Question for experienced authors!

[Guest]

When you work (inspired), do you write it down your cool stuff on paper with your mighty sowrd in old-fashioned way, and then, type it up?

Or, you just spew your eroitic words straight into your hard-drive?

Keep it coming. I'm gonna make this my university essay on statistics.

I'm gonna need about 1,000 random answers to do my standard deviation.

Thank you kindly,

Chimpy

 

[KenJames]

I generally write notes about the stories and sometimes even a near-formal outline before I begin the "real" writing.

If a computer is available, I'll use that, since I can type much faster than I can write by hand. But I'll use pen and paper, rather than taking a chance on losing a story idea.

 

[Guest]

I whack it all out straight onto the computer. My arse is sat in this chair so long, it's left an imprint on the seat.

Lou

(2 down, 998 to go )

 

[Virtual_Burlesque]

Yes.
No.
Maybe.
With ketchup.
Three cents a yard, wrapped.
Curved to the left.
36-21-32
Necrophilia.
Only when the guitar player is sick.
Nine inches – four-and-a-half when depressed.



There are ten random answers for you.
Don’t say I do nothing for you.

 

[PAUL C]

onto PC

I keep losing pieces of paper. I haven't lost my PC yet. Although I did have one stolen. Maybe I need to re-think.

 

[Xelebes]

I fire it into my abyss known as my hard drives. (Yes, that's a plural).

 

[cantdog]

word process nowadays.

 

[lucky-E-leven]

I type straight in. Thoughts come much faster than I can write.

~lucky

 

[Dirt Man]

I use whatever is close at hand. I once wrote a whole novel on legal pads, and then hired a typist to print it out for me, and put it on a disk. I was at sea then, and no where near a computer.

As Always
I Am the
Dirt Man

 

[English Lady]

My insirational ideas go straight into my brain first9I hammer them in so I don't forget) and then they are typed out as soon as possible. I might writye down notes but if i'm inspired the whole thing tends to gush out of its own accord anyway.

 

[Sabledrake]

Depends on if I'm near the computer. I much prefer to type. It's faster and easier for me than longhand (and then I don't have to double up the work by re-typing). But if there's no computer handy, I have made do with napkins and receipt-backs.

Sabledrake

 

[raphy]

Computer. I type much faster than I write. If I'm not near a computer when I get inspired, I just hope that I can remember it.

Actually, now I come to think of it, I'm very rarely inspired to write when I'm not near a computer.

 

[oggbashan]

I write on my computers. I have 3 main locations and computers at each.

I carry the current drafts on a floppy and save them on all 3 computers.

Og

 

[KenJames]

I write on my computers. I have 3 main locations and computers at each.

I carry the current drafts on a floppy and save them on all 3 computers.

Og

Floppy? Oh yeah, that's what the little slot in front of the computer is for, isn't it?

All my home computers are networked. If I'm away from home, I email drafts back and forth.

 

[oggbashan]

Floppy? Oh yeah, that's what the little slot in front of the computer is for, isn't it?

I still have to have a computer with two floppy drives, one for 5 1/4 360k so I can transfer from my XT.

Og

 

[Black Tulip]

I type straight into the computer. Like most, my typing is faster than my writing.
And whenever I come back to a story, I read what I've written so far and edit along the way. That would be awful on paper.

 

[KenJames]

I still have to have a computer with two floppy drives, one for 5 1/4 360k so I can transfer from my XT.

Og

You've mentioned your XT before. I've always marveled that it's still functional. Years ago, I gave an obsolete 486 away. All my other computers have been retired by hardware failure.

 

[KenJames]

I type straight into the computer. Like most, my typing is faster than my writing.
And whenever I come back to a story, I read what I've written so far and edit along the way. That would be awful on paper.

In the pre-computer era, I wrote with a typewriter because it was faster and more readable than handwriting.

Editing was a real pain. I'd mark up my typewritten pages and occasionally resort to cutting and pasting with scissors and tape before retyping a manuscript.

I love computers!

 

[Black Tulip]

To be honest, I still do that sometimes. Editing on paper that is. If the story needs a real haul over I print it first and do the restructuring on paper because I need the overview and you can't have that on a screen.

 

[oggbashan]

You've mentioned your XT before. I've always marveled that it's still functional. Years ago, I gave an obsolete 486 away. All my other computers have been retired by hardware failure.

Retired? My original IBM 1401 is still running even if it is in a museum. I first operated it in 1963.

My obsolete computers (but not the XT) get given to charities. One local charity is still using an Amstrad PCW. Some of our Infant schools still use BBC B computers. CP/M lives on.

One of our computer magazines has a weekly article on Commodore 64s - people here are still writing software for them.

I keep obsolete computer books in my shop. I never know when someone will want to write programs in Basic.

Og

 

[KenJames]

To be honest, I still do that sometimes. Editing on paper that is. If the story needs a real haul over I print it first and do the restructuring on paper because I need the overview and you can't have that on a screen.

I always print a story out for final review. There are things I see on paper that I never see on the screen.

With the way I write, my stories usually don't require major restructuring, but paper is the only way to go when doing that.

Even though I back my work up to a second hard disk and occasionally burn it to CD, I still like to keep a hard copy, too.

 

[KenJames]

Retired? My original IBM 1401 is still running even if it is in a museum. I first operated it in 1963.

My obsolete computers (but not the XT) get given to charities. One local charity is still using an Amstrad PCW. Some of our Infant schools still use BBC B computers. CP/M lives on.

One of our computer magazines has a weekly article on Commodore 64s - people here are still writing software for them.

I keep obsolete computer books in my shop. I never know when someone will want to write programs in Basic.

Og

You must build 'em tough in England.

I donate my dead computers to an organization which strips them down for parts.

 

[Black Tulip]

Even though I back my work up to a second hard disk and occasionally burn it to CD, I still like to keep a hard copy, too.

Jeez, I am glad to know I'm not the only one who does that.

 

[KenJames]

Jeez, I am glad to know I'm not the only one who does that.

A hard disk can crash and lose everything in a heartbeat. I've worked with computers for 35 years and have always been aware of how fragile they actually are.

 

[Black Tulip]

Ken,

I just learned the hard way. I lost one of my very first stories, 270 pages Word, because the backup on floppy's had one faulty floppy in it. Gone!

Thank god there are recovery programs but it still cost me the last 3 chapters.