Just curious. Pencil and paper? Computer? Laptop? Typewriter? Anything else?
I find that I do my best writing with good old pencil and paper. Don't know why. I just feel hampered creatively with a keyboard and monitor. What about the rest of you?
Posted by Survivor (Member # 213) on :
Computer, for the most part. You have to get it in there eventually anyway, for editing, sending to proofreaders, printing out in manuscript form, etc.
I do sometimes take notes and make sketches with paper and pencil, though. But since my final form of anything that I write is invariably an edited version of the first copy, I virtually everything that I actually "write" is only put into it's final form when I type it in to the computer.
Posted by jackonus (Member # 132) on :
I used to be tied to pen & paper because I was writing the ideas down very fast. I found that translating them to typewritten or computer pages was a disaster in that I would try too hard to edit as I go. Now that my typing speed has increased and my handwriting speed has deteriorated, I find that I'm better off typing the things into the computer from the start. I'm up to around 100 or so WPM (more if I don't worry about typos) and that's about fast enough to the ideas down before they decay. If not, I make an outline with the key ideas and phrases I thought of then struggle through the process of fleshing that out. Usually, the outline becomes a set of forgotten notes that filter in the story "subconsciously" as I write the sections that pertain to those hastily scribbled (typed) ideas.
The point for me is speed of execution when the muse is working.
Posted by TheUbiquitousMrLovegrove (Member # 390) on :
Notebook of pen and paper for outlining, sketching scenes, jotting down thoughts. The computer is where the paper product is made.
With the computer, I do feel at times, something of a disconnect. When I just can go any further on a story by typing it, I go back to the notebook and try to write the next scene on the paper. Something about your hand on the pen and the ink on the paper makes it easier, sometimes.
Posted by JanusAurora (Member # 521) on :
Computer, definitely. I can type faster than I can write, and like someone said, it's easier to get the ideas down - sometimes I'll forget where I was going with something by the time I have half of it down on paper.
Posted by Dazgul (Member # 24) on :
Black pilot pens. Not blue ones. And only the fine point ones. From time to time I'm forced to type words directly into my computer to save time or to use inferior writing utensils -- like Parker or Cross pens -- but pieces produced in these methods are always inferior!
Posted by joanuvark (Member # 426) on :
computer, if i have access to the computer and feel like moving to get to it. But i'm picky. Courier 10 pt, anything else is distracting. otherwise pen and paper 'cause i've always got my art journal (which is really as much poetry as art...) it's close enough to the same speed either way, but if you look at my handwriting you'll see one reason i like typing Posted by Hanrod Brightstar (Member # 656) on :
I use a computer exclusively. I can type very quickly and fill up a lot of space more easily than I can using any other means. Like many others, my handwriting has become less and less legible as time has passed.
Posted by Survivor (Member # 213) on :
My handwriting hasn't gotten any worse, but that's because no one but me has ever really been able to read it. I can still read it, no one else ever could, therefore, it is exactly as good as it ever was Posted by Albatross (Member # 593) on :
Computer to write, then I print it out and edit it. It's much easier for me to look at my stories a different way when they are on paper.
Posted by JK (Member # 654) on :
Laptop, definitely. If I didn't have my laptop, I don't know where I'd be (probably in the third chapter still). I occasionally write notes on plain old paper, but these notes are usually for a project not in progress. Anything for the current project is stored up in my head, the paper's just my wetware's floppies. Typing is a lot faster and easier, and I can actually read what I've got down. Plus, as the words enter my head, they go on the screen, rather than festering in my brain as I scribble something illegible down. Printing for editting though, definitely. JK
