Shh! We Need Noise

One of the (many) stars of this years’ Olympics was very obviously Simone Biles, who seemed to effortlessly do whatever was asked of her - and more - collecting gold medals like she was considering a side hustle stealing Sonic The Hedgehog’s gig. So it was genuinely slightly startling when she took a stumble and had to settle with silver at the balance beam final, after seemingly being somewhat weirded out by the vibe from the watching crowd.

Some of the gymnasts and their coaches spoke about an ‘awkward atmosphere’ in the Bercy Arena, where some of the audience started shushing one another, and while that may have been well-intentioned, it had the opposite result. Presumably the audience had assumed that any gymnast needed absolute quiet in order to concentrate (although as you’ll probably already be very well aware, there’s almost nothing as distracting or irritating as someone hissing SHHH in that weird whispering tone in which they’re trying simultaneously to be heard by the person they’re attempting to silence, and not be heard by anyone else). But absolute quiet wasn’t the required state for Biles who was even heard asking, bewildered, her teammate ‘Why are they shushing?’?

The fact is, we all work in different ways, and those different ways won’t make sense to everyone around us. And sometimes, we as individuals work in different ways depending on what the mood is: I don’t have a one-size-fits-all method to suit my writing. Sometimes, I do work best in relative silence, but more often than not, I’m a better writer - certainly in the earlier drafts - sitting in a busy coffee shop. That might horrify some of my fellow writers - surely I can’t really concentrate when there’s an argument brewing at the counter about whether or not someone has updated their Pret subscription? But personally, I find the chatter and - in a very simple sense - the mere presence of other people quite a galvanising atmosphere.?

Which I realise can be a bit of a confusing vibe for some people - the same people, perhaps, who get put out of sorts when they visit a library these days to find everyone chatting, reading stories out loud, or even having a tambourine session for toddlers. Sure, there are environments when silence is more usual, expected, and indeed helpful - the Writers’ Spaces we have at Ironclad Creative, for instance - but just as often, noise can be just as helpful. It’s like Biles explained to journalists after her far-too-quiet experience: “Honestly, we do better in environments where there’s noise because it feels most like practice,” she explained.?

The main lesson to be learned here, I think, is that none of us should absolutely assume that we know the best way in which someone else can work (even if a certain method or environment really is the best way for most people, most of the time), and it’s not always a good idea to impose what works best for us on others.?

All of which is a roundabout way of getting to the question: what works best for you? What do you need in order to produce your top level work? A clear desk? A rock and roll playlist? A third coffee? Comment below!