What medium - techno or old school?

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Beethovenfan
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What medium - techno or old school?

Post by Beethovenfan » February 26th, 2011, 2:12 am

When I first began writing everything I did was with pencil and paper (or pen - didn't matter). I have stacks of old folders and notebooks of stuff I've written. Then I would take a day or two's worth of writing to the computer and type it. However, I slowly adapted to the technological age and began to leave out the first step and just type my thoughts and ideas. (I have become quite adept at the keyboard!)

Anyway, recently I have come to a slump in my writing. A major block. OK, I hadn't made any progress on my MS in weeks and was beginning to really panic! My husband, who is working on his dissertation and can relate to my frustration, suggested I go back to the "old school" method of pen and paper. so, I did. You know, I have written more in the last three days than I have in more than a month! There's just something about the feel of the pen (or pencil) on the page that helps focus my thoughts, like a flow of electricity from my brain to the page. I don't really know what it is about the old school method, but it has pulled me out of the mire of doledrums I was in, and writing is a joy again!

What about any of you? Have you experimented with techno verses old school? What works best for you? Perhaps one of you can explain why the pen and paper have saved my writing.
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Re: What medium - techno or old school?

Post by Sommer Leigh » February 26th, 2011, 2:31 am

This probably says more about me and my relationship to technology, but I can no longer use pen and paper to do almost anything. Granted, my job requires me to spend most of my day with my computer, dragging a laptop around the hospital to meetings, or using my phone. And then I come home and spend a significant amount of my free time on a computer. What has happened in the past 8 years is that my handwriting has completely deteriorated and my hands cramp and ache pretty bad if I try to use a pen/pencil too long. The slowness of writing old school is also very frustrating for me. I type about 110 wpm and I can't do even a quarter of that old school. I believe it has much to do with the amount of time I have spent using computers over the past 8-10 years.

So no, I do not go old school. I couldn't do it. Also, I'm a gadget person, so when I'm typing up a chapter and I'm having some issues with the pacing or a plot problem, I can jump over to Excel or some other writing program and do a quick and dirty outline or visual brainstorming or jump over to Google and do some quick research or pull up Google Maps and zoom in to street view to see what a small town in Indiana looks like for reference. I'd become quickly frustrated by the lack of convenience and instant access of paper and pen.
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Re: What medium - techno or old school?

Post by polymath » February 26th, 2011, 2:48 am

I started out with mental composition, moved into paper and pencil, followed along as technology came out. I still do mental composition, paper and pencil along with wordprocessor, including voice recognition software for rendering my digitally recorded spoken thoughts into text, when it's impractical to pull up the horse and write.
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Re: What medium - techno or old school?

Post by Mike Dickson » February 26th, 2011, 8:35 am

I first create a movie in my head; fill it with the basics, introduction, climax, and denouement. I then bring in the notepad and pen, and loosely build character, setting, and expand some on the plot. If I make it past that part, I'll use Dramatica Pro for a more in-depth read into my characters and their relationships with one another. Then I write with a word processor.

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Re: What medium - techno or old school?

Post by Moni12 » February 26th, 2011, 8:52 am

I was recently having trouble starting off a couple of ideas. I kept typing them up, even got up to 20,000 words on one, but it just wasn't doing it for me. I took a couple of notebooks and decided that as I finished writing each chapter I would type it up to help myself stay organized. It helped a lot and even though I feel that it's going well enough that I don't need the notebook anymore I know exactly what to do the next time I get in a slump. Not to mention, I really enjoyed using a notebook and pencil.

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Re: What medium - techno or old school?

Post by Cookie » February 26th, 2011, 10:53 am

Mike Dickson wrote:I first create a movie in my head; fill it with the basics, introduction, climax, and denouement. I then bring in the notepad and pen, and loosely build character, setting, and expand some on the plot. If I make it past that part, I'll use Dramatica Pro for a more in-depth read into my characters and their relationships with one another. Then I write with a word processor.

I will sometimes create a movie in my head when thinking of a new idea.
As for old or new school, I use both. I do find though that when I am using pen and paper, I write more. I don't know if I'm tapping into my stream of consciousness or I don't have as many distractions as the computer does.

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Re: What medium - techno or old school?

