Writing a novel by hand (your experiences)

Hello dear writers,

I want to write my next book with pen and paper. All I wrote so far was on the PC. I believe writing by hand is a completely different experience. That it might be more authentic (to me) and I like my first drafts to be on paper so I can better work with them.
I never wrote a long story per hand. Which pen would you recommend? I think I will write with ink pen and line paper.
What were your experiences writing a novel (first draft) by hand? I think it might be painful to the wrist...
Feel free to share your experiences and insights as I would like to hear them.

Have a good week.

 

My first few stories were written by hand. I didn't like this for two reasons. One, I'm far slower when typing by hand, and two, my handwriting is absolutely horrible.

I have also written with a typewriter and I'm faster with it, but my stories don't quite come out the same way.

Writing using both, I realized that my writing process is tailored to a word processor. I erase entire paragraphs as I go along and re-do them. And for that, the digital workspace with a blinking caret is pretty necessary, as I can just highlight the paragraph or sentence I want to re-do and make it disappear instantly.

Even as I write this, I've erased the above content multiple to re-write it. In short, I use the backspace a lot and there's no such thing in a pen or a typewriter. Even in the fancier electronic typewriters with built-in erase tape, you still can't select paragraphs and make them disappear.

The simple reason for this is that I just, for the life of me, cannot effectively convey what I want to convey in what I write the first time. I write a paragraph, I look at it, and I find that its awful, so I just try again by erasing it. That's the case for pretty much every paragraph I write. Whether it's an email, this post, a letter, a text to someone or anything else really. So, a pen? No way... unless I turn into those people from the movies who crumble up papers all the time and fill their trashcans with them.

And yeah, I know that this is discouraged. I've heard "embrace the suck" many times, but my initial writing sucks so much it's impossible to ignore. There's no point of writing on top of absolutely horrible writing. I'm pretty sure this is a problem I have in general but it isn't something I know how to fix right now, so I'll just stick to LibreOffice

 

I do all of my writing by hand - fountain pen, of which I have several (probably too many). At the end of each day, I transcribe it into the computer which allows me to also do a first level edit.
My preference to doing it by hand is I don't get hung up on spelling, grammar, appearance, etc.; nor do I go down every internet rabbit hole while doing research.

 

For years I wrote all first drafts by hand, but increasingly turned to a computer as my hands got arthritic. The writing implement one uses makes a huge amount of difference. Some, like cheap fountain pens, produce a lot more friction than is comfortable during marathon sessions. My favorite pens are Precise V5 rolling ball, extra fine. I can write by hand much longer with these than anything else and I buy them by the box. Occasionally one will spring a leak, and that's messily disconcerting, but overall, I've been happy with them for decades.

On the other hand, if I want to be precise and thoughtful, I use a mechanical pencil which stays sharp but forces me to slow my hand and my thoughts down.

 

I don't think the experience is that different, at least I haven't found it to be. My computer crashed beyond repair on me and I couldn't afford a new one at the time. So, out of necessity I turned to a pen and paper and wrote a good portion of a novel by hand. Actually, I've handwritten two novels that I later typed up. Also written short stories, essays, and poems by hand. I don't really feel like it has much of an effect on the actual writing, but sometimes I just want to write by hand. Not sure why that is. I always have a notebook in use for writing. It's probably a similar experience to writing on a phone which I've never done. But to me writing is writing. I can pretty much do it anywhere.

I like to write in fancy notebooks. I will spurge on those. It kind of makes me feel like I need to write something good when I shell out $20 or so on a notebook. Every time I get a new notebook I seem to fill it up quickly or at least put it to good use. However, I have no preference when it comes to pens. I can use any pen or pencil or whatever.

 

The funny thing is that what I write with does make a difference in how my brain works while writing.

Working on the single draft memoirs I'm writing for my grandchildren, I use a mechanical pencil which requires me to slow down and think about what I'm writing. I also use a mechanical pencil when I am drafting an outline for a textbook or listing steps for an art project that will be reproduced by students. Once the basic ideas are down, I switch to computer.

Making notes for a novel or writing a first draft of a short story, I scribble along with a pen in a notebook I carry just about everywhere I go that includes to-do lists, how-to notes, lists of books I want to read, ideas for stories and art projects, etc.. Once the basic ideas (novel) or manuscript (short story) are in place, I change back and forth between the computer and my notebook, sometimes without rhyme or reason beyond "I just feel like it." I haven't produced an entire first draft of a novel in longhand for a long time, but up until a decade or so ago, that was the only way I did it. Transcribing it onto the computer constituted the first rewrite.

On the other hand, when I'm producing non-fiction meant for publication in periodicals, every bit of it is done on the computer because my head is fine with that kind of production and it decreases the number of nonbillable hours I spend on a project. This kind of writing requires far less imagination and emotional involvement than writing fiction and I don't need the physical involvement of moving a pen across paper.

How's that for TMI about how my writing brain works?

