Food for Fiction

I hear many people describe certain foods as the food for the gods, or brain food. The diets of writers are as varied as the writers themselves. Different things work well for different people. Maybe when you smell certain aromas it produces an imaginative effect that allows you to create more easily? Maybe when your body craves a kind of vegetable, and you provide it, you can concentrate more on the subject? There’re all sorts of things that diet can have an effect on, why can’t writing be one of them as well?

I find that if I eat a lot of stodgy food, my mind and body become very slow and sleepy. Pork pies, steak and kidney pud, scotch eggs, I love ‘em all. But I try not to eat them while I am writing as I find it limits my capacity to concentrate. Coffee is a hard one for lots of people, as the cliché is always a caffeine fuelled writer pulling their hair out. But the cliché does have some basis in truth; we do this more than any artist or musician. But I have to start the day with 1 or 2 cups of coffee, after that its decaf all the way. I find it’s the smell of coffee that has a stimulating effect and not the caffeine.

I eat as much fruit and veg throughout the day as I can, because my mind is clearer and I can write with greater ease than if I pump myself full of sugary snacks. On the flipside though, if I’m on a deadline and have to work into the night, chocolate works wonders. The sugar keeps the synapses firing but not for prolonged periods of time like caffeine does. You then go into a sort of sugar coma and have to stop what you’re doing because your brain just can’t function properly, by which point you eat more chocolate.

Ok, I may just sound like I am paid by Cadburys to advertise, but honestly I’m not. I’m only promoting chocolate for its medicinal properties ;-). I have heard some people say that macaroni cheese is great for writers and others say that peppermint tea is superb for concentration, but you are never going to know if you don’t try it. See what works for you, and don’t be afraid to try new things.

Let me know what you think. Read, follow, comment and enjoy. M x