215. Make Your Environment Writer-Friendly

“I really like to have physical objects in my environment to inspire my creativity so that when I look at them, the story comes to mind very easily.”

In this How To Write the Future podcast episode, “Make Your Environment Writer-Friendly” host, Beth Barany shares how you can create a unique surroundings that will inspire and motivate you in your writing. From crafting a collage and displaying physical items to using a corkboard, Beth shares ideas that are great to help get listeners be more creative in their writing space. 

ABOUT THE HOW TO WRITE THE FUTURE PODCAST

How To Write The Future is a podcast for science fiction and fantasy writers who want to imagine better worlds—and write stories that bring those futures to life. Each episode offers practical craft guidance, creative prompts, and big-picture inspiration to help you draft, revise, and publish with purpose.

ABOUT BETH BARANY

Beth Barany is an award-winning fantasy and science fiction novelist and creativity coach for writers. She helps science fiction and fantasy novelists write, revise, and publish stories that matter by blending practical craft guidance with a commitment to imagination, possibility, and how stories shape our world.

RESOURCES

• Writing practice. “I can do this.” (Step 2):
  https://writersfunzone.com/blog/2024/11/18/writing-practice-i-can-do-this-step-2/
• Writing Consistently: Facts and Myths: https://writersfunzone.com/blog/2025/12/22/writing-consistently-facts-and-myths/
• How To Plan Your Writing Life:
  https://writersfunzone.com/blog/2024/01/01/how-to-plan-your-writing-life/
• Get Writing: Seven Ways to Get Out of Your Own Way: https://writersfunzone.com/blog/2023/07/24/get-writing-seven-ways-to-get-out-of-your-own-way/

Transcript

215. Make Your Environment Writer-Friendly

Why Environment Matters

BETH BARANY: In past episodes, I have talked about setting up a writing practice, and I've talked about it from the inner perspective, beliefs and rituals. Activities that you can do, how you can organize your writing life, and some mindset shifts that you can make. But I haven't really talked about the environment that you can have around you to help you with your inspiration and to getting to your writing.

So that's what I'm gonna talk about today. Hi everyone. I'm Beth Barany of How to Write the Future podcast. I'm an award-winning science fiction and fantasy author, and I specialize in working with science fiction and fantasy authors through my courses, edit labs, masterminds, and one-on-one coaching and consulting.

I really believe that our creativity is our superpower. So let's get to it.

[00:54] Client Challenge No Wall Space

Sometimes we need to brainstorm to figure out how our environment can work for us, and one of my clients asked me how she could set up her environment to have her be more inspired and get to her writing more, because her biggest challenge was just sitting down and working, but her physical environment wasn't very conducive, and she has the added problem that she can't put anything on her walls.

No tacks, no sticky paper, no thumbnails, nails, nothing. She has to leave the walls pristine. So we're brainstorming some options for her. So I'm gonna talk about some options if you can't put anything up on your walls, but I'm gonna first talk about what you can do to inspire you if you wanna put things up on your walls, or you wanna use a poster board, or, I was brainstorming...

What else is there besides a poster board? Or maybe you want to use corkboard, or maybe you want to make a collage and put that up on the wall. Okay, so let's talk about it.

[01:53] Clutter or Cozy Setup

What is inspiring to you in your physical environment? Do you want it completely clear of clutter?

Then you kn- you need to clear your desk, or maybe you want to work at a cafe. But this episode is really for people who want to make their work environment congenial. Maybe you only have a corner of a dining table or of a common room, or maybe you are, you have your desk in your bedroom, which is the case for this client.

So some people need it clear, in which case I really encourage you to just move all the clutter off, and I even do that in my work desk is I just move as much clutter off as I can.

[02:31] Tactile Story Triggers

Now, secondly, something about writers is we think it's all in our head. You know, our imaginations are working. Maybe we have pen to paper or fingers to keyboard, but a lot of writers are tactile like this client of mine, and I am as well.

I really like to have physical objects in my environment to inspire my creativity so that when I look at them, the story comes to mind very easily. So what might that look like for you? Maybe it's figurines or stones or pretty postcards that represent the setting, or maybe it's cutouts from magazines that you put up on a clothesline.

I did that one year, while I was working on one of my stories. That was really fun.

[03:13] No Wall Inspiration Hacks

So what do you do if you can't put anything up on your walls? Well, we brainstormed together some options, and one of the ideas we had was to take a notebook and stand it up and put her affirmations or her images on this notebook and have it be there on her desk.

So here's a blank book, and imagine I could set this on my desk, maybe in a little bookstand, and I could put images on the book or stickers, and I could change the pages and change the inspiration. ' Cause that's another thing that I noticed with her, with this client, and also I have this too, is I need to change up the environment.

So rotate things, clean things, put down other objects.

[03:59] Collages and Rotation

So for example, I have on my desk, dragons, crystals, a wizard. Yes, I write fantasy. I also have a collage that I made to represent the film project I'm working on, which has things like Paris, and a woman climbing up a wall, and cats, and things that make me feel inspired, but also warm and fuzzy.

So when you make a collage, you don't wanna think about it too much. You wanna just see what your subconscious has to say, and go ahead and find images that inspire you right now about what you're working on right now. And print that out if you can, and put it on the wall, or a corkboard, or a little notebook to stand it up.

Another thing you can do if you can't put anything on your walls is to use a kind of book stand that you can get to prop up a book or prop up a pretty postcard or an image so that you can look at it and then also rotate it out.

[04:59] Beyond Visual Sound Smell

So what is important to you? Is it the tactile objects in your space?

Is it visually clean and clear and having nothing around you? What else? Some people need it quiet, so sometimes that's easy to come by. Other times you need to put in a headset or set up a white noise track, so that's all you hear. What else? We've got tactile. We've got sound. What about smell and touch?

This is where having something to drink or nibble on while you're working is important to some people. I usually just want coffee or water. And what else?

[05:39] Brainstorm and Rearrange

I encourage you to take the time to brainstorm what would make your physical environment inspiring to you. Give yourself thirty minutes or an hour to rearrange your space so that it's more conducive for writing. And honestly, I encouraged my client to do some research and what else can she do to put art around her that inspires her for her story?

All right.

[06:02] Share Your Setup Outro

So what can you do to make your writing environment inspiring, encouraging, and really trigger that, "Ooh, I wanna work on my story," feeling when you walk into that space? I'd love to hear. Go ahead and share that with me on on my contact page, or in the comments, or wherever you listen to this podcast, or in the blog post that accompanies this podcast.

I'd love to hear. If you have any questions about your writing practice, about writing craft, about mindset, or anything at all related to writing science fiction and fantasy, let me know. I can make a future episode about it. And lastly, be sure to check out my edit your novel checklist if you're ready to edit your novel.

That's it for this week, everyone. Write long and prosper.