Who Else Still Writes on Paper?

[GriffyD_Boy]

I eventually transcribe my stories onto computer or course, but the initial draft, that's always done by me using pen and paper. I've tried at times to do the initial writing on computer, but I find I need the tactile feeling of running a pen over paper in order to let the story ideas flow in a proper and coherent way.

I'm just curious to know if I'm in a minority in this or not. How many of you still use pen, or pencil, on paper? How many exclusively use a computer?

 

[JKendallDane]

I may make some limited initial notes with pen and paper, but once the Muse has been suitably stirred up, the laptop comes open for the actual story writing.

Anytime I think I want to "do it the old way" I drag out the two inch thick file folder of a story I began writing in 1986...and still isn't done. It only takes a few minutes of looking through the couple hundred hand written pages with notes scribbled in all over the margins to convince me no matter how romantic it might sound to actually WRITE a story, it aint gonna happen!

I keep one of these 90 year old relics on my credenza too, to remind me "typing one up" isn't that bright of an idea either.

http://price-guide.com/images/stories/com_form2content/p1/f976/4.JPG

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[GriffyD_Boy]

I keep one of these 90 year old relics on my credenza too, to remind me "typing one up" isn't that bright of an idea either.

http://price-guide.com/images/stories/com_form2content/p1/f976/4.JPG

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It wouldn't be a good idea for me either. I have enough problems as it is with missed keys, extra letters slipping in and outright misspellings. I can't imagine trying to write on an old fashioned machine like that. It's so much easier to transcribe my stories when I can correct all those mistakes quickly with a word processor.

 

[SamScribble]

I was a bit of a technology early adopter. I was using an IBM PC within a couple of months of them hitting the market. And I was sold on the 'instant editing' aspect.

When I first started writing (somewhere towards the end of the Napoleonic Wars ), pen and paper was almost the norm. I wrote on lined foolscap pads, using only every second line, and then went back and 'edited' with a different coloured pen.

This was followed with a portable typewriter (an Olivetti Lettera 22, to be precise, and then a 32), but it still meant two or three drafts.

I still make the odd note with (a Waterman fountain) pen and paper, but my real writing is on a Toshiba laptop with an attached Samsung large-screen display and a full-sized Logitech keyboard.

How people manage to write on smartphones is a total mystery to me.

 

[TxRad]

I had a typewriter just like that way back when. It's the reason I beat the hell out of keyboards.

As for hand writing something, no way in hell. The writing isn't the problem, the reading even ten minutes later is. Even with the keyboard and fairly good typing skills, my fingers still can't keep up with my brain. It's took me many years to slow the process down so my fingers can keep up.

Spell check tells me when I'm going too fast. That or getting tired like now.

So no to handwritten.

 

[Handley_Page]

My handwriting is real bad.

Way back in time, when I was encouraged to write letters to my parents from places afar, they were short and simple ('I am OK. We went on a Route March yesterday', etc..).
The advent of a telephone in the vicinity spurred on communications a bit ('All is well, Mum. I'll be home for a weekend next week'..).

Then came my first computer (a Dragon 32), and a word processor.
My folks had not realised I could string sentences together!
And my keyboard took a real pasting (I still think that the best one is the IBM PS/2 keyboard made by Cherry; it survied !)

 

[oggbashan]

Like HP, my writing is bad and unreadable except by someone accustomed to it. That used to be my secretary and my wife. Now I can add my daughters and my eldest granddaughter.

I might make a few notes for a story on a Reporter's Notebook but I have to transcribe them within a couple of days.

If I leave my writing un-wordprocessed for a few weeks, even I can't read it.

BUT - I usually print out my final draft of a story and go through it slowly, making corrections with my trusty Parker Biro. I don't attempt to write substantial revisions by hand. I correct typos, punctuation, and dialogue confusion. If, rarely, a major revision is needed, I just mark the section and rewrite in Word - then shred the original printout, print again and start back at the beginning.

I have been using wordprocessors since the early 1970s much to the relief of my then secretary. I could send her the meat of a letter or memo and she could turn it into the formal version easily. That was more convenient for both of us instead of using a Dictaphone, or her shorthand.

 

[legerdemer]

I frequently (almost always) start my first with pen on paper before transferring to a Mac. I use fountain pens (a refurbished gorgeous silver Parker at the moment, a Lamy prior to the Parker or when it isn't handy). I had "handwriting" practice in elementary school - that might both age and place me - so I truly love writing by hand and the tactile sensuous feel of a pen gliding on paper.

But... I transfer and edit on my laptop, when the scratches, arrows, inserts and so on get too hard to follow. All it takes is one section that is worked on a lot and to the computer I go. Supposedly there are people who can think it all out in their head and write down nearly perfect copy. Not I, more's the pity.

I used a typewriter at some point - loathed the damn things. I wrote my dissertation on a Mac SE back when - what a godsend!

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

^^^^Old Fuck.

 

[legerdemer]

^^^^Old Fuck.

Not anywhere as old as you, old man. Still in the prime of middle age.
And nowhere as bitter.

 

[MatthewVett]

I'll use paper for notes and editing, but for the bulk of writing, it would slow me down too much.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Not anywhere as old as you, old man. Still in the prime of middle age.
And nowhere as bitter.

I write real poems, Old Fuck.

 

[Areala-chan]

I wrote this way all the time in high school before I got a decent computer. I almost always write poems by hand, as there's something more organic and personal about hand-writing the words. But longer stories? Forget it. I'll hand-write ideas when I have them, but otherwise it's the PC all the way.

