Lynn Viehl (aka Paperback Writer) had a really interesting post last week where she talked about how she was influenced by learning to write books on a typewriter.
She writes:
“It’s not easy to backspace and rewrite on a typewriter; with the two I owned I had to use White-Out or correction tape, or rip out the page and start over. I also couldn’t review and edit anything I wrote before I printed it out — naturally using a typewriter = printing it out instantly. Add to that the fact that back then typing paper was expensive, and my mom had a fit if I wasted even a single page of it.
I never thought about it before, but I guess subconsciously I did teach myself to wait until I was clear in my head about what I wanted to put down on the paper because of the limitations of my equipment. When I typed, I wrote straight through the page while trying to make as few errors or mistakes as possible.”
This got me to thinking. Do you think how you write affects what you write?
As in, if you’re using pen and paper, typewriter, or a computer, how much (and how) does that impact your writing style?
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I think I’d commit hari-kari if I had to use pen and paper. I cannot STAND to type things up. Hell, I start to weep if somehow I lose a page and I have to rewrite. I have to be in the moment or I stutter to a procrastinating halt; even planning hinders me somewhat in that regard.
To answer the question, with a typewriter I think I’d write the same except with a greater polarisation between what I think is good and bad. That loathing to rewrite in large chunks (two whole pages?!?!) without applying the creative part of my brain would mean I’d either have to convince myself it was brilliant and not change it, convince myself it was utter tripe and write a whole new chapter, or quit.
word verification: Coluc – Golum’s forgotten twin brother
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technology makes it possible to write for me. I have rhumitoid arthritis in my hands from doing massage therapy and can’t write more than a page and a half single spaced with a pan. I can, however, type endlessly on the computer.
The computer also makes getting ideas out without worrying about the order or spelling way easier.
Laura, I just sent you a referral email with discount code for Mozy.
I don’t think I’ve ever used a typewriter. My family got a computer when I was in primary school, so I’ve always written assignments, etc., on a computer. This post was really interesting because it got me thinking about how my experience with technology affected the way I write.
I just get the first draft onto the computer screen as quickly as possible. It was interesting to read that some people felt writing on the screen impeded them, as they were able to edit their work so easily. I just type and try to edit minimally in the first draft. I like the computer in this respect because I can type a lot faster than I can write, so I can get my thoughts out and move on.
Having said that, I do print my work to edit it. I find it much easier that way, being able to mark it in pen and flip back through the pages more easily.
As my handwriting was so bad and no one could read it including myself, I learned to type at the age of 15 at night school in 1963 and bought a second hand “huge” Olivetti for 50 shillings. Then I got a proper portable, then an electric, another electric, then a black and white computer, then a colour one and now one with a big flat screen and also a laptop.
So thanks to bad handwriting I went along with the technological age all the way. However, there are times you simply have to use handwriting, for example I would never type a letter of condolences.
I find that while typing on a computer, I am more confident in my writing, and in the immediate production of my work. It’s like having someone over me watching my spelling and grammar, and I can easily find words with the Find/Replace icon.
There was a time when I enjoyed writing in notebooks, but I took long to transfer it to computer then on a disk and soon, would forget about it. So I say, technology makes it slightly easier than before for writers to write.
For one thing it blurs the line between revisions, since a writer can just go back and change page X to support page Y, or even a whole new subplot if it jumps up, grabs you by the throat and says “Write me!” I only write one version of my story, if we go by how many times I write ‘The End’, but in the course of writing that one version I go back all the time and change a phrase here, or add a subplot there, as they occur to me. The only time I wrote two versions of one story was my first novel, which started on a typewriter and was really really bad. Fortunately the computer I finished it on crashed and the whole travesty lost forever. I wrote the first version based on the text I still had from the typewriter and did it better. Now my son is threatening to blackmail me with the typewritten first half.
Talking into my mini-recorder has more of an impact on my writing than this question of using a keyboard (computer or typewriter) or a pen. I find the ideas flow when Iām speaking the words in a way they donāt when Iām writing them.
This is particularly true with dialog. Some of my more honest scenes were created by just dictating the dialog. I went back later and added the details to ground the setting and actions. I donāt know if the dogs mind my murmurings, but they love the regular walks.
