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I can't write well by hand, but I can type fast, and of course typing comes out neat and clean. Plus, I have spell-checker. So, I usually write everything on the computer. Do you do that? Or, do you write some thing by hand? What do you by hand, if you do?

The only time I don't type is when I don't have a computer around and a "great" idea pops into my head. I am a much faster typer and ideas usually flow better when I am typing something up.

i mean to write on the computer but when i write i'm usually not infront of my computer so now i have tons and tons of notebooks all filled or half filled with work. i actually prefer writing by hand...and for some strange reason i love buying notebooks so i might as well fill them. It's a little difficult when one story idea is spread throughout 4 or 5 different notebooks but it's good to re-read what i wrote previously in an attempt to find something i had written in the past.
oh and everything I write I do by hand unless I know I'll have to submit it to a teacher later and they'll need a printed copy.

i like seeing cross outs and original ideas and then being able to also see the final product and how different it is.

I can't just write at the computer. I HAVE to be on paper. I tend to write sprawled across my bed (and I just bought a new queen sized one, perfect for this), and even though I type fast, I write faster, and if I'm in that good vibe where the words are just flowing, it just spills out. You really can't make typos when you're writing, so you have nothing to slow you down.

Then when I hit a spot where I got nothing left to say, I stop. Some time later I'll get around to typing it all up, which sometimes gets me back in that zone where I was before and I can keep going. Sometimes I'll be able to keep going right on the computer, but that's pretty rare.

Like Linda, I like seeing things crossed out. Even though not a lot of time is passing between the writing and the typing, I like seeing what I originally wrote, because maybe by the time I'm typing, I want to use the stuff I crossed out instead of the stuff I replaced it with.

When I wrote my first novel, Bailey's Pond, I wrote everything out by hand because I had a pen handy and once I began writing I couldn't seem to stop. After that, it varies. Sometimes I type the words, sometimes I write them. I suppose I prefer to write the story first, because after thinking about it, I realize I do that most of the time then type it all up. It is easier to keep track of everything when it is on the computer though.

I've noticed my style has changed since switching to computer. I can write more for longer and tend to be overly verbose. This requires more editing.

Recently, I've begun to make use of Word's Outline function. This really helps to structure a piece of writing, but the jury's still out concerning whether the end result is too schematic.

I love the ease, the absence of writer's cramp which writing on a laptop gives me. Wouldn't want to return to my spider scrawl, or bashing an old typewriter.

I write everything on a computer but I do editing by hand, usually someplace outside of my house to get fresh air and perspective. Then I take my edited pages home and do the work of changing the text on the screen.

when i sit at a computer the words just flow out of me. but when i sit down with a piece of paper the words just aren't there.

I have not written a single page on paper since I was in high school. Using the computer allows me to type fast and edit quickly, though a writer should be careful to write forward and not edit their work until they are finished with the first draft. If you find yourself editing sentence structure and word choice on a first draft, stop! Keep going and do that later. I guess that is one disadvantage of using a computer--too much ease in editing that could get a writer bogged down (your first draft really should suck badly).

Also, don't tell anyone, but I can't freakin' spell anymore because I've become lazy and allow the computer to do too much thinking for me. That is a serious problem that comes from long hours of writing on the computer. It's like using a calculator all the time, eventually you will forget how to do math.

For short stories, paper might work ok, but all things considered, if you want to write a full length novel, you really should try to work on the computer. There's just not enough time for anything else.

Josh

Sometimes I'll jot down ideas on a legal pad and even write a rough draft of a story, but I type 100 words per minute and it is a lot faster than my writing. Besides, I hate the hand cramp that hand writing gives me.

Toni Stauffer wrote:Sometimes I'll jot down ideas on a legal pad and even write a rough draft of a story, but I type 100 words per minute and it is a lot faster than my writing. Besides, I hate the hand cramp that hand writing gives me.

i hate thehand crampping. i get it all the time when i am in school. i will go from my college composition class right to mythology where we do an enormous amount of writing as well.

It depends...if I'm working on a novel...heck yeah...there's no way I'm going by hand on that...but if it's a poem just by hand on scrap does fine

i dont like writing on the computer because i hate those people who try to look at my screen when im in the middle of writing.

that happens to me all the time but after a while hand writing my hand starts to cramp up and it hurts a lot.

oh i work through the pain.