About two years ago, I was in a museum where three screenwriters were talking about how they write. They all encourage people to write our first draft with pen and paper first. One of the screenwriter is writing for a police TV series four days a week where I live. He said that he write 120 pages of script every week. If he slow down, he is in deep shit because the screenplay that he writes today will go on tv two weeks later. The two other screenwriters were amazed by his speed. Me too
Typing. My handwriting is unintelligible, even for myself. Looks like I am making up new alphabets when I'm writing by hand, and they aren't good looking.
I used to handwrite a lot when I was at school, but I am slow at typing on the computer. Handwriting can be slow too, depending on how much you know about your subject, but typing can get the job done when your mind is in the right mood. I prefer doing both since I got a lot of projects I wanted to complete. And a good cup of coffee can speed up my process.
I love writing by hand. I type as well, but I think my handwritten work reads a lot better. Maybe because it forces me to slow down? Plus there's something very satisfying about seeing a notebook fill up with words. I actually enjoy typing up as well, I see it as the first edit.
I used to write by hand because of the emotional connection the act of writing created. But then having to type everything onto a computer just takes too much time. So now I type, but I do carry a notebook to record ideas or things that happen that seem interesting, or anything else of use. I also use it to record spurs of inspiration. Now I mostly use writing by pen as emotional outlet.
Not sure how this was posted twice. Please delete one of the threads, mods. I spend too much time online staring at a screen. When I say too much, I mean too much. I've been thinking I should try to lessen this by writing with a pencil and paper. I once heard that although this can be slower, one's writing quality increases since each letter and word is more deliberate. It's also romantic... I've never written a single story except digitally and although the benefits are there, I can't see myself doing it since I'm able to type at an average of 124wpm and there's just so many more advantages to word documents. Does anyone write by hand? I want to do it as I'm sick of screens (I suppose I'm a bit of a luddite and value rustic aesthetics) but I feel like my production levels would plummet. Any thoughts are greatly appreciated.
Writing by hand is better for my creative process. I write initial drafts that way in most cases. If I am typing instead, and hit a block and the words just won’t flow, switching to pen and paper almost always fixes it for me.
Production levels will likely plummet, but creativity will flourish. I write by hand about 10% of the time. Like you, I get tired of staring at a screen. I also like to be able to sit anywhere, curled up in front of a fire or in my favorite chair. I bought myself a really nice pen and pencil set which I love to hold. I also use loose leaf and a three ring binder instead of a pad or bound notebook. This helps with speed because I can work on different areas and then place them in order in the binder. I also like to scrunch up a page and toss it periodically. Can be very satisfying.
Thanks. That's very helpful. I do love the idea of writing in a notepad or on bound pages as it seems much more personal and contained, if that makes sense. Almost like a diary. I write on a laptop, so accessibility isn't as much of a problem, but the mundanity of typing and staring at a screen definitely has me thinking I should make the switch. I've always been fascinated by those old photographs of author's notes, seeing their scribbles and whatnot. I feel like it would make the writing process less about spamming a jumble of words which just somehow come out. I suppose I could just look away from my screen, think of something, then write it down in a more deliberate fashion, but I have this habit of just letting words flow and typing quickly so that it feels like I'm not really working on something unique and deliberate. I guess for people who have always written stories by hand they would view my experience with envy or at least see it as unique and interesting.
Most of my process growing up involved me first writing by hand with pencil in a bound notebook/journal, then later typing those hand-written pages into a Word document. It has mostly been due to the fact that whenever I've written I was either in class or at work, and having a physical notebook I could carry around and write in whenever I wanted gave me a degree of freedom. But even when I write by hand, I still take care to write the chapter header, make indentations in my paragraphs, and italicize appropriate text. I'm kind of "OCD" in that respect. And even when I move to typing, I also am particular about my font. As others have said, it may be slower to write by hand, but it has its own benefits compared to typing on a computer. For me, writing by hand almost is a "by the gut" experience, whereas once I am typing I immediately go into "editor mode" and intuitively make changes, additions, and deletions from the hand-written text. It's as if my brain works slightly differently in each medium, though it's hard to explain. However, due to the pandemic and working from home since March of 2020, I've only been typing. I just don't feel motivated to hand write when I'm stuck at home, because my laptop is easier to work on. It's just how I'm wired, I guess.
That is interesting! For me, whether I type or handwrite it is slow. I think very hard about each conversation or scene before I write it and then I stop frequently to re-read to make sure I like it. The only thing that really speeds me up with typing is the editing process as I'm going. Or stopping to look for a better word in the thesaurus. I'm curious, does your work require a lot of editing?
