Wizzy

I'm curious as to how people here choose to write.

Whenever I start something out - I do it on my computer. Main reasons being that it's easier to delete and correct, and that it doesn't cramp my hand up.

But I was just watching a special A&E Biography on J.K. Rowling and I noticed everything she has written was on paper.

Do a lot of people still write this way? I know my father does it a ton. he writes crap on napkins, plane tickets, scraps of paper, etc. Then has me and other people type it up.

Which method do you prefer? And why?

Also - are there other methods people use that aren't so conventional?

kintaris

i find that computers have distractions, especially since the Internet...for instance, i've been on WF for 2 hours when i came on to start a novel...



anyway i usually write on paper (if i write it down at all - my memory's good so i use that more often than not). The only problem is keeping all the paper safe...

some people feel more like an author (as in the kind your mother says 'oh, well...he's an author' to your neighbours about, who sigh in sympathy at her tragedy) when they're surrounded by bits of paper and pens and napkins etc.

__________________
Procrastination
Fear In A Handful Of Dust
Between Heaven and Hell

Kane

I find that handwriting is way too slow for me to use for writing. I use my laptop, but Kintaris is right, and the internet distracts me constantly, namely this forum.

Kane

I'm supposed to be writing right now, as a matter of fact.

thedarkboots

I write in a lined note book or on lined paper and if there is anything that i want to take furthur i take it to my P.C
I also have paper foldere to keep all the loose pages in labled for whats inside.

__________________
"A robin redbreast in a cage, puts all heaven in a rage"-William Blake

Wizzy

The internet is very distracting.

Oddly I mentioned that i prefer typing, because it doesn't cramp my hands up.

Well, I'm type stuff for my dad and my hand is getting all cramped up

I guess that reason is now void.

white~water

i normally write poems and stuff on scraps of paper because ideas come to me at strange times. But for longer pices of writing, i prefer the computer.
ALthough the computer i use doesnt have internet it still has spider solitaire!!! i am hopelessly addicted!

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i hope that when the world comes to an end i can breathe a sigh of relief because there will be so much to look foward to
~Donnie Darko~

NoWorries

I write all of my stories on the computer, I just have to sit down and devote the discipline to it not to get up or do anything else until the story is done.

For poetry, if it's not on paper, mine sucks(hell, it probably sucks anyway), but if I try to do it on the computer, I get stuck in thesaurus.com, I feel like all of my best rhymes come from my own head, not some computer program that thinks it should rhyme..

Nigel

I generally hand-write things. I normally will write about twenty pages or so before I will even think about taking it to the computer. I normally consider my hand-written drafts as outlines more than anything else.

Sir_Satoshi

I usually write out my stories on the walls of a long abandoned insane asylum in the blood of baby seals, before sitting down to a feast of insects and human entrails.

But my stories are special.

kintaris

to correct my earlier statement - i usually write on paper, but thats because i never usually write any WHOLE work - if i was planning on writing in full then i'd use the computer.

But the last two years have just been notes, notes, and discarded notes...when i finally do stick to one plan, i'll probably get going on the PC...

__________________
Procrastination
Fear In A Handful Of Dust
Between Heaven and Hell

lisajane

I do planning on paper, only because if I plan on the laptop, I'm going to forget very easily about that being there.

I have bits of paper and notebooks with some of my stories and poems and stuff on them, when I've had inspiration and been away from or didn't want to pull out the laptop. But the majority of the time? Straight onto the laptop.

__________________
'Beauty stands and waits with gravity to start her death-defying leap. And he, a little charleychaplin man, who may or may not catch her fair eternal form spreadeagled in the empty air of existence.' - Laurence Felinghetti, 'The Acrobat'

tabitha

For me pen and paper or pc, depending on where I am and whats to hand. I tend to find that i write because its just hit me that I need to write so I always have a notebook handy.

having said that I cant write fast enough to get it all out of my head before I forget and since my spelling is shocking the pc definatley wins hands down, mind you some of my better work (IMO) has definatley come from my notebook, as theres more space for waffle on the pc than there is on paper!

TimK

Distractions are everywhere, and avoiding distractions (for me at least) is ultimately a matter of discipline.

I've tried paper and pencil, computer, tape-recorder, and even a hand-held computer (when I still had one that worked). I work best typing directly on the computer, with one exception: If I want to collect data or describe a real-life scene, it's easier to use a tape recorder to record my observations in real-time, then transcribe them later. Using a paper and pencil or hand-held is very convenient if I need to take notes somewhere without computer access, or if I have some epiphany that I want to get down before I forget it. But for any writing, I simply use my word processor.

-TimK

noahtgreat

I jot down ideas, and outlines freehand, but the actual task of writing is reserved for the computer word processor (iWork specifically).

I used to use an ancient laptop that weighed a ton and couldn't get on the internet to save its life...however, I've since upgraded my laptop and can in fact get online from it. Somehow not sitting at a desk while I write leads to far fewer distractions. I guess I've just made the psychological separation between desktop computer uses and laptop computer uses.