What do You Use to Write? Keyboard? Pen? Other?

Both - pencil and paper for notes, ideas and narrative structure; computer for actual work. I change my mind too often to use paper to write - it would look a complete mess with all the crossings out, not to mention the damage it would do to my wrist

 

I used to fill... scores of notepads. Those big floppy yellow ones, three ring binders of looseleef, spiral bounds, anything with a college rule. Then my dad decided the rain forest had had quite enought and bought me a laptop and a bunch of cds. I prefer computers, now, and usually make any quick idea notes in my phone because I have like, some kind of arthritis crap or something... but I ALWAYS take a little notebook and pencil with me in my purse. Cause running to the bathroom to write on paper towels was too embarassing.

 

I write everything on paper. Everything. I just love the feeling of handwriting.

Paper doesn't lose battery power and need to be charged. It doesn't get viruses or get REALLY slow.

If I type up some stuff, delete it, type some more, then delete it and end up with two sentences in the end, I don't feel like I did anything. But if I have one sentence and a super huge ton of scribbling, that is time well spent.

 

I love both... I'd confess I'm a computer generation kid - I started typing and only drifted into writing on paper once the writing bug really hit when I was about 13 or so, and suddenly it occured to me I didn't have to wait until I got home but could actually use some of those millions of notebooks I hoarded "just in case" and from then on I always had one on me. When I went to university I got a little netbook too, so when I'm doing my Ridiculous Commute I was either typing away or writing by hand...

Sometimes though, I'm sitting at my computer and nothing's happening, so I grab my notebook. It DOES feel so much more productive without a backspace key, and sometimes you just need a rough draft to play with before you commit to a scene on the computer...

 

Now that I can relate to. There's something so much more flexible about handwriting - you can draw arrows and write notes in funny places.

I also find pencil and pad can be a bit less frustrating as my typing can be a bit erratic. I'm pretty fast and often very fluid, but I get quite jittery, especially when tired, and I have lots of bad habits (like turning CapsLock on and off to write Caps rather than using Shift) so I often make mistakes. How often do you write the wrong letter, or two letters instead of one, when writing with a pencil???

 

... I do pen typos. It drives me nuts. The worst was during my Medieval History exam last year. Started accidentally writinge every othere worde with an e on the ende. Also my handwriting looks like crap, so I miss out s and c 'cause they're too small, ms go on for 3 arches... My "the" looks like the letter h with a low acender and an extra long flick on the end. No one can ever read my handwriting, including me sometimes. If I get too excited about a scene I will just fall into a writing which roughly looks like when you're, like, drawing a notice or something in an image, and just do wiggles to fill in the small print.

So yeah. Typing is probably more sensible for Melzaar, but does that stop her burning up pens at an alarming rate?

 

Laptop. My handwriting is dreadful.

 

My PC.

 

Wow, I thought I was the only one who would attach random 'e's to the end of words during exams! I think it must be the stress and it would only happen after an all-nighter. It's very odd and off-putting to have to proof read and correct the mystery letters.

 

I use a pen about once a month in this day and age.

 

Pen and paper. I cross out mistakes / stuff I don't like, of course, but not to the point where I can't see it. I might revisit it later on. It was too tempting to hit Backspace when I wrote on the computer, and I didn't like that because the deleted ideas were gone forever.

 

totally agree with you about the backspace. I dont like to destroy anything FOREVER - just temporarily, just in case its needed again or becomes less of a mistake!

 

When I'm planning a story, I scribble out events and ideas on post-it notes. Then I can arrange them into a timeline or brainstorm (whichever is most appropriate) on a cork board that I have in my room.

When I'm satisfied that I've got the bare bones planned out and arranged on post-its, I power up the PC/Laptop and type up a basic plan.

All of my main writing is done on a computer. I type quicker than I write, and I love the ability to cut & paste sections of text when they need to be moved. For me, pen and paper never gets anywhere near the main writing process, let alone the finished product.

 

I very much prefer typing rather than handwriting. I do not enjoy wasting energy and thought attempting to write legibly while my hand is cramping... I write quite a bit on my phone also, in lieu of carrying a laptop around all the time.

 

When I do my outlines for longer stories, I used my laptop. I then print it out and write my story by hand. If I want to really want to finish my story, I would have to write it with pen and paper. If I use my laptop, I'll end up going on facebook or something lol

 

Computer or longhand?

Do you prefer to write longhand or at the computer keyboard?
I personally cannot get involved in the story unless I write it longhand.

 

In all honesty, with the evolution of the digital computer age, I've evolved from a pen "writer" to a "keyboard typist" in front of my PC.

The only thing I write with a pen anymore are the post it notes adorning the edge of my monitor, that list my passwords and things I need to remember.

 

I use a keyboard, either on a desktop or laptop. I type faster then I write longhand, and I tend to edit on the fly enough that if I tried to write it out with a pen it would be a total mess by the time I was done.

For notes or ideas that come to me during the day I usually just put them on my phone in it's notepad function.

 

I personally love the tactile sensation of a good pen writing on good quality paper.

 

So do I. It's unfortunate that nobody, including myself, can read the results afterwards.

 

i do both...

 

The other day, I read an article in the Guardian (other newspapers are available) and the guy was basically saying he is giving up the pen for good. From now on he will only ever write on an electronic device. That just seems to be going too far - I love writing by hand, even if the computer helps when writing long pieces. And I really don't understand this obession with giving up skills that aren't immediately useful. No one knows how to do anything any more - wire a plug, change a tap, light a fire - people seem to be fine with it but I think it's sad.

 

A life-long panic of mine is that I never learned to light a fire properly. I've just seen people do it in cartoons or whatever. I carry a lighter with me a lot even though I don't smoke.... Just like I always carry at least a half-dozen pens. Bam! Back on topic.

 

You could so easily have said you like fires because you like to write in charcoal...

 

Being a lefty, Its annoying having to read smudge.

Thus i rarely write on paper and stuff.