question

[shamguy4]

just a quick question
do you write on paper in a notebook -longhand or do you write on a computer?

I write on a notebook, longhand because I'm afraid i'll get distracted by the things not to mention the internet. And because thats how I've always written and I'm afraid I wont right as well when typing with a keyboard. I feel more connected to my mind when i write with a pen.... then again I never tried using a computer.

if you use a computer- what program do you use?

[Talysia]

I'm one of the old fashioned ones here, in that I write everything out longhand, too. I type up my writing when I'm redrafting it, that way I can correct it as I go, but I can't beat the "flow" I get from writing with pen and paper. For me, I get more inspiration writing it that way.

Which is probably why I have loads of writing books and notebooks all over the place.

[woodsman]

I think there has been a thread on this before but.....
I'm with Taly.
I prefer, on the odd occaisions when I do write, to write on notebooks/pads. This is mainly because I hate typing and because most of my writing is done outside: in the trees, by the river, along the canal in the meadow etc. I just find this gets my creative juices flowing nicely and that a computer is generally the most sterile thing you'll find outside of a eunuch.

[The Ace]

Yeah, there was a thread before.

When I can write, I use Open Office. I like the quality and love the price.

[Sephiroth]

I...never learned to hold a pencil properly, my grip is weird, and as well as my writing being elegantly illegible, I get a really sore hand after a while, and have a callus at the base of my thumb. I make comprehensive notes on paper, and I find that I need to do this as well, because it seems to make it easier to be creative sometimes.

But I write on a computer, using Word. I can type without looking (I can type whole paragraphs without mistakes with my eyes shut), and all my narrative writing, and the vast bulk of all the other stuff, is done on PC.

I do use a different computer from the one I'm using now, though. I don't like the idea that I can just click on the Firefox icon and, well, you know the rest...

[dustinzgirl]

I scribble and note in a notebook and then if it is legible I type it out in the morning. Its usually not legible though.

[quidscribis]

I generally type it into Microsoft Word - I have a pretty decent typing speed, which, in any case, is at least 4 or 5 times faster than handwriting. I have, on occasion, handwritten some to get over a block.

As for the Internet, well, my hubby took that away with blocking my biggest time sucking sites from 9am to 5pm. With nary an argument from me. He's considering adding this site to the list...

[shamguy4]

thanks for your responses

it seems that writing on a notebook with a pen help you write better from all the posts I've read
and I agree with talysia I get more inspired and my writing seems more clear to me

[Hawke]

I prefer typing, I have a pretty high typing speed and like being able to copy and paste and move stuff around so easily...

[Sephiroth]

I have to say I agree with that. Copy/paste is invaluable, as is being able to temporarily remove chunks of text (or take them elsewhere). It saves a lot of time doing complete rewrites.

[Giovanna Clairval]

When I was six, I began typing on an old Remingtown (the Behemot of typewriters) I had found in the loft.

Kill my computer(s); kill me.

I don't even jot down ideas on paper. I open a new file.

I could never write anything without typing it.

[Ursa major]

The computer has one advantage over paper. (Well it does if it continues to work and/or you make back-ups). If you type something and save it, it's in there; somewhere. And the computer has tools to let you find it again, however complex your file structure (what file structure?) is.

Note and exercise books, not to mention odd scaps of paper, are another matter: they can easily go missing. Well my can and do. (But then perhaps I'm unique in sharing my body with a sprite that picks up pens and paper when I'm doing something else and places these items where I'll never look for them; at least, that would explain why I lose things all the time! It's not my untidiness, oh no ... and I'm not absent minded, of course not! What was I saying...?)

And did I mention that I can never find a pen or pencil when I want it? Or was it paper...? And where's my laptop?

[Aes]

Paper is practically useless to me at this point. Everything I do in terms of creative writing (or all writing in general!) gets done in Word or Access. At one point, I'd say I at least use paper to sketch characters, but even that can be handled with programs like painter classic or photoshop.

Pen & paper is just so limiting, both in terms of speed and in terms of flexibility; editing, adding, correcting, or even showcasing anything is far easier over an electronic medium than it is over more primitive means.

That's just my take, anyway.

[Sephiroth]

The one thing I find paper really useful for is sketching out quick 'mind-maps' of complex interrelationships, where you can draw arrows and lines linking different things, illuminating structural aspects.

There's no reason why I couldn't do it with any decent graphics package, I suppose, but I think it would take longer that way, and there would be a tendency to try and make it too 'neat'.

[Flag Pole Sitta]

I like writing on paper, it feels more authentic or something, but my handwriting is atrocious, my hand cramps very quickly and I'm always losing paper. I always write poetry on paper, somehow when I doodle I write more poetically... but if I'm going to be writing a long term paper it has to be on a computer or I'll never finish.