Time to Write, When to Write, Where to Write

Optimal Conditions for the Writing Process

May 10, 2009

Writers of fiction or non-fiction often discuss optimal conditions for the writing process. Yet, each writer has preferences regarding time and place.

How Much Time to Spend Writing?

Stephen King issues Puritan-like strictness, advising people to forsake television to read and write: “You must be prepared to do some serious turning inward toward the life of the imagination, and that means, I’m afraid, that Geraldo, Keith Obermann, and Jay Leno must go. Reading takes time, and the glass teat takes too much of it.” (p. 143).

How much time does King think a writer must devote daily? “The sort of strenuous reading and writing program I advocate-four to six hours a day, every day-will not seem strenuous if you really enjoy doing these things and have an aptitude for them; in fact you may be following such a program already” (p. 145).

Some people want to write, but feel constrained by opinions of friends and family members. King anticipates this type of hesitant writer by saying “If you feel you need permission to do all the reading and writing your little heart desires, however, consider it hereby granted by yours truly” (p. 145).

When to Write?

Stephen King says, “Basically, mornings are my prime writing times” (148). Other writers disagree.

Mrs. Anna Letitia Barbauld, English poet and writer (1743 – 1825) recommended in A Summer’s Evening Meditation, “The dead of midnight is the noon of thought, and Wisdom mounts her zenith with the stars.”

Nathaniel Hawthorne also found inspiration at night. In “The Custom-House Introductory” to The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne advised writers of fiction, or romances as he termed them:

“Moonlight...falling so white upon the carpet, and showing all its figures so distinctly...is a medium the most suitable for a romance-writer …the floor of our familiar room has become a neutral territory, somewhere between the real world and fairy-land, where the Actual and the Imaginary may meet…”

Where to Write?

Stephen King warns writers against extravagant writing spaces. He used to write in small, cramped spaces, dreaming of the day when he could afford a large room with a large desk in the middle. He achieved his dream, but it turned into a nightmare. The desk and space was just too big. After six years, he moved this “monstrosity” to another room, and got a little desk which he placed under an eave in the corner.

“It starts with this: put your desk in the corner, and every time you sit down there to write, remind yourself why it isn’t in the middle of the room. Life isn’t a support system for art. It’s the other way around” (p. 94).

Some people crave solitude when they write. Jess Walter has a carriage house behind his home, and this is where he goes to write.

J.K. Rowling prefers a noisy, public space. The first Harry Potter book was written at Nicolson’s Café in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Now that she is famous, Rowling, still seeks public cafes. “I am very good at finding a suitable cafe. I blend into the crowd and, of course, I don’t sit in the middle of the bar staring all around me.”

Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter, A Romance. The Custom-House. Introductory.

“J.K. Rowling Writing New Children’s Book in Cafes Again.” Harry Potter Discussion Forum. The Leaky Cauldron. March 2, 2008. Feb. 8, 2009 http://www.leakylounge.com/JK-Rowling-Writing-Child-t60034.html

King, Stephen. On Writing, A Memoir of the Craft. New York: Pocket Books. 2000. Originally published in hardcover by Scribner in 2000. pp. 139, 145.

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