On Writing: Longhand or MSWord?

[jon_chaisson]

Should I write longhand or using a word processor? This is something that's been bothering me over the past few years. I don't ask myself this to mean that I must write in one form or the other; this is really more of a question of whether I could be more productive in my writing if I wrote longhand (that is, pen and notebook) instead of straight to MSWord.

When I was working at HMV, writing longhand was perfect because I had the time and the capability to do so. When I started The Phoenix Effect I came into work an hour early and sat in the food court and wrote a good five pages or so before opening the store. That worked out well for me, as I was able to use the time after work to transcribe what I'd written into the computer, sometimes revising it when I came to the end of a chapter. This also gave me extra time to work on other stories that I was writing directly onto the computer.

When I switched jobs and went to Yankee Candle, I lost a lot of time for longhand. By that time, however, I was already working on the trilogy and had chosen to go straight to computer for that, as most of the original story was already written. Most of the side projects languished when I diverted all my attention to the trilogy.

But now that I'm working normal hours and have the ability to write longhand again, I'm beginning to think that doing so is not bad of an idea. Due to space constraints, I don't have a chair for my desk--I use the side of the bed to sit on. This is fine, except for the fact that my keyboard doesn't reach as far as I'd like it to, and I have no back of the chair to lean back against, which is how I usually write. I could use one of the laptops Emm and I have, and I'm thinking that I may do so when I work on Gabriel and Cassandra, because it's already four chapters in and so far it's been written almost entirely on laptop.

But now that I have other ideas "on the backburner" that I'd like to pick up again, I'm thinking that I should invest in yet a few more notebooks (I know, Lynxie has a boatload of them in the house, and I have enough of them back in Athol) and go from there.

One of the positives of going longhand is using a steno pad for worldbuilding and general note-taking and coupling it with, say, a 3-subject or 5-subject notebook that all the main writing goes into. With these two notebooks I can write pretty much anywhere, including at work. I tend to stick to the spiral-bound notebooks, as legal pads tend to get roughed up and ripped in my book bag, and 3-ring binders can be too bulky to carry. And of course, I can work on this sort of stuff anywhere, at work or at home. The only negative to doing it this way is if the story becomes an aborted project, I have yet another barely-used notebook to put in my collection. And lord knows I have enough of those in a file cabinet back home.

The pros and cons for going straight to computer are similar. Using the computer, I have everything in one place and I can refer back to previous chapters, but the process of doing so can be a bit of a pain, especially when I'm getting near the end of the book, when I have to refer back to Chapter 4 to see if what Character X is doing now jives with what he/she was doing then. Then there's the fact that I'm always sidetracked by FreeCell and my mp3 collection (or Launchcast, for that matter). On the other hand, editing and revising things is a lot quicker and easier (and a lot less messier). On the whole, it's a toss-up.

When I get home today there's a good chance I'll fish out a couple of notebooks (or buy a few at the local store) and get started on one of the three or four side-projects that I've been threatening to start while working on G&C. I can work on this during the afternoon when I get home (and I'm too tired and/or lazy to start right in on writing), saving the main project for later in the evening.

I suppose the main reason for this post is the fact that I've been seriously slacking in the writing department lately and I'm sick of using the excuse "I'm too tired" or "Maybe I should take a day off" for not getting anything done. I have the energy and I have the reasons and the will to do it, it's just a matter of getting off my duff and DOING it.

Comments

And a third middle ground?

[peartreealley.livejournal.com]

I would like to make a middle ground suggestion, which may not solve your quandary, but might complicate it more ;)

If you have the spare cash, I recommend getting a PocketPC. This is basically a Palm Pilot with Windows. I recommend the Windows one because it has a lovely little feature called Transcriber which takes real handwriting (print, cursive, both, messy, neat, whatever) and turns it into text). It's quiet, it fits in the palm of your hand, and it transcribes it all into computer text. My model has a in-use battery life of about 12 hours, so it's no slouch in the battery department. During busier times at work, when I'm pretty much only able to use it on lunch, I haven't charged it in two weeks and I'm still at half battery life. My older one had a battery life of about 8 hours.

Now, trying to edit on one of these is not fun. You can only open one document at a time.

But--! The thing I recommend it for is sheer writing at work. You have the speed of longhand, and the silence (if I had my keyboard attachment or typed between calls, my coworkers would bother me about what I'm doing), and it types it up for you.

For me, the work of turning something from londhand into the computer has killed novels. I just get so SICK of typing it all back in. I give up. The PPC has been a fantastic compromise. I've written 10's of thousands of words on it this year alone.

Anyway, that's me Romancing the PPC. I love it :)

Re: And a third middle ground?

[joncwriter.livejournal.com]

Hmm. Tempting, but probably not for me. When writing longhand I like to use the old-fashioned pen and paper...don't know why. I'd probably use it four or five times and then put it aside to collect dust. I'm not technophobic at all, but if I don't really need it, I won't use it. ;)

[emmalyon.livejournal.com]

Outline/make notes and sketches by hand, write on the computer. Works for me.

[crissachappell.livejournal.com]

Revisions are easy on the computer, cutting and pasting. Also--you can email your work to your agent and editor (so fast...it costs nothing...and no trip to the post office!)