Post by JohnDurvin » February 26th, 2011, 12:30 pm

I went to a talk by Toni Morrison one time, and she said that while she always uses a typewriter and feels like everybody else should avoid computers because they're too correctable and don't make you think about what you're putting down, she also suspected that in twenty years, authors that are old-fashioned will use laptops and caution young writers against direct thought-recording.

As for me personally, I do all my actual writing on an out-of-date laptop (from 2001) on a word processor that was obsolete when I put it on there (WriteNow, 1996), but only the actual writing and some of the sitting-and-staring-at-a-blank-page brainstorming; inspiration tends to hit while the computer's not around, so my writing chair is in the middle of a nest of scrawled notes on post-its and scraps of paper, which I gradually add to my WIP "notes" file on the computer. Being a visual person (with a degree in art), I also have a sketchbook with attempts at drawing characters, buildings, and so on, which helps me visualize everything when I'm writing it.
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Re: What medium - techno or old school?

Post by Sommer Leigh » February 26th, 2011, 1:13 pm

JohnDurvin wrote:I went to a talk by Toni Morrison one time, and she said that while she always uses a typewriter and feels like everybody else should avoid computers because they're too correctable and don't make you think about what you're putting down, she also suspected that in twenty years, authors that are old-fashioned will use laptops and caution young writers against direct thought-recording.

As for me personally, I do all my actual writing on an out-of-date laptop (from 2001) on a word processor that was obsolete when I put it on there (WriteNow, 1996), but only the actual writing and some of the sitting-and-staring-at-a-blank-page brainstorming; inspiration tends to hit while the computer's not around, so my writing chair is in the middle of a nest of scrawled notes on post-its and scraps of paper, which I gradually add to my WIP "notes" file on the computer. Being a visual person (with a degree in art), I also have a sketchbook with attempts at drawing characters, buildings, and so on, which helps me visualize everything when I'm writing it.
John, I love the idea of sketching characters and buildings and the like. I keep a travel watercolor notebook and travel watercolor supplies on me all the time. Sometimes I'll sit and sketch a place or something from a scene and watercolor paint it up in a quick sketch. It helps to break through spots I'm stuck at. I also think it'll be fun to share one day. A friend of mine who regularly reads chapters and changes for me and helps keep me sane, she's a costume designer and regularly sends me sketches and drawings of the characters and the clothes I've described them wearing. It is an excellent extension of my writing.
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Re: What medium - techno or old school?

Post by Quill » February 26th, 2011, 3:33 pm

Sommer, with all you do I'm beginning to suspect you're actually a team of people, a cadre, a consortium.

Go, Team Sommer! :)

----

On topic I sure have gotten used to the computer for writing, and for a while I did find it strange and uncomfortable to write by hand -- and THAT was disconcerting. Me who wrote an entire novel draft longhand and used to write letters to people with a quill pen -- kidding, a ball point. Then I got a job at a place that didn't have computers, wrote estimates and invoices longhand all day long with the other slaves in the galley.

I still write invoices by hand for my own little business, and enjoy jotting my creative writing brainstorms on real paper. For my next novel I plan to do much note-taking on site in the wilds of southwestern Arizona, on paper. Brainstorming works on the computer,too, but different. And of course editing is the nuts on a screen.

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Re: What medium - techno or old school?

Post by Margo » February 26th, 2011, 3:56 pm

Sommer Leigh wrote:This probably says more about me and my relationship to technology, but I can no longer use pen and paper to do almost anything. Granted, my job requires me to spend most of my day with my computer, dragging a laptop around the hospital to meetings, or using my phone. And then I come home and spend a significant amount of my free time on a computer. What has happened in the past 8 years is that my handwriting has completely deteriorated and my hands cramp and ache pretty bad if I try to use a pen/pencil too long. The slowness of writing old school is also very frustrating for me. I type about 110 wpm and I can't do even a quarter of that old school. I believe it has much to do with the amount of time I have spent using computers over the past 8-10 years.
Ditto. My perference for the PC stems largely from the fact that I type fast and can keep up better with my thoughts that way -- and the fact that I can rearrange information without little eraser bits everywhere! -- but the most important factor is that writing longhand now physically hurts A LOT. Might also have a touch of carpal tunnel.
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Re: What medium - techno or old school?

Post by Cookie » February 26th, 2011, 4:08 pm

I sketch out my characters too. Sometimes I'll draw out scenes with strong emotions. It helps me when I'm stuck or uninspired.
I've actually been drawing my characters a lot lately. Maybe because I can't face my ms right now.

