What do you think would make you a better writer - Writing with pen and paper or typing on your PC / Laptop? [closed]
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In today's digitized world, does it pay to go analog? I mean who would waste time in writing using Pen and Paper when you can easily type the stuff using a variety of fonts in Word processing software? But do you honestly think it would make you a better writer?
If given a choice, which one would you opt for? Maybe 99% will opt for Software. But is there anyone out here who still believes that writing with Pen and paper, the good old fashioned way makes more sense?
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Even though I can touch type quickly, I have gone back to writing drafts by hand. It is not speed of writing that determines the speed I produce something: it is speed of thought. If I am thinking quickly I can write something like shorthand to get my ideas down.
I write by hand because it makes me do at least one more thorough editing. (I have also tried printing out a text and then deleting the original so that I must edit what I have written.) It also places me in the position of the people I teach writing to and so I can understand the physical process they go through e.g. getting a sore hand, smudging edits, etc. Finally, I still have to produce a large amount of handwritten texts and writing drafts using a pen keeps me in 'shape'.
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Since I type at about ten times the rate I write by hand; and my hand gets sore writing by hand for more than a page or so; I opt for typing.
Writing by hand is a sensory ritual for some writers. It makes them feel good and puts them in the mental zone of writing. In the end I think this is entirely a matter of opinion.
Eventually you are not likely to get published without a typewritten manuscript and a digital file. In the process of writing, searches and backups of alternative versions are crucial to me. I am not afraid to write and discard things, so I often go through a dozen drafts of some scenes or chapters, and cut and rewrite liberally: I can do that because I have a backup of every single day I have worked on a project (sometimes more), and can easily search them and cut and paste from them if I want something, or want to revert to a previous version.
The flexibility of using software and having digital copies of everything I ever wrote on a project is so useful to me, I would be disabled by trying to write with a pen and paper. In the end I feel nobody knows or would care what process I used, they are only interested in the final version, which will be typed black-ink words on a white background in a generic font like Times Roman or Schoolbook or Sans Serif.
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