And I'll echo SamScribble's curiosity at how on earth people can compose more than a few sentences on a smartphone.

*huggles*
Areala-chan

 

[DirtyAllie]

I write all my poetry in a note book as I sit out on the deck or by the water. I hate bringing a lap top or tablet or any type of device when I am enjoying nature which is when I am most inspired so I write them down 'old school' then when I have a few sit and type them up.

 

[susurrus]

I've used manual and electric typewriters, stand-alone word processors and of course, computers.

I still end up doing some writing long-hand, but I write so quickly, trying to get my thoughts out as they come, that sometimes even I have a hell of a time reading what I've written when I go to transcribing out the paper work.

I can't imagine these kids who aren't learning cursive being able to write as quickly as I manage longhand, though...

 

[49greg]

My first stories were the hand written stuff for grade school. Than in college I had a typewriter, a neat little Olympia portable, but had to pass it on to my little brother who started college the year after I graduated.

I had another in grad school after I got out of "Sam's Green Machine", but sold it in a yard sale not long after I got my first computer. I recently got an old upright L. C. Smith in a fit of nostalgia, man alive! I forgot how hard you have to hit those keys! It's gathering dust now.

My handwriting is bad when I'm in a hurry, like when I jot down ideas before I forget them. I used to hand write ideas and outlines, if not whole rough drafts, heck I've been starting stories, erotic and otherwise for decades, but now my wrist gets sore and my fingers cramp up and go to sleep if I do too much. So it's been all electric for a while. I do print out rough drafts now to proof, and hand write in corrections LOL.

 

[jezzilee]

I have no stories published on lit, I do mean to remedy that soon. I write on paper all the time. I love to write...on paper. I am constantly jotting notes down because things just pop into my head and I have to get them out. I tried using my phones voice memo, I hated it. I guess I am old school, I have a pen fetish, and at any given time I have about 25+ notebooks going with different things in them.

 

[Carnevil9]

I carry a piece of paper and pen with me to jot down ideas, but not actual writing. If I try to hand write a sentence, it's too slow, and I've forgotten what I wanted to say by the time I get to the middle of the sentence. My typing, however, is very fast and can keep up with my stream of consciousness.

Over the years, I've used manual typewriters, electric typewriters, primitive dos-based computers with line editors, and now a relatively modern Windows 7 laptop.

 

[hashtag45]

I'm no writer , but I do a lot of indep. reading for my job and I tend to highlight or jot down things.
I used to scribble down on paper - the traditional way- and, like Jezillee, I had a rollerball pen fettish.

Not any more.
Did anyone else try the Samsung Galaxy note 10.5" or 12.2" in conjunction with the wacom bamboo styluses?
They are awesome, I am absolutely addicted.

 

[49greg]

I'm no writer , but I do a lot of indep. reading for my job and I tend to highlight or jot down things.
I used to scribble down on paper - the traditional way- and, like Jezillee, I had a rollerball pen fettish.

Not any more.
Did anyone else try the Samsung Galaxy note 10.5" or 12.2" in conjunction with the wacom bamboo styluses?
They are awesome, I am absolutely addicted.

I like rollerballs too, but love fountain pens and use them for short notes etc. Even for grocery lists and correcting the printouts of my first drafts.

 

[HeyAll]

The singer Nick Cave had a great point; that if he had a bad day, he would hit delete and wipe out a bunch of good stuff, which he would later regret.

So at least you won't have to worry what you got ride of. It'll always be there on paper.

Personally, I write sloppy and my hand gets tired. So I prefer computer. Plus it goes much much faster than writing.

 

[LustKnight]

I'm another one for fountain pens and paper for my rough drafts. I write much quicker on the computer, but I find that I write cleaner on the page - and taking the time to transcribe my handwritten work forces me to reread my work, edit and revise.

 

[SamScribble]

Thinking about it, I recall that an old girlfriend who wrote scripts for radio and TV dramas, always wrote her first drafts with a fat black pencil on yellow 'legal pads'. And then, when she thought that she was getting close to where she wanted to be, she transcribed it all using a fountain pen with purple ink. Only when she was really happy did she fire up her laptop. RIP, mad girl.

 

[Black_and_White_Writer]

I eventually transcribe my stories onto computer or course, but the initial draft, that's always done by me using pen and paper. I've tried at times to do the initial writing on computer, but I find I need the tactile feeling of running a pen over paper in order to let the story ideas flow in a proper and coherent way.

I'm just curious to know if I'm in a minority in this or not. How many of you still use pen, or pencil, on paper? How many exclusively use a computer?

Absolutely. I have two folders (both traditional ring binders) – a large black one with print outs in it, sketches – both written and drawn, a few pictures and copious old outlines and ideas. Then I have my slim black folder with everything I'm writing at the moment. I have written very much long hand and often transcribed the stories out word for word. I'm not so bothered about pronunciation on paper or spelling – not that I'm bad on either. Unless I'm reading something on a screen or print out I tend to miss basic errors. That's why I feel the need to write stuff out before committing it to paper.

I have a few legal pads of paper, but being the hippy that I am in regards the resources of this lovely planet I am writing less on paper as in long stories and will eventually migrate away from paper more so. I just find it so handy and helpful working out ideas in such an old fashioned – but still clearly easily accessible way.

 

[Zorber]

I make notes on paper then type and edit on the computer.