Turn Up The Volume

Why a bit of noise might help you concentrate

My desk is only a few metres away from the builders next door. Every day for eight hours they are digging new foundations and soon they will be knocking down walls and then building new ones to make a larger kitchen. The works will continue throughout the summer.

At the rear of the garden, over the wall, there’s more work going on. I think this is also about making a new kitchen although my view of what these builders are doing is partially blocked by trees.

From both directions, there’s a lot of banging; at other times drilling. There’s a bit of chat, but not much. And no music. I’m always very glad when there’s no music. I can’t write whether it’s Bach or The Strokes playing. I’ve never have been able to. No matter how much I love listening at other times.

Ideally, it would be quieter outside my window. There would be no builders; just the occasional flock of squawking parakeets (I love them and their distinctive calls), the odd aeroplane, one of my dogs barking at an imaginary fox. I’d have the choice, too, to take my laptop out into the garden and work under an umbrella. That won’t be an option for the entire summer, but fortunately, I’m also happy writing in my office with these building works going on as I’m forced to concentrate. And concentration is key to finishing any project.

I've realised that once I’ve committed to tuning out the various bangs and crashes, I’m in a lovely writing zone with my characters, ready to work on the next pages. And once I’m in that zone, I can stay there for a while. It takes a lot to interrupt the concentration.

A lot of people, I find, need some noise to be able to write. No one really wants construction work right outside their window, but some kind of white noise or hum of the radio – anything that blocks out unexpected sounds that might interrupt a train of thought – can be ideal. We’ve all been there – a brilliant but half-formed idea in our mind that is lost forever when the doorbell rings or there’s a notification on our phone. An idea that wouldn’t have been lost had we already been concentrating hard on zoning out the background noise.

I think that’s one of the reasons some people like to write in cafés. There’s the constant low-level chat of people ordering cappuccinos and lattes. As it’s never completely quiet, concentration is required. Cafés don’t work for me; I wouldn’t even get to the ‘time to concentrate’ part; I’d be far too distracted by the proximity to Diet Cokes and vegan cakes. I would also miss my dogs’ gentle snores that accompany the tap-tap-tapping on my keyboard – my favourite kind of white noise.

But I do like writing with the TV on – as long as it’s something gentle with no unexpected arguments, fight scenes, or explosions. And no loud music. I often put on Gardener’s World or the same series of documentaries about gardens and write for hours whilst quiet chat about tulips and weeds, bulbs and borders, plays in the background.

What, if any, white noise do you need?