The Shroud Underground

I find that for me, it all depends on the complexity of the story, in the end - or how hard it is for me to "GET INTO" it. For example, I recently completed a story I could JUST NOT get into at first. I had the idea in my head, knew where I wanted it to go...but I just didn't "feel" the story under my skin. Finally, I just threw down and the wrote the first half long-hand....and it was gold. I was able to type the rest.

With longer works...like I'm working on now...I find myself alternating between the two. The biggest thing is my eyes wig out far quicker on computer than paper.

delph_ambi wrote:However, it's worth noting that most novelists I know do like to write first drafts longhand. If they write first on a computer, they write different words, and something of their distinctive style is lost.

When writing freehand, I find that - perhaps because I'm thinking slower - I do phrase things much better than when I type first. Plus, when I convert the longhand to paper, I'll move things around as I type, so it brings a second level of revision into the process.

I write most of my initial notes...drafts...blobs of word..longhand on notebook paper. Just works better for me...But
I ahve an OCD like affliction that causes me to tear out the pages and start all over at the slightest mispelling or error in what i'm doing...
Sometimes over things so benign as I don't like the way I wrote a letter...

I think I may need help...

This has been different for me at different times in my life. Right now, I will mostly use a lap top. I enjoy that because I can do research online if I need to (using google to research some of the more minute details to get things just right).

Of course, the down side of that is that I'm easily distracted and can get into message boards and market sites, checking email, etc.

I did go through a stage where the initial couple of pages had to be long hand. I think the most important thing is that whatever technique one takes, it be a technique that allows an open, no-holding-back.

On a related note, I find that after several pages I have to print out the story and then read it aloud to myself. More than more writers, I think, I love to hear the sound of words as they chime against each other. Reading it aloud helps me get an idea of whether the words feel right to me.

shiney wrote:I write most of my initial notes...drafts...blobs of word..longhand on notebook paper. Just works better for me...But
I ahve an OCD like affliction that causes me to tear out the pages and start all over at the slightest mispelling or error in what i'm doing...
Sometimes over things so benign as I don't like the way I wrote a letter...

I think I may need help...

Amen, brother.

I have to type. My writing's so bad, I can't even read my own name.

Yeah, I do everything longhand first, and then type it after I let it set for a couple of weeks so I can figure out what the hell I was trying to say. I can't imagine not writing longhand first. I type very fast so I speed through scenes everytime I try it that way and then I have to do A LOT of cutting. LOL. To each their own. Lee

Well, I have tendonitus in my left hand (I'm a lefty). I only write poetry longhand, otherwise it can be a painful ordeal. I've had tendonitus since I was seventeen, so I've learned how to avoid inflamation, which meant giving up writing longhand and playing the guitar.

Winters can be a bitch. I'll be in excruciating pain when I'm an old man, no doubt.

For me, computers are a blessing.