Mark West

Toni Morrison transformed a boathouse on the Hudson River in which to do her writing.

As I record this, I'm in my house in Brooklyn, two doors down from the brownstone where Norman Mailer wrote his most famous books.

Mailer didn't exactly have a hut, but he renovated the top floor of his house, his office, to look and feel exactly like a ship with a long hull and slanted windowed ceilings, which is as crazy looking as you're imagining.

Apparently, Mailer was afraid of water and working all day in what felt like a boat forced him to confront his fears, which I guess he found helpful in his writing.

John Cheever, the tortured Chekov of the suburbs, created maybe the most surreal office and morning commute of any writer I can think of.

Every day, Cheever would put on a suit and tie as if heading to Wall Street.

He'd exit his apartment, take the elevator down with the other commuters heading to work, but he'd continue past the lobby to the basement of his building.

He'd unlock a small storage room, strip down to his underpants, and write all day, surrounded by pipes and electrical boxes.

When he was done, he'd get dressed and go back upstairs.

Like I said, every writer does something unique.

Here's Dahl, again from Thrillmaker, on his setup inside his writing studio.

Writing can be so scary.

Laying back with your feet up helps you relax.

Stephen Sondheim, the greatest writer of musical theater, wrote while fully laying down on his couch with a drink in his hand.

David Milch, the brilliant creator of Deadwood and other TV shows, would lay with his back flat on the floor in his trailer and dictate all of his scripts to an assistant.

Here's more of Dahl with Peter Wallace on Thrillmaker.

Whenever possible, Dahl wouldn't go back into the main house during his writing sessions.

If someone in the house needed him, they would flash a lamp from a switch in the nursery.

One flash meant someone was asking for him, and two flashes meant an emergency.

The only time the lights had ever flashed twice was the day Olivia died, according to writer Barry Farrell.