by Kenneth Andrews

Created on: February 29, 2012

Writers are a mixed bunch, transcending age, race, class, gender, wealth, and any other boundaries you can think of. Such a diverse bunch of people are always going to have different approaches to what is basically the same craft, and this is true right to the point of the best time of day to do their writing. Nevertheless, there are some clear advantages to writing at night, and these are listed below.

Writing at night suits the self-image many writers like to maintain, of a busy industrious person making the most of every moment of their lives. Burning the midnight oil writing rather than wasting their time asleep, or slumped in front of the TV, or partying up a storm. For one moment, even the most dreadful poet feels a vague sense of kinship with Samuel Pepys, scritching away with a quill pen by candlelight.

And this is of course absurd. But one of the key challenges to any writer is maintaining productivity, to overcome distractions and to keep writing. If your mental image of a 'real writer' is someone in a powdered wig filling sheets of vellum on a rickety wooden desk, then writing at night and trying to recreate that image might well help you get into the mental space that enables you to make productive use of your writing time. Good luck to you if that's what works, feel free to wear the wig as well. Whatever works.

More importantly, however, the night is a great time for writing because of the lack of distractions. Even all that dreadful birdsong will be silent, apart from the odd owl. No telephone calls, no school run, much less traffic outside. Whatever the distractions that plague your daytime writing life, they are likely to be reduced in the hours of darkness. Except the Internet of course, the Internet is never silent. But even there, your Facebook friends and Twitter contacts will gradually go offline as they enjoy their evening activities and head towards bed.

Writing at night also works for many writers who are also parents. In a busy family environment, many writers come to feel guilty (or sometimes are unforgivably made to feel guilty) about demanding private writing time. But when everyone else is asleep, how can it possibly be anyone else's business if you want to type out a few hundred words in the spare bedroom or at the kitchen table?

Professional people who write in their spare time are also increasingly finding solace in writing at night in this communication age where employers are encroaching ever further into workers' personal lives. Some employees discover they are expected to answer work emails via smartphones and webmail in the evening. But after 8pm most people should be in the clear unless they're specifically on call as part of their contracted hours.

For many people then, writing at night is a necessity that springs from a busy life. But if you turn to writing at night, you can make a virtue of necessity. If your working day is done, if you've cooked, eaten and washed up the dishes from dinner, if you've had your shower and done the laundry, the only thing left to do is to go to bed. So you can sit down and write with a completely clear mind until you get tired and need to go to bed. You can devote your full attention to the task in hand rather than worrying about other things you should be doing, as at almost any other time of the day. You can give your imagination free rein for an hour or so, and see where it takes you.

The night belongs to creative people, whatever hobby they are indulging in. At night, you can write, paint, sew or compose without anyone looking over your shoulder. No guilt, no distractions, no excuses. Give it a go.

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