Ted Ponders - Coffee

So much inspired writing takes place in coffee shops these days that you have to wonder if the global coffee culture is having an effect on how we view the world.

From JK Rowling bringing us wondrous wizardly tales to the pure evil and complex machinations of the devious criminal minds that inhabit Scandinavian crime novels, is there some ‘X’ factor in that delicious brew that inspires writers and takes them on their various flights of fancy?

Or is it the new pastime of ‘people watching’ that so many of us indulge in? Surreptitiously observing people and imagining what their lives must be like over the rim of an innocuous coffee cup – how many novels have sprung from such whimsy?

The constant chatter of the various disparate groups congregating around cheap tables sipping on their own favoured variation of that coca bean product, giving the author a continuous parade of prospective characters, with which to dwell within the pages of the tale being typed on their laptop.

Snatches of conversation and tid-bits of information overheard perhaps providing the inspiration to overcome that momentary writing block and let the fingers continue their merry keyboard dance again.

Inspired and stimulated by the caffeine muse can be all the motivation we writers and creators need, so take that coffee break without any guilt – you just never know where you and your character may end up...