Writing outdoors

[vonHelldorf]

Do any of you like to do this? It could be anywhere. In your garden, a forest, park.

I find it so much easier with reference points around me. It's almost a relief to give the imagination a break. Not long ago I went on a walk called the 'Tolkien Trail'—some of you may have even walked it yourselves. Apparently everyday, regardless of the weather, Tolkien went on his walk through woodlands, fields and river banks. It explains why his descriptions are so vivid and detailed (at times a little too much!).

Any favourite places to write? Let's see some pictures!

 

[Ragandar]

Outside is probably one of the places where I write most consistently, because nature is a huge boost for my creativity and there are fewer distractions around. The only downside is when it's really sunny and the white of the paper begins to hurt my eyes, but eh.

 

[Biskit]

I sat out with the laptop most of this weekend.

There's a patch of ground where we planted wind-break trees and the only livestock allowed in are the chickens. When the weather is up for it, that's where I go. On the plus side, it's out of wifi range, so no internet distractions. On the negative side, it's out of wifi range, so no internet when I want to look something up.

On the really plus side, sneak past the sheep and geese and it's maybe thirty seconds walk to put the kettle on.

 

[Cathbad]

I use to write under a big tree, sitting on the ground with my notepad on my lap, an extra pen in my pocket.

 

[Vaz]

Whilst I love going for walks day and night because nature is creativity food for my brain matter - no, I have never actually written outdoors.

I don't think I could, wildlife is too interesting/distracting.

v

 

[night_wrtr]

It sounds delightful in theory, but as @Vaz said, it would be way too distracting personally. We recently bought tiki torches to line the deck with and I thought it would be perfect to write outside in the dark with the flames crackling. I swatted more mosquitoes than I typed words. Didn't last long.

 

[Juliana]

*shudder* Nope, no writing outdoors for me. I can scribble notes by hand on paper, but I can't do anything that needs proper focus. I tend to find everything annoying - bugs, wind, sunshine.

I can write just fine outside my home (like in coffee shops), just not actually outdoors.

 

[TheDustyZebra]

I went to the library recently and sat on their deck overlooking the river, to write a short story that took place ... well, right there but in a warehouse that I moved a mile or so to take the place of the library because I needed it to be right on the river's edge. It helped to get the sound right in my head, and the smells. I could have got that in my backyard, but there's no good place to write there and people would bug me and the dogs would bark and no writing would get done.

 

[SciFrac]

I tend to get distracted as well. Not where I do my best work.

"In a hole in the ground there lived a writer."

 

[chrispenycate]

'Twould take more than a few insects or avians - or even kids with bicycles and scooters on the skateboard ramp - to distract me from reading or writing. You will frequently find me, with my Kindle or faithful A5 writing pad (a writer's block?) on a bench, particularly as walking stimulates rhythm patterns and I end a short period of perambulation with verse ready to transcribe. It's not as bumpy as trying to do it in a bus, or the back seat of a car.

Choosing one's time to avoid busy periods restaurant terraces and pub outside spaces work well, to, and your fellow customers give a fertile environment for stealing dialogue, quirks and peanuts.

Railway platforms and village fètes deliver ambience by the bucketload (and Southern Rail has been giving me long observation periods recently). Not quite as extended and boring as airport waiting lounges, but competitive. And the messages on the Tannoy are much less predictable.

 

[Martin Gill]

My back yard. Plus I travel a ton for work, so planes, trains, hotel bars, airport lounges - though I tend to do more note taking and "sketching" than hardcore plot writing - like stealing inspiration from the people around me then writing them as characters, or writing descriptions of things I see to dump into Evernote for future use. I wrote a lot of the landscape descriptions for the Viking thing I've been working on when I was on holiday in Scotland and on various work trips to Stockholm and Oslo over the last 2 years. I wrote bits as I saw them, dumped them in a doc then pulled them out and edited them when I needed a forest, hill, bay, whatever.

 

[Rider of scaled wing]

'outside' around here is basically unbearable for me during the warmer months. too many insects buzzing around me, and i hate being pestered by them. don't hate them directly, i just wish they'd leave me alone, yanno?

But yeah, i have a hard enough tiem finding a time and place to not be distracted, so outside... yeah, good place to go for inspiration sources, not a good place to write in, i find.

But that's just me, do what works for you. We're all different, and that's what makes writing so interesting to begin with!

 

[Cathbad]

too many insects buzzing around

I've been lucky - the blood-suckers seem adverse to my blood. Even the many years I lived in Florida, while others were getting eaten up, I received few - if any - bites.

 

[Biskit]

I've been lucky - the blood-suckers seem adverse to my blood.

The Biskitetta is similarly unpopular with the bugs whilst I am the all-you-can-eat buffet.

 

[TitaniumTi]

Outdoors for me. I think best staring into the distance.

I also write a lot sitting in the car. Partly, that's necessity, because my mind is free to mull over stories while I drive, then I need to capture the ideas before they evaporate. But I also find the car a comfortable place to sit.

 

[Venusian Broon]

I'm not really a write outdoors person, I need a desk and PC to write, I'd even baulk at writing in a cafe (but that's my anti-hipster tendency )

But I really like an expansive view out of window - a really long view of scenery, big skies for sunsets/sunrises, hills and loads of details rolling out to infinite. Expansive view - Expansive mind!

I also tend to find that nature comes to you. Last time I wrote about dragonflies, a golden one came to visit and rested on the window frames. It was a tiny moment but quite magical. I haven't tried this with a vampire blue whale though....

 

[AlexH]

I love to write outdoors, though I find it difficult to get comfortable. I only started taking advantage of the UK summer for writing quite late on this year. I visited the local woodland a couple of times and sat in the garden. Sometimes I find it distracting rather than inspiring - listening to and watching wildlife. A few times I've worked on some editing in Chester's Roman Gardens on my lunch break.

This is the only picture I have to hand of a writing location, the Isle of Harris in north Scotland, taken at 9pm and it was still warm enough to wear a t-shirt (unusual for the north end of the Outer Hebrides!). It was wonderfully peaceful - the gentle hushing of waves the only noise. The St Kilda archipelago (where I'd been a couple of days earlier) is in the distance (not the closest islands you can see).

It was such a beautiful night. I wish I'd taken my tent (or a bivvy) with me. I ended up walking along the coast until close to midnight, with still enough daylight.

 

[The Big Peat]

I don't actually write outside as a rule, but I tend to write in my own head before I write it down on paper, and I do tend to do that best when outside.

 

[Plucky Novice]

I got myself an anti-glare filter for my laptop so I could write and enjoy the sun during the summer. I enjoyed that, kept things fresh.

I'm trying to sort out a set up so I can dictate outside or when on a walk. Haven't quite got it sussed yet though.

 

[chrispenycate]

When writing my rhythmic things I compose as I am walking (stumbling, hobbling) along, and must find a park bench or equivalent for temporary repose - both for my legs and my increasingly perforated memory. I always have a notepad and pencil or ball-point with me, and the sports green opposite Yapton's shopping centre (a magnificent three shops and a hairdresser) gives me a selection of seating, and the cries from the skateboard ramps and swings and seesaws for the more junior don't spoil my concentration much.

Of course, should the piece be ternary I must look pretty silly in the mobile phase - but hey, if I worried about that…

Agree with PN - a dictation system (probably into a mobile phone - I'm old enough that if we saw someone walking down the street talking to himself he'd be considered pretty odd, but now you know he's an ET phoning home) but the dictate software that recognises what you're saying doesn't seem to like me much, so it wouldn't be much of an advance on handwriting.