Nathan Bransford - The Forums

steve wrote:Killing trees and old ladies is perfectly acceptable when writing.

Faulkner wrote:The writer's only responsibility is to his art. He will be completely ruthless if he is a good one. He has a dream. It anguishes him so much that he can't get rid of it. He has no peace until then. Everything goes by the board: honor, pride, decency, security, happiness, all, to get the book written. If a writer has to rob his mother, he will not hesitate; the “Ode on a Grecian Urn” is worth any number of old ladies.

I love Faulkner. But, you know, he can say some stupid things. Though I like this for the bit of exaggeration it (hopefully) is.

If you're worried you'll miss something on the screen, you can always edit your draft with more than one format. Change the font size, widen the margin, make the pages 6' x 9' instead of 8' x 11' -- anything. You'll feel like you have a new WIP in front of you.

The problem for me with only editing on screen is that it is highly inadvisable to toss my PC off the landing at the top of the stairs. One of my edit exercises requires some form of 'toss randomization'.

I do all editing on screen. I've become so hardwired to my gadgetry that I don't think I could function with real paper and pens.

craig wrote:My solution is to use used paper. Every time I print something off or am given a letter or other documents -- I save it when I'm done with it. So when it comes time to print a huge book, I put all this used paper in the printer and print on the blank sides. It still wastes ink, but it uses up the paper a second time before sending it off to recycling.

Y'know . . . I don't know why I hadn't thought of that. I feel guilty now! I go through LOTS of paper. MEEP!

But you're absolutely, right, Craig. Using used paper is probably the best option. I know when I'm RE-reading stuff, it's difficult for me to point out EXACTLY what needs to be changed. By printing it off, and using my trusty red pen (at the very moment of reading), I'm more inclined to find big mistakes and that helps my writing process in the long run.

Sometimes old habits/traditions shouldn't change. A lot of people have switches to Kindles (which I'm totally not against), but the feeling of holding and touching a book is something I just love. And as odd as this sounds, I can concentrate better when I'm reading a BOOK as opposed to a computer. :P