I grew up using a typewriter as well. I collect old typewriters and have been known, on occasion, to go back to hunting and pecking. Nostalgia prevails and I love the sharp, ominous clacking those large key provide.
I prefer to write my drafts with good old fashioned paper and pen. I like the tactile pleasure of the way the ink flows across the paper. I think it has something to do with being an artist; I think through my hands.
Once the draft is complete, it’s on to the computer where I can transfer my ROUGH draft into something that resembles more a novel than a pile of consonants and vowels. I’m free to edit and add, cut and polish on the computer, but for me, the initial act must be performed on paper.
I’ve noticed I tend to write shorter sentences and paragraphs when writing longhand.
No doubt, many would find this a good thing.
I had a typewriter back in the 80’s, and although I used it, it was a source of frustration. The knowledge that one accident of uncoordinated fingers would force me to blot or discard an entire page did more to contribute to writer’s block than any amount of creative difficulty.
I find myself at home and relaxed in front of a keyboard, and the knowledge that so much can be altered so quickly has made it easier for me to produce early drafts that are massive and relaxed, and therefore more likely to contain the seeds of quality.
I spent 20 years plus writing on a typewriter, using paper and pencil before that. If it was going to be something compliicated and as I hated strikeovers and White Out, I’d often write my thoughts down on paper first, then type it.
Now that I have a word processor, I tend to get lazy and type as I think, knowing I can easily edit and fix later. I’ve also become lazy as I no longer have to search through a hardbound dictionary or thesarsus.
However, on the other hand, I now have endless reference material available to me so I can feel some degree of certainty that what I write is accuate and doesn’t plagarize.
I learned to write on a typewriter when I joined my high school newspaper. We made notes long-hand, wrote the copy, then justified it. Before computers, you actually had to tell the typesetter how many blank characters needed to go in the line. Since we already had to type the copy twice, we all learned the art of revision-as-you-go. This made life easier in college, particularly with the professor who drilled into us that the best writers are always re-writers. I still write long-hand when I’m on the road, and I wouldn’t trade a real book for a Kindle if my soul depended on it, but I can’t imagine a writer’s life without a fast computer and up-to-date word processing software.
I’m just old enough to have learned typing at school on a typewriter – they were replaced with computers before I graduated.
The typewriters were a real pain – I was already wishing our teacher would let us use the computer lab! If we were disobedient we had to use the REALLY old ones from, like, 1940, which required Arnold Schwarznegger fingers to operate!
But I’m glad of those classes now, because we learned to type correctly. I was so scared of my teacher that I am now a touch typist – I was way too scared to peek at my keys!
Now that I work entirely on computer, I’m so glad I can touch type. Otherwise, the technology itself can stand in between writers and their work. It really is worth learning, if you don’t already do it.
I also recommend turning the wireless internet thingee off until you’ve done your daily quota of words!
This is totally off topic but has anyone heard about Google Wave? I think it will just totally do wonders for people in this industry. If you don’t know what I’m talking about just google it! š
alright so maybe google wave isn’t so off topic as I thought.
I’m only 24 so I have never had to learn to type on a typewriter. I have seen them in person though, I will give you that. I was taught to type in grade school on a computer, those old apple kind. I like being able to edit as I go because I am a terrible speller and I would be know where with out spell check. I can’t stand to see those red lines under my words though, which is distracting but at least I know my words are going to be spelled right.
As for writing on paper, it never seems to sound good enough for me. Maybe its my handwriting, but I just don’t like it. I feel like I sound so much smarter when I type it out rather then write it out. Not to mention I can type way faster then I can write. There, that’s my two cents.
I never had to use a typewriter. In school I learned how to type on a computer and have loved it ever since. Editing is easier to deal with, the words flow out of me, my heart is content in knowing I can change anything in an instant. My heart quickens in fear at the thought of using a typewriter because first drafts are not my best work. It is when I go back and edit that I start to shine. I can’t even imagine the hell that writers had to go through before Word Processors, but it probably made them better at getting drafts right the first time.