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Re: What medium - techno or old school?

Post by Beethovenfan » February 26th, 2011, 6:53 pm

I also visualize scenes as if they are from a movie. I then try to capture in words what I'm seeing in my mind. I wish I were more artistically inclined - the brush and paint kind as I am artistic in other ways - but I can't draw a face to save my life. However, I do have a graphic design friend who can draw and sketch. Perhaps I'll rope her into being a reader so she can draw for me! I'm very jealous of you who have this talent and can do it on your own.
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Re: What medium - techno or old school?

Post by Sommer Leigh » February 26th, 2011, 7:17 pm

Quill wrote:Sommer, with all you do I'm beginning to suspect you're actually a team of people, a cadre, a consortium.

Go, Team Sommer! :)
Yay Team Sommer! I wish there were a team of me, I'd be able to get a lot more done. And then when I have some nefarious idea in my head, I can turn to my team and ask, "A show of hands, who thinks this is a really bad idea?" And then we could decide by quorum.

Instead I just say, "Oh who knows? Let's just try it anyway."
Quill wrote:----

On topic I sure have gotten used to the computer for writing, and for a while I did find it strange and uncomfortable to write by hand
Is it just me or does it make you uneasy at all that writing by hand has become a strange and uncomfortable thing to do? It makes me think of some of the more recent dystopian novels that have come out, especially the Uglies series by Scott Westerfeld where the characters, trying to evade the Big Brother government, can't leave each other notes because no one knows how to write. Have we willingly already started moving in that direction? There are some days at work when I need to leave a note for someone and I go through several post-it notes rewriting the note to make sure it is completely legible.

To combat my growing unease about this I've started trying to send handwritten letters to people every once in a while, and when I do giveaways or snail mail projects on my blog I always try to hand write the notes I include. I fear digital distancing, even as I embrace it most of the time.
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Re: What medium - techno or old school?

Post by cheekychook » February 26th, 2011, 7:52 pm

I'm an equal opportunity writer, much like I like both cats and dogs.

From the time I first learned to type (on a typewriter, back in the olden days) I have written both in long hand and on machine. While most of my novel and my current wip were written (and rewritten, and rewritten and...well, you get the idea) on the computer (laptop, to be specific), there were lots of times when inspiration for a scene or an entire chapter or two struck when I wasn't at my laptop---and those scenes/chapters/etc. were written, in as much entirety as they entered my mind, on whatever was handy---notebook, sketchpad, the back of every receipt I could dig out of my purse, lipstick on a mirror, eyeliner on a tissue, there's even at least one scene written on paper towels in sharpie (don't ask).

When I "see" a scene I need to get it down or it's gone---like waking up from a dream you remember clearly until you think about it a minute later and can barely remember what it's about---so when "it" comes, I know to get it down before it "goes" because I HATE that "dammit, what was it" feeling. I honestly don't notice any difference whatsoever to the quality or structure of what I write on paper (or napkins) vs. what I write on the computer. Either way it's just words coming out of my fingertips. And there's some comfort in knowing that I'm not dependent on batteries/electricity to get my thoughts out of my head. Not that that means I don't freak out completely when the internet goes down---cause I totally do---but I can write on anything. Anytime. Anywhere. And I have.
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Re: What medium - techno or old school?

Post by Cookie » February 26th, 2011, 8:55 pm

Cheeky, I totally do that too. I have piles of paper, sticky notes, envelopes, scraps, you name it that have notes or thoughts. I might even have one in crayon somewhere. On my mac at work, the mail program has a sticky note setting, so if I get ideas at work, I can create a little sticky note, write out my ideas, then at the end of the day send it to myself. For Christmas, my step mom got me a waterproof notepad that you can stick in the shower. Best. Idea. Ever.
Sometimes when a scene needs to be re-written, I will write it out on paper, cause staring at the screen sometimes makes my head hurt.

Sommer, at my job, my boss makes me write hand written notes when I send people promo stuff. I don't always--especially if I can't think of anything to say, but she says they are more personal. Plus, I get to draw cute little peace signs and stuff under my name. :)

Beethovenfan, what genre do you write in? I've been thinking of drawing one of my crit partners main characters for them, hoping it will give them the same inspiration.

I also have a sketchbook that is just itching to be turned into a book for character sketches.

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