The Writing Spaces: FYW Author Robert Smedley

This week, Fuel Your Writing’s very own Robert Smedley kindly shares his own Writing Space.

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As writer’s across history have proved, you write best where you’re most comfortable, and I’m most comfortable in my own room. It’s my bedroom, office, library, Batcave and the place where I shout at the TV, all in one rather compact space, and over the fifteen years I’ve been in it I’ve tried to make it as comfortable as possible for all those things.

A Desk & A Chair

My desk is the nerve centre and everything around it is dedicated to helping me work there. A mass of Ikea-brand woodstuff stained with a kaledioscope of coffee-cup rings, its where everything in my life happens: revising for exams, sweating over University essays, writing stories and reviews, and watching Mystery Science Theatre 3000. Fortunately I also have a fantastic chair in which to sit at it. It’s a 1960s office relic from a grubby second hand furniture shop near me. It doesn’t have upholstery anymore so it just has an old blanket over it, and it smells powerfully of glue in hot weather, but I’ll never get rid of it. Although it doesn’t look it, it’s one of the most comfy places to sit in the whole world. I could sit in it all day and I do. I love it. A writer – nay, a human being – is nothing without a comfy chair.

Board O’ Stuff

But furniture aside, the most important thing about my writing space is the ‘Board O’ Stuff’ above my desk. It used to be the ‘Board O’ Work’, with all my dates and deadlines on, but gradually fun postcards and pictures kept accumulating on it and now somewhere beneath all that stuff is a reminder for a dentist appointment in March 2007. My board is everything in my head in one place; it’s a bit chaotic, but with a definite method to the madness.

It’s made up of ideas, postcards from friends (I love getting postcards and I’m always asking people to send them when they go anywhere), pictures and food packets I find amusing, paper curious, a lot of cartoons I’ve drawn, photos of family and friends and holidays, theatre tickets, post-it notes and flyers from my dad’s concerts. The board is where I sometimes put story ideas but it’s already a collection of stories; of emotional snapshots and relics of moments long gone. It’s partly decorative but mostly it’s there because it’s filled with tethers to times I don’t want to forget. Best of all, it’s nice to have something nice to look at when I sit down to work. On a good day it brings a smile, on a great day its inspiring, seeing all those memories and stories and good times reflected back at you. I’d recommend a ‘Board O’ Stuff’ to every writer.

Imagination Space

There are books and comics and graphic novels everywhere in my room – on my desk, crammed into bookcases, stacked in corners, piled by my bed. I like having them close at hand, either to fire up the ol’ imagination, or for reference. And speaking of imagination, I like to have things to play with when working. I’ve never understood why you have to stop playing with toys when you grow up, especially if you’re a writer. Play is all about creating stories. Nothing like a pile of Lego or some Transformers or a couple of plastic dinosaurs nearby to get the creative juices flowing. Every writer should at least have some Lego on their desk; it’s creative potential is like story fuel in brick form. A few silly minutes with it is a great way to take a break from writing while keeping the imagination stoked.

Peace & Quiet

I’m fortunate to live out in the (usually) peaceful countryside – the only sounds tend to be sheep bleating or my dad or brother playing the piano downstairs – so it’s conducive to getting work done. Occasionally there’s a noisy farming machine or gunfire from pheasant hunters, but otherwise it’s nice and quiet. Having miles of fields and forests on the doorstep also means that I can take a break, get out of my stuffy little writing space, and go for a walk to blow away the cobwebs (sometimes literally – I rarely dust) and dodge small arms fire.

One Place For Me

However far I wander I always bungee back to my desk. I never work anywhere but my room, not so much because it’s a dedicated working spot, it’s just there’s just too many darn distractions elsewhere. And the minute I make myself comfortable in another room I know I’ll need to go back to my room and get something like a book or a pen or all that Lego. Nope, my room’s the only place to be. Besides, it’s got the one other thing I forgot to mention; perhaps the most important item a writer will ever need: a bed. It’s a place to think, read and dream – all the things a storyteller needs to do. And you just try writing that bestseller without a good night’s sleep…

Pictures courtesy of the author.