I love writing in a notebook with a pen too. It allows me to brainstorm, to play. I tap into some wondeful ideas this way because my muse doesn’t feel stressed or tense. With paper the magic returns.
I’m not sure how much Technology has affected writing style, but it has done wonders for me.
I’ve handwritten, typed, and computed and the quality is never better in one than the other (for awhile I deluded myself into thinking my handwritten work was better because I can’t print as fast as I type, but looking back at what I wrote, I know that’s not true). Now my best writing comes from when I write in one format and convert to another because I revise as I go.
Hi Nathan,
Random question–will you be at BEA this weekend?
Thanks,
E
I learned how to type on an old Brother typewritter my grandmother used in college and even to this day it influnences my writing and editing style. I write everything, and I mean everything on loose leaf first then edit the loose leaf then I’ll type it up. I try to be very careful with typing because I HATE it. I would rather write for 12 hours with a pen before I boot up my laptop. A bit weird, but I have finished one book this way and it works for me. There is no distraction of the ever intresting youtube or sales at amazon to lure me away. And when I do type it up I do not turn on my WLAN, I simply ingore it.
I do not hate editing, it’s a step that allows me to enjoy my work for a bit longer before I send it off to be judged by agents. I coddle my work to an extent.
Oy. I started with pen and paper when I was in grade school (seriously, that’s when I made my first attempt at a novel), learned to type on a manual typewriter, then switched to digital word processing as soon as it was possible (talking 8086 processors and dot matrix printers here).
I wrote my first finished novel almost entirely in longhand in a paper dayplanner while outprocessing the USAF, typing in second drafts to the PC later. This led me to a decade plus obsession with using mobile technology for writing, from Palm Pilots to netbooks to my iPhone.
I can say without a doubt that the medium with which you write has a huge impact on writing style. Writing on a small screen (Palm Pilot size) made my writing very choppy, since I’d get paranoid about paragraph length as soon as I could no longer see the last paragraph break. My writing on netbooks or larger computers is far more flowing.
But the most interesting thing I’ve noticed is that because I’ve gone out of my way to ensure that I can write anytime, anywhere, and have that writing instantly accessible from any other device I use to pick up where I left off, I write very little. The problem is that I can always justify doing it later, because I know I’ll always have the opportunity. There’s always something more pressing to do in the moment. I might write more if I were limited to a specific time and place.
I can write my heart out on spiral notebooks, but the moment I sit down at the computer to transfer everything to a digital copy, I totally freeze with fear.
Paper and pens rock. Keyboards are the spawn of Satan!
I write my best rough ideas with pen and paper–there’s just something about scribbling things out and squeezing a new thought into the margin that is so satisfying. But when it comes to fine-tuning ideas, the word processor is my friend. It’s still possible to do multiple drafts while using a computer, and also to take time to think about what you write. It’s more about self discipline than anything else. But that’s easier said than done, right? š
I’m only on my second book. I hand-wrote both of them because, to me, the computer isn’t a tool of creation. It’s a machine that I use for informational purposes.
There’s an entire mindset shift that I have to effect before I’ll be able to feel words and ideas flow through the keys like I feel them move through my pen.
Typing and editing bite the big one when you write with a pen and paper, but I try to be philosophical about it and see the entry into a word doc as my first editing pass.
Blogging has helped me unlock the creative potential of the keyboard. Maybe by book number 3 I’ll be ready to create with a screen instead of paper in front of me, but I don’t know if I trust it yet.
I’m reminded of Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (can’t think of which book just now, but I think it’s the titular first one of the series) where Adams shares the anecdote of the white out manufacturer’s who went back in time and gave white out to the universe’s most famous poet. As a consequence he wrote even better poems, which made him rich, which enticed his girlfriend not to break up with him, which made him happy, which made him unable to write his best poems.
Though I used a typewriter in HS and college, I was thrilled to get to work on the very first IBM DisplayWrite and have never looked back. I have had to train myself, however, to differentiate between first draft creative writing and the temptation to skip ahead to rewriting and editing.
I love my Macs and think they facilitate every aspect of my writing. Plus, I can barely read my own handwriting.