 

I think you're kind of right. I mean I just said that I really didn't think it had that much of an effect on my actual prose, but there's something to moving that pen across paper like you said. I totally get that. I guess sometimes I just feel like writing by hand too. I do have really messy handwriting, but that doesn't make a difference.

 

People are different. I'm always interested in what affects the creative process of others. I hated a particular drawing class because the teacher insisted on playing smooth jazz which made me want to scream, not necessarily because of the genre but because when I'm working, manufactured sound is just noise to me. I started wearing the ear plugs I used for rifle practice and that helped. My husband goes about his work with headphones clamped to his ears and a constant stream of all different kinds of music fueling his production.

My handwriting isn't necessarily messy (though it can be) but I've simplified it so much over the years that normal people might have a hard time following notes I make for myself. Heck, sometimes I have to make educated guesses myself.

 

I did some scribbling today. I was trying to see if I could kind of feel out the differences. I mean it's kind of nice to be curled up under a blanket and all cozy with a pen and paper. It's cold and snowy today. I wrote in my notebook for about an hour or two. I started something new, not quite sure exactly what it is yet. I do plan on returning to this piece of writing soon. I think I'll write it out by hand some more. It's almost like a treat to handwrite sometimes. Maybe that's why I go all out with the notebooks.

I have another story I've been writing on my computer. And another novel that is half typed up and half on my computer. I can be so lazy sometimes. I'll get to everything some day.

 

It's not good or bad, it's just different. I'd compare it to a painter who uses different media. You can take the same idea but the expression of that idea, and the reception by the reader, will probably be different between a keyboard and hand written. The process of projecting an idea onto a page is different.

I'm fortunate to have been around when my first manuscripts were hand-written. Once I started using a word program and had some time on it, I was amazed at what seemed like I thought the words and they magically appeared on the page. Motor movement below my head was not on a conscious level. The mere preference of a method will affect how the writer thinks about ideas.

 

I used to write a bunch of stories in notebooks during study hall in middle and high school. I used a pencil, never a pen, because I write too fast and I'm kinda dumb and misspell things or jumble words together. If I wanted it to look more "legit" I'd go over it with pen afterwards, but that took forever. I've also written many essays by hand. And you're right, it does hurt your wrist. Once I got a computer, I never went back. It's easier for me to write on a computer, because I can just go back and fix something real fast without wasting much time. I can make a mistake, fix it up, get back to the job. Ideas get put down quicker, when I used to write by hand, I remember my brain would just keep going and I'd be stuck so far behind, still writing the same sentence. It's cool to write something by hand, but it's not efficient enough for me. Not anymore.

 

I do most of my writing on a computer. I sometimes go to hand writing when I am having a hard time getting through writer's block. It's quick and raw and I can get a difficult section of the piece out of the way. At a later date I go back and find it easier to transcribe the basics and add better detail.

 

I used to have dozens of notebooks. I wrote all the time as a kid but back then, I wasnt allowed to have a computer let alone a laptop, so i pretty much had to write by hand. In class, my mind would wander and instead of doodling, i would make up characters and write out scenes. It was just easy to carry around a notebook (however, i had so many because i tended to lose them, haha!)
One notebook, i really wished I'd kept. In middle school, i'd written half a novel about a teen outcast who pissed off some bullies and they accidentally beat him to death. As he's waiting in line in Limbo, he realizes that he might get sentenced to eternity in Hell and panics. He strikes a deal with one of the Reapers (theres an organization of Grim Reapers that basically have to make their quota of dead souls as atonement before they can move onto heaven).
Originally, he takes it as an opportunity to get revenge against the bullies that killed him rather than an opportunity to get into heaven...... and thats where I lost the notebook .
I remember being really big into the "goth/emo" books when I wrote it, reading "Oh My Goth" and "Reposessed" and the "Eight Grade Bites" series. I even had a skull and crossbones notebook for it, ha!

I still carry around multiple notebooks, but I stopped handwriting my stories recently because i felt it was too much of a hassle to type it up, especially since the ink tends to fade and yellow. My notebooks now are simply for just notes

 

I haul around a notebook wherever I go. I scribble everything in it from journal entries to bits and pieces of stories to outlines for articles I plan to write. I like your teen-aged bully basher story. Would the Michigan branch of the Grim Reapers organization be GRIM? And GRIP in Pennsylvania GRIT in Tennessee?

 

When I think about hand writing a story there are a few thoughts that go through my head.
Damn my hand is cramping again.
WTF does that say?
How do you type squiggle on a standard keyboard?
Etc.

 

My handwriting was a tribute to psychopathy. A couple of very short sessions practicing elements, like loops and curves, turned my handwriting around. A few months of paying attention while I wrote did the rest. My iPad has 100% recognition of my longhand.

I do all of my serious sit down writing on my Mac, but I could do it longhand. I will not be silenced by catastrophe.

Unfortunately, I seem to have triggered certain receptor cells in my brain. I can write with primitive supplies without power, that's good, but I now have an addiction to fountain pens and bottled ink, the instruments of gods, demons, and mortal heroes alike.

