The Shroud Underground

Anyone here find they write a much cleaner, more thoughtful and deeper first draft doing it by hand? Over the past year, I've noticed this more and more. For years, before I became comfortable with a PC and then laptop, I wrote REAMS of stuff by hand first - especially before I owned a computer. Once I owned a computer, I converted entirely to PC.

Lately, though - ironically, as I've made better and better sales - I discovered in the proofing process, some paragraphs or literally pages were so hacked up with my proofing, I had to re-write them over in longhand to make any sense of them. Through this, I noticed that when I write long hand, I'm able to sink much more deeply into the story, and a blank sheet of paper and a ready pen are far less intimidating than a blank computer screen and blinking cursor.

Plus, when I have nearly 60-70 pages of handwritten stuff and THEN I type it - oooh, Nelly - I speed right along, and I'm able to add, proof, and revise along the way. Everything sounds so much better, tighter, and deeper when I freehand it first, but of course, it takes longer.

I'm writing one of the novellas for Shroud's new Novella Series, The Hiram Grange Chronicles: http://www.hiramgrange.com , and this has been huge. I've been finding myself turned off by that blinking cursor and blank page, (which I know would be faster), and writing reams of stuff by hand first, because I feel so much more satisfied with the process and the end product. It, of course, takes longer, but I feel so much better about what I'm producing.

Anyone find the same thing about freehand? Or am I just an odd-duck throwback who's also obsessive-compulsive to boot?

My handwriting is so awful. You'd need a little orphan annie decoder ring just to transcribe it.

I'm the opposite. My hand-writing can't keep up with my brain and I end up getting frustrated. I don't get nearly as into the story and before long my hand hurts like a mother

It really depends. Sometimes, with shorter works, if the idea is right on my brain, I can just go ahead and type. But lately, when I freehand with longer works first, there seems to be less changes I have to make later.

We're all different. I'm a weirdo, basically. For some reason, writing it by hand just brings me close to what's in my head.

I almost always write 1st draft long hand. Pen and legal pad. It's hilarious to sit at a coffee shop or bar writing and watch the kids with their laptops stare at me as if I had just pulled out a scroll and quill or was chipping cuneiform into a tablet. And when I work on nonfiction, you should see their reaction to notecards! Yeah, I know, I'm old.

I find it easier to strike through and move and add and re-insert stuff I just struck through by hand rather than on screen. Plus, when I type it into the computer, it gives me the opportunity for a nice editing pass, sometimes a near re-write.

And I have to print out a draft to edit on paper. Editing on screen just doesn't get it for me.

Oh, good...so I'm not crazy. I'm just a little taken aback that after years of using the PC, I'm going back to what I used to do - write the first draft. Good to know I'm not nutso.

I used to write my short stories and novels and then type. Like you, I found it easier to add, revise, along the way.

I've tried to just type but I find myself distracted by surfing the net

Yes, I suspect that's part of the problem for me, too. I suffer from a bit ADHD, and I also have a hard time processing certain types of stimuli... especially if it's broad, wide open, not well defined. Some stories are just there - right under the tongue, so much so the words are practically on my lips. Those I can type right off. Anything longer than 5,000 words, though, and computer screen really throws me. I think - as crazy as this sounds - I draw tactile comfort from having paper and pen in hand, and I can write and scribble and crumple until I finally "catch" the story's "thread".

Well, after I had kids, time was in such short supply that I had to learn how to draft and edit on the screen. It was a little bit of a rough transition, but I made it, and I think my writing actually got better.

One thing that made a difference is that I use a PDA to draft a lot of my stuff. I sometimes use a stylus and sometimes use the little keyboard. That is about the right speed - not too slow like a pen, but not too fast like a keyboard. I am really happy with most of what I get on the PDA (a PocketPC) and best of all, I can just sync it with my computer without having to worry about retyping anything.

I do still write notes in longhand, though. I'll go through a paper draft or whatever is on the PDA and ask questions. The slower hand forces my brain to slow down and chew on what it's doing. Important because I suck at endings when I know they need to be better than the beginnings!

christammiller wrote:The slower hand forces my brain to slow down and chew on what it's doing.

Yep. That's it, right there. All the stories I free hand first have less edits in the end, and always get "there" sooner than typed ones.

FYI: Clive Barker writes in longhand. Always.

Ahh. Cool.

I type at an insane rate usually, so writing by hand has never been favorable. Add to that my horrible hand writing, and add to that how bad it is now that I've had a high spine injury, and I'm pretty happy that the typing speed wasn't effected and my brain and fingers are able to cooperate pretty well with the great blinky liney thingy.

I'm a fast typist (thank god I took typing class back in high school) and my handwriting is chicken scratch. So, you'd think using the laptop would be the way to go... however, I'm finding that I'm less productive. Biggest problem is that my attention span is the size of a mosquito dick, and I have no resistance to free wi-fi, so I end up writing forum posts instead of my next masterwork.

Think I may go back to using a palm pilot with a portable keyboard, seems like I was more prolific without the internet distraction.

I'm another insanely fast typer, so only ever write on a pc. I like to be able to write as quickly (or nearly) as I can speak. Longhand doesn't work, though I'm forced to use it occasionally at my writers' group, as I don't have a laptop to take down there. I can do a poem longhand if I quadruple space it on the page to allow for all the edits and alterations I do as I go along.

I didn't write at all in the pre-computer days. Not a word. Wouldn't have become a writer without the technology. Having dyslexia is another good reason to avoid longhand. Dyslexics can often touch type accurately, but writing (and reading) longhand is a terrible chore.

I like to write 'blind', which again, would be difficult longhand. I will perhaps look at a picture on the pc screen, hide the Word document, and type away furiously, staring at the image. Can't imagine doing that with paper and pen.

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. If I could write longhand, I probably would, for this very reason.