a low setting. Absolute silence drives. me. CRAZY!

Similarly, I prefer to be on my own too. Just like what you just said- no one I know (minus my local NaNo group, of course). But not for the same reason. If I'm around other people, I want to put my energies into being a good guest/hostess. Whereas, if I'm with my NaNo group... hey! We're all there to write! Not visit. As long as that's what they want, every thing's good. If it's not, well... I may have problems focusing on my work. 

And I agree with your conundrum issue. I'm capable of typing 3-4 times as fast as writing with pen and paper. That's why I use a computer during NaNo. However, I'm highly ADD so I like to use pen and paper. That's why I got myself a Livescribe. Directly from paper to computer!


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## Ixarku (Jul 11, 2014)

Chad Lutzke said:


> Reading over my shoulder as I type is completely forbidden.  I shut right down when that happens.




I would probably punch somebody (or at least verbally berate them, loudly and elaborately) if they tried to read over my shoulder while I was typing or writing.  My concept of "personal space" means stay the hell away from me when I'm working.


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## Emily Logan (Jul 11, 2014)

Ixarku said:


> I would probably punch somebody (or at least verbally berate them, loudly and elaborately) if they tried to read over my shoulder while I was typing or writing.  My concept of "personal space" means stay the hell away from me when I'm working.



Hehe. Here! Here!

Just ask my husband. He'd tell you my temper becomes sharp when I'm working. Whether that be writing or working on my YouTube channel. I consider it my "work place" and do _not_ like being disturbed!

If I was suddenly startled and working on a lap top, I can imagine slamming the lid shut. Private! Keep out!

Maybe I should put one of those signs on the door. An open door means I'm available. A closed door with a private sign means LEAVE ME ALONE.


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## Kingstonmike (Jul 13, 2014)

Sam said:


> Ass on seat and fingers on keyboard.



All else follows....


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## Kingstonmike (Jul 13, 2014)

What approaches ideal for me is being up before the wife and kids, with a fresh coffee, bagels and Trevor Nygaard on the headphones...Timer set to 30 minutes and....go.


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## Emily Logan (Jul 14, 2014)

I only have a husband to worry about and he leaves _early_ in the morning, way before I'm ready to get up, and is gone all day. Toss the ball and take my dog for a walk or two is all I have to worry about. But it's not as conducive to writing as one might think... too many opportunities for procrastination.


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## Fru (Jul 14, 2014)

I don't have a set condition for writing, although it will usually be in bed, since I do it on my laptop. Just whenever the urge takes me, I'll fire up the Microsoft Word file and try to keep cracking on. I always have to re-read back to try to remember what style I was writing in last time - sometimes this satisfies my urge for the night and I'll just close it down from there lol. Then I'll just put iTunes on shuffle and see if anything is happening that night. Sometimes I'll write two chapters, sometimes I won't even get two lines.


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## mraven (Jul 17, 2014)

I generally write on my PC in our computer room, I have mixed feelings about the Internet, whether it's conducive or not to writing - it is useful, if you need to look up a word or maybe a synonym, but then again it's all too easy to spend three hours looking at funny stories about cats or whatever and you realise that the rare day that you managed to reserve just to write has been wasted!


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## Ixarku (Jul 17, 2014)

I'm disciplined enough that I can write using a PC with Internet access without getting distracted by Facebook and all of the other shiny things out there.  I have to be anyway -- my day job has me parked in front of a computer for most of the day, and if I was switching over to surf the Internet all day, I'd end up getting fired.  When I write, I usually have dictionary.com, Google, and Wikipedia open for quick reference.


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## Newman (Jul 17, 2014)

Today? No builders in the house.


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## ppsage (Jul 18, 2014)

I prefer a situation where acquaintance and family are not persistently querying me, or at least do not expect reply.


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