It's not entirely unhealthy. When I sign my name, particularly if the paper will let me get away with a stub nib, I believe my imprimatur carries greater weight with careful longhand.

All that garbage I wrote above my signature, it's just as worthless as always. But the signature - that's something diplomats envy.

Go to an Office Depot. Spend $20 on a Waterman Allure and a few ink cartridges. Watch a few fountain pen YouTube videos. Notes you take in longhand, particularly once they are readable, will do you more good than notes taken on a computer. I would still recommend transcribing class notes into a good note-taking app, of course.

 

When I write by hand I usually print. Otherwise I can't read it later. And it's weird—when I look at things I wrote when I was a kid or even a teenager up to a point, my writing was really small and neat. But then at a certain point it turned loose and big and nearly illegible.

Even in my printing I've devveloped a certain kind of shorthand where letters might not look like letters to other people, but I know what they are. It's all basically because writing things out just takes so damn long, and is so laborious! And also there's that hand cramp thing, if you're writing something long like a story. My hand writing gets progressively more illegible as I go if I spend a long time. at it. Plus I often try to write too fast to keep up with my ideas, and that makes it even more illegible, though that's true for my typing too.

 

My mother and grandmother had elegant handwriting, a tribute to the days when penmanship was emphasized in public schools. In grade school, my only B each report card was in penmanship. I simply could not do fancy loops and or a perfectly executed sailing boat-shaped capital I. As soon as I was no longer being graded on loops and sloops, I simplified my handwriting into something less elegant but far more utilitarian. The fewer strokes I have to make, the faster I can write down my thoughts and still be able to read the results. Oddly enough, over the years many people have favorably commented on my handwriting. Full disclosure: others have commented disfacvorably. An attorney I worked for told me I had the worst handwriting he ever saw. Since I regularly had to ask him for translations of his own stingy tiny scrawl, I didn't break my heart over his opinion.

 

My handwriting was close to textbook perfect through an incident in school. From then until a couple of years ago, my longhand was a crime against literature.

I took a drink from a water fountain one day in sixth grade without permission. Sadly, I still remember my crime. The line to lunch stopped with the fountain at my shoulder. I leaned over and got a sip. Nobody noticed except the teacher.

The penalty for water without permission was something like 50 sentences, which I refused to write. The penalty for refusing to write sentences was to double the count, which was of course not even a consideration. Each day I didn't turn in those ridiculous sentences, the punishment doubled.

After a couple of weeks, the teacher made me sit in a corner and write. Out of mercy, she capped my ordeal at 10,000 sentences of maybe 10 words each.

After writing 100,000 words, my hand hurt, writing was spasmodic, and I didn't try to improve.

If that sounds bitter, I'm not. The teacher was at the brink of a nervous breakdown. I hope she found balance.

 

I've written on an electric typewriter or computer since it first became available in the 1980's. Lately I have started to do more writing by hand. I take long walks and get thoughts that are brilliant. At least I think so, and a notepad with a pen or pencil handy is an asset since trying to type notes in a phone is way too cumbersome. I get home and look at my notes. If I think one of my random thoughts is still brilliant it goes into the computer.

I use pen or pencil. I prefer pencils for drawing and doodling, which makes up some of my notes. Everything I write toward a finished product is on the computer because I am constantly going back over stuff and rewriting witch is much easier digitally.

Having said that you may get the impression that I am a proficient typist. This isn't true. I call what I do "speed pecking." I never learned to touch type, but have done it so long I can go pretty quickly, and can even use most of my fingers. As far as handwriting goes I have never had what could be considered elegant script. If I slow down it can be pretty legible. Notes quickly taken are sometimes unreadable, even by me. In a previous life I was once paid to produce technical drawings, still called blueprints* by many, and my block printing is decent from that, though there too legibility goes down with greater speed. Since those days even the drawing were done on computer.

*Blueprinting was phased out around the turn of the century as large format laser printers became faster and less expensive. Before that blue printing was a contact printing process used to make copies of large format technical drawings where the originals were pencil or ink on translucent paper.Your word for today: Diazograph-technical name for the blueprinting process. The prints were developed in a chamber of ammonia vapor and I still associate the smell of ammonia with it.

 

I had experiences with teachers who had unreasonable and unnecessary expectations and during the three years when I taught I refused to engage in such nonsense.

 

I just remembered on a trip to China my translator described to me how they taught penmanship in Chinese. It involved counting strokes.

 

I used to use an Alphasmart Neo, which bridged the gap between where a laptop was impractical and writing on walks. These days, I never leave the house without my travelers's notebook and a fountain pen.

Of course, that's terminal hipsterism. I'm not a hipster. I'm far closer to Joe Friday than Jack Kerouac. For some reason, those overpriced leather flaps appeal to me.

Teachers are human. Most of them are the best humans we have.

I should never tell that story, and you have my respect for opening minds.

On behalf of humanity at large, thanks, man!

 

Then there was one with a seating chart fetish so rigid he refused to move me away from the two bullies that tormented me to the extent that I failed algebra as a freshman. The bullies were seniors, and jocks. I became an engineer.