Different Methods of Writing

Some of us may even be old enough to have begun on a typewriter and switched to one of these new fangled computer thingies, you know. The major advantage is ease of correction / revision / editing and so on. Hit typos the old fashioned way and you waste the top copy and the carbon copy too. But the main thing is surely what feels good to you. They are all means to an end, not ends in themselves.

Dear Sir,

There is only one manner in which to write, and that's with a manual typewriter - a real writer's methodology.

Last night, as my wife and I puffed contentedly on our pipes, sipping a 73 Claret and pounding away on our Olivettis, we discussed this very thing.

Computers? A fad! They will never last. They will go the way of dinosaurs, mobile telephones and the internet thingy.

Yours faithfully,

Brigadier Sir Charles Arthur Strong (Mrs.)

PS A fountain pen and Indian Ink is a close second.

Gator uses swamp algae, and a claw.

As for dinosaurs, Bob, I think they might still be with us.

I'd think it would be specific to each writer's creative flow. To each their own.

My first draft, I'm ink pen in college lined notebook, and even then that's only pulling together dozens of loose pages where i've scribbled down ideas, or snatches/swathes of scenes and dialogue. Then the notebooks get crammed in with new, tiny-writ inter-notes, connected with insane arrows and high-lighted areas ... Then all THAT gets typed into a word processor for re-write, multiple edits, etc.

Because it comes initially so fragmentary, so scribbled on my lap while driving the car ("Oak tree, git outtah mah way!" -- Skynard) -- Typing it onto a blank pc screen just isn't going to happen. Plus, by then I've collected 20 to 50 photos torn from magazines that depict characters' faces, or scene moods, or ... what's a Khmer temple look like? What's the WW1 bi-plane look like? Stuff like that.

Everybody finds their own comfort level, or their own path from procrastination to productivity, I suppose? I know many folks luv to have music playing while they write? That jams me up, it doesn't set a mood, it jams the rhythm with music where the words should be building it, for me.

What's the WW1 bi-plane look like? Stuff like that.

I have been trying to write a story featuring a Spad ever since the Penumbra 'Revolution' call. One of these days I may even finish it. My protagonist has been left up in the air in his biplane for months and he must be nearly out of fuel by now. Even in a Spad. With the Hispano-Suiza engine.

I agree with soulmirror: to each writer his(her) own.

Personally, I've found that I do my best work when I write first drafts longhand. One benefit of this is that by the time I have my first electronic copy, it's already been through at least one round of revision.

I also know people who dictate their first drafts into a recorder and then transcribe them later. I've tried doing this before, but I always get choked up and self-conscious about what I'm saying. To each his own.

I write long handed at times but mostly on the computer-laptop an desk.
If need be I would probably chisel my stories on the original tablets. Or that might be pre-tablets.

I don't like doing the long handed way though since I have to redo them by typing them up as I am doing with my Q1 story.

I sit down with my laptop in my...well...lap, and just type. The key thing is, I need music blaring in my ears. I'm ADHD, so I need something else to hear besides the voices in my head, but I also need to drown out all of the other stimuli that bounces around my house.

In fact, I'm really needing to find some more music to add to my writers playlist

I think that first revision when transferring from notebook to computer is pretty handy, so I've taken to doing that, even though I type my stories to begin with. I open my first draft and a blank document, snap them to either side of the screen, and retype the whole darned story, fixing anything awkward as I type. It takes some time, but it feels like a more organic first pass for me.

Of course, I might end up deleting whole paragraphs after this point, so maybe I have this step in the wrong place. It's part of my process, though.

I sit down with my laptop in my...well...lap, and just type. The key thing is, I need music blaring in my ears. I'm ADHD, so I need something else to hear besides the voices in my head, but I also need to drown out all of the other stimuli that bounces around my house.

In fact, I'm really needing to find some more music to add to my writers playlist

I like music playing while writing but I don't have to have it. It does seem to help though. Pretty much any type. I have softer Instrumental Acoustic, Irish, Rock, newer pop-rock-Urban fusion(At least that is what it sounds like to me) and a couple of other styles. Almost time to break out my Christmas music--which goes the range also.

As a songwriter when I hear a song I listen to the words.
That pulls my thought process away from the storyline I'm following.
I hadn't thought about listening to instrumentals before.
Thanks for the idea LD.

As a songwriter when I hear a song I listen to the words.
That pulls my thought process away from the storyline I'm following.
I hadn't thought about listening to instrumentals before.
Thanks for the idea LD.

Here's one instrumental you might like and by inspired by. But you may have to sign up for Google + to see it.

https://plus.google.com/107015932809170182561/posts/FsZH8MSff3t

Came back to say I found the Youtube version, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TA2B6VGHRRU

I watched the video, very enjoyable.

One never thinks about what it takes to create a masterpiece.

Hard work, practice, and repeat as needed.

I found a cd of Irish music in my collection.

I'm going to listen to it as I type to see if it's an acceptable atmosphere. Write on.

I listen to Pandora while writing and start channels that match up with what I'm working on. I prefer instrumentals as well, lyrics can distract. I like my Anuna and Clannad channels as well as Shelley Phillips.