With regard to editing—I like having that first handwritten version not only because the words flow better for me but also because I then have to type it into the computer and that becomes the first editing session.
This is my process as well. The handwritten draft is where I get all my ideas written out, scene by scene, and there are even scenes that I write to see if they "stick". Then with typing, that is where stuff gets cleaned up. However, I am not averse to having a first draft also be a typed draft - it's just that hand writing first then typing second has been the way I've done it up until now, when the pandemic has kept me at home so I'm in no mood to write in my notebook.
I usually write my ideas & notes down by hand, but then type it out from there. Sometimes I'll print the drafts out and then mark them up by hand/write in the margins, then go back for revisions.
I used to work on outlines, characterizations, and editing points on paper. That was about two years ago and it's the last time I felt compelled to long hand it. I'm a 100% tiny handing. I am certainly on the screen too much but it's gone on so long it's my normal. I'll pen and paper when society collapses and I'm forced to build a trash ampitheater at the old donut parking lot and orate The Odyssey 2 Electric Boogaloo with my pack of wild german shepherd chihuahua mixes.
I'm in the minority as I type everything unless I physically don't have the option, in which case any random bit of scrap paper will do until I can get it typed out. I make notes on a private Discord server (one channel per ongoing work, it words surprisingly well) so that I can easily access them on whatever electronic means I have to hand. For me it's just how I started writing, there was always a PC in the house and I was always on it, so when I felt inspired it was natural to just open a Word document. I never had the strong feelings some authors do towards writing paraphernalia, so there was never a drive to switch. I don't know if this is cause, effect, or neither, but the way I write has always been chaotic at best. Sometimes, especially in the pre-smartphone era, when I was struck by a scene away from home and had no choice but to write it out by hand, there would be so many crossings-out and arrows moving things around and so on, even in that first draft, that it became a nightmare to work out later. I honestly don't know what I would do without cut/paste, which is probably sad but there we go.
Either way will give you a big blank white square to stare at until you make a mark to blemish the void. Pen and paper strike me as more tactile, and like you said a more deliberate exercise. Depending on your penmanship skills it can even be almost an art form, a branch of calligraphy: (if your handwriting sucks, forget it.) On the other hand -pun intended- pen and paper means you’ll be doing it twice. Eventually you’ll have to type it all out if you want to submit anywhere. Even if that submission were to be hard copy, I wouldn’t recommend a hand written copy. The remaining question is which is more important to you.
When I started writing there were no personal computers and I didn't have a typewriter, so it was all by hand. I still have old stories and attempts, many of which were in ballpoint and got wet at some point. Still partially readable in places. Then my mom gave me her old typewrite and I would type until the ink started fading and I had to buy a new ribbon for it. I greatly preferred it to hand-writing. For one it's far more legible, and it doesn't wear out the wrists and fingers. Enter the digital age, and I would never go back. If something I write turns out decent I don't want to have to re-type it. Editing and revision is so much easier on a word processor!!
Fun fact about one of my favourite authors, Jeffery Archer. Although he has written many novels, plays, short stories etc, he still does not use a computer. He writes everything by hand. I write using my laptop.
I love writing by hand. I enjoy the whole process, including the footnotes on the sides, drawings, relocation arrows, highlighter lines and marks that give me a clue on why I've changed that piece, and how it evolved since the first draft. What I hate about it is that eventually I'll have to type that text anyway (and there goes overediting etc.), and there's always the risk of turning original papers into unorganized scribbles. The old way also helps me with the writer's block: if I feel it coming - I just start drawing loops, Cy Twombly style, and it gives me some kind of an easy start. Feels like I'm already writing. Typing saves me a lot of time, but it also lacks that "story of the story" moment.
I work chapter by chapter, writing something that's more or less a first draft by hand, and then typing it up, reworking scenes I'm unhappy with as I go. I have some coordination issues that make it difficult to type and think of words at the same time, but I can write much more quickly, so writing things out and then typing them up is what works best for me.
As someone who is also far faster at typing, I often use handwriting to zero draft. When I type, I do a lot of editing as I go. Write a sentence, delete, rewrite, insert a sentence here, flip those sentences around. Test out a few different wordings to compare and pick the best. I end up with a much better final product, and with my typing speed, it barely takes any time. When I write by hand? Yeah, I'll drive myself crazy trying to get the prose to the same level and take 10 times longer. It is, however, good, for figuring what's actually happening. So, when I'm stuck, I'll switch over to pen and paper to figure out the content without worrying about the prose. Then, when I type it up I can fix it up and flesh it out, and since I'm not spending time thinking about events, I end up spending far less time staring at a screen for the same number of words.