I don’t see typewriters and pens as “old” technology; rather, they each have peculiarities and unique attributes that can enhance a certain stage of one’s writing process.
For instance, the technology of word processing is ideally suited to editing. That’s what distinguishes it from the serial recording of text on paper. So one would expect the work processor to best be used in the editing phase. Although I must agree with a previous post that redlining printed text on paper is also a good method.
For my style of writing the speed of thought is slower than even handwriting using pen on paper; it is for this reason that the initial draft of a work be done either by hand (fountain pens are great for this, as they reduce hand fatigue) or manual typewriter. This serial recording of text purposely hampers editing at this early stage of the process, which is why it works so well up front.
So word processing, manual typing and handwriting are all applicable and relevant technologies in the writing process, but each one works best at certain stages of the writing process.
Remember Kerouak’s famous scroll of “On the Road”? That was his method of capturing stream-of-consciousness writing unhampered by the mechanics of reloading individual sheets into a typewriter. But his editor immediately required him to retype the whole thing onto regular sheets of paper. And it went through many revisions before it was finally published years later. The point is that what works for stream-of-consciousness, or the up-front process of initial draft writing, may not work for the editing process. Hence we should be careful to choose our tools and methods carefully. And not rule out the possibility that the “old” methods, like handwriting and manual typing, may in fact be useful techniques during specific stages of the writing process.
~Joe
I have a corporate day job where I sit behind a desk 6 hours a day and go to a few meetings if I’m lucky. I realized all that computer time was killing my desire to sit down and write my creative stuff that way. Now I have about 6 Moleskine notebooks (one per project/idea) and I write out sections in that first then I go back and type it up, editing a bit as I go, so I’m generally happier with it when I finally print it out to read it. The notebooks are also super portable, so sometimes I’m writing sitting out on my deck, or at my favorite coffee house. Still haven’t solved the procrastination/perfectionism problem.
Q: is there something different about a Moleskin notebook that a regular notebook doesn’t have?
I’ve noticed a number of people mentioning them by name, but not in a way that I would mention by Mead notebook (college ruled).
Nathan,
Blessings upon you.
Thank you for posting this "all-in-one-place" checklist.
I tend to be an interior thoughts writer, so I've had the conflict criticism winged at me. And, as it happens, Enduring Love is one of my favorite (and toughest to read) books.
By the way, what do you think about the humorous side trip there, when Joe decides he needs a gun?
best,
LCS
I know this is bumping quite a bit after 2009, but I felt the need to add my $.02. I use two separate computers: one for "regular use," i.e. internet, music, Photoshop, etc., and a low-powered netbook just for writing. On the netbook I use a program called Q10, which is a "full-screen text editor" aka distraction-free writing.
It's not the same as a word-processor per se, but it doesn't have any of the bells and whistles of rich-text formatters like Word/WordPerfect/OpenOffice. But for the interest of nostalgia, it comes complete with sound effects reminiscent of the old click-click-ding of the typewriter. And the documents it produces are nothing more than standard no-frills text files, easily readable by any word processing program and even Notepad/Text Edit.
I agree with some of the commenters here that first drafts on a typewriter were probably better than computer drafts are now, simply due to the scarcity of resources (paper and ribbons/ink) that basically compelled you to "get it right" or at least as close to it as you possibly could the first time. But my goal with my current WIP is to print out the draft and mark it up on paper, and then go back and make edits to the text files. I can't imagine editing from within a program like Word, even with the Track Changes feature. A novel is just too comprehensive a work to examine in the limited space of a 13" screen. (This is the same reason I will never read an e-book, nor will I publish to e-books if I ever get to that level.)
Word doesn't even work well with large documents. The program itself is a memory hog and the more pages you've got, the greater the chance that Word will crash or lock up. For this I have a program called Scrivener (just released for Windows) in which I intend to merge the text files into one large document and print from there. (I tried writing in Scrivener itself but found the simultaneous write/outline format too distracting.)
My system as of now therefore involves a few tools, a hybrid of "online" (i.e. computer) and "offline" (i.e. printed paper). The full-screen text editor, Scrivener, a printer, and the good old fashioned markup pencil š None of these other bells and whistles do it for me.