Where to write?

Some people prefer to write in a room in which they feel comfortable - the lounge, maybe the kitchen, a study or in the garden. Whilst others prefer to write on a freezing cold railway station, empty river barge, rush hour train or noisy shopping centres - ‘on location’.

I look for a setting similar to that of my story, and using the theme of the story I go into ‘free writing’ mode. Free writing allows my hand and mind to combine in a relationship of unlimited imagination.

My hand writes whatever enters my mind. I do not interfere. My senses, imagination and experiences run riot together. There is no editing or changing.
My senses expose what they feel, see, hear and smell. A vivid imagination and life experience stir in their ingredients. The potpourri becomes richer and clearer.
It is easier to weave the story and arouse emotions exposed first hand. Would it not be easier to describe the emotions you feel watching a lamb being born, rather than hearing about it second hand?

Once I feel that I have enough, I close my computer and note book. Yep, I use both. Computer for ‘free writing’ and note book for sudden bullet point flashes.
On my journey home, I will play with ideas. New feelings will be noted immediately, so as not to be lost in the myriad of thoughts, plots and ideas swirling through my mind.

I will then sit in the quiet of my home and write the story. All editing, expanding and changing happens here. Future visits to the area help in making sure that I have the environmental descriptions and sensory feelings I am trying to portray to my audience.

Presently, I am writing a short story on the suicide of a conservationist (game ranger). The setting is in the mountains of Africa. I am using internal monologue genre.

Next to my cottage, a forest covers the lower slopes of a mountain. Last week I walked through the forest to a dam higher up in the slopes. The final path from the forest follows a steep gorge to the dam and is a steep scramble. This will add a frustrating element for my protagonist.

Throughout my walk, my senses were aware of my immediate surroundings. The sounds, smells and how my skin re-acted to the movement and temperature of the breeze.
The day was cold and blustery. Walking through the forest, the sound of the wind blowing through the pine trees was unseemly calming and awakening to my story needs.

I was aware that the frantic mind of my protagonist would not have been aware of these sounds. His focus would be on his suicidal reasonings, and any surrounding movements would more than likely not register on his mind.

I was there. All my senses were caught up in the raw atmosphere in which my protagonist had been living. Why had he made such a drastic decision to end his life?

The steepness of the cliff dropping to green icy waters below. The icy wind buffeting the cliff face. The feelings he would experience sitting alone on a cold, windswept hillside. The cold barrel of the gun, in his hands.

My imagination pulled me into his fall as he pulled the trigger. Those surroundings gave ‘real time emotions’ to the story.

Yesterday I did the walk again. But with a different mindset. That of a carefree mountain walker. A person with his own agenda and thoughts. This walker stops on a ledge and looks out over forest and dam below him. The dam shimmers in the afternoon breeze and he sees the floating corpse.

Where do you prefer to write? At the end of the day it is about personal motivation.