I type my diaries on the Word processor, about two to three thousand pages a day, while I do type some temporary notes on a notepad I have or on my phone, which I use to keep track of memories. For stories I usually prefer pen and paper, which allows me to draw charts and doodle and scratch quickly, although I might use notes on my phone if I were on the road walking. I dislike pencil for the sole reason of being too hard to spot and easily smudged; even when drawing.
I mostly write on paper first, then transcribe to electronic, though I'm thinking of changing that. The transcribing tends to slow me down, and I've been wondering if anyone has tried or is using Livescribe? Or knows of a software app, such as WritePad or other handwriting recognition software for use with a stylus and tablet? What I'm looking for is something that almost automatically transforms what I write free hand to actual text. Livesribe looks like it would be an easy alternative, and that's probably what I'll try first. But if anyone has other ideas or techniques I would be interested in hearing them. Thom
Mmmm, I write in open office. When I went camping I wrote about 15 pages with pen and paper and it was a pain in the ass to transcribe. I used to write using my ipad. I had a program called 'writer' which was simple, but good. Wrote nearly 20,000 words on that thing while travelling.
Blend. I write with a keyboard whenever one is available, but if I'm somewhere without an option, I write in a notebook.
im much like you by in which i start of pen and pad, ive slowly managed to teach myself to touch type fairly fast, so that doesnt create an issue, i would try to use the recognition software but my handwriting is one thats quite difficult to recognise. i tend to use a fountain pen, which may be part of the issue as im used to writing in a certain way from them. it would be nice to use that kind of software, but i tend to alter what i have written when i type it up, so it has a preliminary edit before a proper read through
To be fair it all has to be typed up at some stage, so i try to cut out the middle man as much as possible. Saying that if i have an idea or an extention and not a comouter in sight i do carry a small note book with me, which i tyoe up afterwards. What ever gets the creatove juices flowing. Plus my handwritting suck so i spend countless hours wondering what the hell i said lol.
I write mostly freehand, only because notebooks are all I have, and I don't really have a computer of my own to start files on... I'll get my own computer... eventually. Some day. Maybe. Actually, I'll have to if I want to "get out there".
Paper and pen when im first coming up with a story -oddly it gives me more of a tangible thing to grasp other than when im on a computer. Most of the time i do type up my books instead, and that is when i go-in depth as my typing speed is ridiculously faster than my writing speed. Also, one can never have enough automatic spelling correctors.
Microsoft Word, pencil & paper, iPhone, and sketch pad. Oh and the shower. Nothing like a hot-as-I-can-take-it shower coupled with Bach and Vivaldi to get the brainstorming done. One of these days I will need to buy a jacuzzi to do this in instead.
I usually write everything out by hand, and then type it up into Scrivener. I feel that my creativity works better with pen and paper for some reason. Then, as I'm typing it, it allows me to make minor adjustments to the writing and make the writing a bit better. I catch awkward sentences and phrases as I'm typing, and it helps me to be able to go back and say "Okay, I added this detail toward the end of the chapter, so I need to get ready for it at the beginning."
I only write on my computer in MS Word Anything outside of that is brainstorming unless I REALLY want to then I always have a spiral notebook and pen on hand
Apparently you write slower, so it gives your brain more time to think of ideas. - I think I read that on 9gag or something.
I use a laptop to write in though I used to write on paper a while ago. Writing on computer has its own advantage. of course there are something which cannot be replaced by today's electronic pads like the touch of ink and paper and it seems more real and artistic when we use handwriting rather than printing. But when I write something professionally as a writer I will be at advantages when it comes to using better choices of words and it will of course be at my convenience and accesses. Writing on paper has almost been a story now and the world is shifting to electronic pads and of course environmentally it is better to use electronic mediums. The world is really changing at a higher pace and of course this is an epochal change. Our ancestors used leafs to write on and today reusing it or reinventing the leaf is wheeling back in history and of course we all are going through evolutionary phases and evolution presses us forward and of course our used of electronic mediums to write on is our moving forward. I am a nonnative writer and you can figure out from the kind of writing I do and it is the internet and innumerable accesses to learning tools and great connections that are facilitating me to update myself with the rest of the world despite living in a totally different language community.
Me? Notes and ideas in handwritten notebook - ALL actual writing done on a MacMini, in iPages (started back in ClarisWorks and still miss it.) I chop and change all the time when I'm writing, and could never quite get into the swing, writing longhand, or even on a typewriter. Wordprocessors? Heaven! Just wondering. Does anybody do serious writing on an iPad? I've been considering getting one of those, but heard they are murder-polis to write on, and that it's horrifically easy to delete without intending. Also wonder if it's possible to easily transfer the work to a normal computer where things can be printed out on ...paper.
Jannert, you can do that, there is software called Evernote that you can have on your phone (iPhone or Android, unsure on Windows phone) that also has apps for the iPod Touch and iPad as well as for the computer, i used to use this, you need net connection, and you write and save on one device, sync the rest of the devices and it appears on there, it also saves and shares all the edits made too. i used this a lot for my college work by in which i would type it to my iPod Touch and get home to find it on my laptop, useful bit of kit
with: blue ink, medium point 'fat' pen [currently dr. grip] on lined pastel pads with heavy-duty backing and/or dell laptop with peripheral 'media' keyboard and evoluent mouse... or anything that's handy, if neither of the above are...
I tried to use pen and paper when I first started the novel I am working on but it hurt my hand to be honest. I still have a notebook I use to keep myself organized and to scribble ideas in when I am not near a computer but for the bulk of my writing I use my little old laptop.
does anyone else consider a fountain pen when writing instead of some of these other pens, its much easier on the hand, and you are less likely to sieze up?
Well, it's a good theory, except that I don't have a problem with writing on the computer, either. It's a long-term thing that bothers me. Going weeks and weeks at a time without writing on paper. Everything seems mechanical and forced that way. But I can write in my notebook consistently without getting tired of that method.
Oddly enough, I almost exclusively write on a computer -- I've always needed to compose at a keyboard, even in the olden days when I had to do it at a typewriter and literally cut and paste. However, I need to read in hard copy. I really dislike reading long stories, especially novels or short stories on a screen. When I've beta-read, I've printed out the stories. I dislike correcting or making the comments electronically.
that's why i use fat ballpoints... you don't have to resort to all that ink-filling bother to get a comfy pen... the dr. grip ones i now use since schaeffer stopped making their 'big red' model are even better... they're worth 3x the price for what they save me in hand-distress...
yeah, fountain pens work so much better than regular pens, but I found artists pens to be the best for me.
Novels or want-to-be novels get the computer, all else gets the old pencil and paper treatment. The computer keeps me organized but the paper helps me think. TDS
