Do you always use the computer to write?

[AndrewCollar]

I like to write in a notebook when I am doing a short rough draft or writing journals, or other short quick notes. If I am writing an essay, short story, or a book; then I use my computer or my iPad Air. Writing anything longer than a few paragraphs that will eventually end up online or need to be printed might as well be done so on a CPU. Saves time and auto correct can greatly help!

[David Dawson]

Pen and paper for me, for thinking, ideas etc. Then typing thereafter for ease of editing. I still write quicker with pen and paper.

[db3hr]

I have a lot of difficulty composing on computers, actually. There's something intimidating about a word document, to me, but something inviting about physical paper. I outline extensively and alwas write things down first, then organize and type them up later. (And I write them all in pen, of course, because pencils are bothersome.)

-- 10 May 2014, 01:26 --

I have a lot of difficulty composing on computers, actually. There's something intimidating about a word document, to me, but something inviting about physical paper. I outline extensively and alwas write things down first, then organize and type them up later. (And I write them all in pen, of course, because pencils are bothersome.)

[Nathrad Sheare]

I agree that a novel MUST be spotless before publishing. No typos, no odd sentences, no inadequate description or loose ends in the plot. EVERYTHING must be completed, perfected, shined up. I'm glad your writing is going so well. Fifty thousand words? Very nice. I believe a novel should be put through more than one draft, too. NOBODY should think their first draft is THE ONE. Things just never work that way, do they?

-- 10 May 2014, 07:57 --

Um... That was to moderntimes... Wow, my network must be screwing up. It obliterated the entire last page. I wrote before I knew there'd been more content added... Whoops...

[moderntimes]

db3, I was "weaned" off hard copy when I was stringing as a reporter. We used these big clunky Underwood manual typewriters and everything had to be typed on special "foolscap" paper w. the newspaper watermark. I also learned to type in high school which was about the only helpful thing I learned there. For a long time I wrote my stories and such longhand but I simply quit that when I got an early "computer", a word processor, and just stopped manual notes or writing. Now the computer is second nature to me, as I'm a pretty fair touch typist and so I look at the screen and the words flow.

Nathrad, as for the number of drafts, with a computer I have a particular technique -- I'll start a chapter, as, "Ch 24" and save the doc as "ch 24a.doc" in one folder. Then I'll write, say, "ch 25a.doc" and "ch 26a.doc" and so on. Then later, as I need to make a big revision, I'll save the revised chapter as "ch 24b.doc" or "ch 24c.doc", incrementing a, b, c as I go. That way I've got all the different revisions saved so I can go back and cherrypick the sections I really want.

Eventually I'll have all the chapters I'm happy with, but I'm still constantly revising. I'd made a mistake for example with the model number of a gun about a week ago and since I carefully re-check everything I can, I found that it was a H&K (Heckler & Koch) HK417 instead of HK418, so I made the correction.

In other words, I'm constantly revising previous chapters. Last week I'd hit about 40,000 words and reached a pivot point in the novel, so I stopped new writing and went back, carefully and slowly read the whole thing from the start, massaging it, changing a word or two, slightly altering paragraphs and such. No big changes, just small stuff. But now I'm very happy with those first 27 chapters that comprise the 40k words.

As I write, I try to create the next story arc. As you know, for any novel, there's the 1 major arc of the whole novel's premise, and then there are shorter arcs, and shorter arcs within those. For my writing, with the typical short chapters of a mystery thriller, I find that the smaller arcs are about 3-5 chapters. One may outline a gunfight, one may deal with a new major character, etc. Each arc has a "flavor" and rhythm. Some arcs are action oriented, short words, short sentences, lots of dialogue. Some arcs are expository, so there is more narrative, less dialogue, little action, far more complex sentences and longer words. And so on.

So what I do is to write the next arc chapters, then go back and re-read them numerous times, ensuring that there are no mechanical or grammatical errors, plus that the style is good, and then I check back to the previous arc to ensure that the 2 arcs blend. So I am in the process of continual revision and editing, and there is really never a draft #1 or draft #2, but an ever-changing series of chapters. And of course, if I'm making a big change to the chapter, I save the previous version first with the a, b, c technique. That way I ensure that I can go back if needed.

And, of course, I back up to DVD or thumb drive regularly.

[David Dawson]

Presumably it's some kind of pyschological crutch, but I just find I think better if I'm holding a pen, which is why I always start with pen and paper.

[moderntimes]

Presumably it's some kind of pyschological crutch, but I just find I think better if I'm holding a pen, which is why I always start with pen and paper.

This is exactly how I once was, needing to put it on paper first. I just trained myself to avoid that step and never went back. If you're comfortable with pen/paper of course, go ahead. But if you'd rather not, it can be done, just take some inward pressure. Thing was for me, I found it a useless extra step because I'd eventually have to enter it into the computer anyway. Now I DO however sit and think, no pen or paper, just the inner self and contemplation time. That's where I do my "creative" thinking. Then I plunk down, laptop ready, and start typing away...

[David Dawson]

Thing was for me, I found it a useless extra step because I'd eventually have to enter it into the computer anyway.

This is true of course, and typing things up is one of the dullest and most frustrating aspects of writing; no creativity, no progress, possibly the odd amendment but basically just data entry.

[fcassie74]

I usually write my outline and rough draft in a journal then type it up and edit while I'm doing it.

[lhaugen]

I always use the computer because it is faster and neater for me to type than write.

[AndrewCollar]

Well it sure is easier to correct amy mistakes using a computer when needing to write professionally or eloquently. Either way a computer does help in the long run.

[CrescentMoon]

I definitely prefer using a computer than writing by hand. Sometimes, ideas flash through my mind really quickly and I want to jot them down as fast as possible. If I'm writing by hand, the writing takes too long and I might forget the ideas quickly. Typing them up is a lot faster and easier to get my thoughts down. Also, I prefer typing because whenever I make additions to what I wrote previously or have a new idea, it's much easier to go back and add things and fix mistakes. If I wrote by hand and decided to make changes, the paper gets really messy and it's harder to stay organized and neat.

[AndrewCollar]

I definitely prefer using a computer than writing by hand. Sometimes, ideas flash through my mind really quickly and I want to jot them down as fast as possible. If I'm writing by hand, the writing takes too long and I might forget the ideas quickly. Typing them up is a lot faster and easier to get my thoughts down. Also, I prefer typing because whenever I make additions to what I wrote previously or have a new idea, it's much easier to go back and add things and fix mistakes. If I wrote by hand and decided to make changes, the paper gets really messy and it's harder to stay organized and neat.

I can definitely agree with that! Thoughts are quicker than the hand

[RobertM]

I might use a pen and paper to do a poem or something, but for anything of length it has to be the computer.

[Alexandra Bayer]

I once wrote an entire hour-and-a-half movie script by hand.