Pen, Pencil, Computer, or Typewriter?

[Ashley]

Which type of medium do you like to use when writing?

I would like to use a typewriter or computer.

[Eric]

I use all three. It has been a while since I have used a typewriter though. I sometimes write scenes down on paper when they enter my head, or sometimes I start a story out in a composistion book, but I always take it to the computer to re-type it and stuff. Publishers dont take hand written stories anyway. I would use a typewrite but at the moment I dont have one. Im skiddish with computers cause they always screw up, and I'm afraid I'll loose all the work I've done inless I save it to a disk or something. Then there is the risk of loosing the disk *laughs*

[Ashley]

Eric, I'm with you on being skiddish about using the computer. I have a computer myself but afraid to start on one of my novel ideas because I'm afraid my computer will crash and I will lose my all my work or my work won't save on a disk because of computer problems. So a typewriter is our best friend...lol.

[Eric]

To true. I also have problems with writing out long hand. I love to do it, but my hands sweat way to much lol.

[Ashley]

I would have problems writing my work out long hand too mainly because I am left handed. When I write the ink or lead gets all over the side of my hand..very annoying...lol.

[Kenzie]

I've never used a typewriter. I like to use computers, but I prefer to write my stories out, at least the first few chapters. So, I guess pencil, pen you can't erase, that would prove difficult for me.

[Veronica, What the neck!?]

I like using a pencil and paper best by far, at least for my first drafts.
I have never used a typewriter, but I would mess up a lot, and it just wouldn't work for me.
Pen is too perminate. Even if the pen ins eraseable, it is difficult to erase
And I CAN'T STAND computers while doing a fist draft. I can think of so many pros and only one con, but the single con makes me hate using a computer entirely unless I am doing a final draft.
A computer is professional and technical. It has no personal feel for me at all. And everything I write is personal because I created it.So I have to use a pencil and paper because pencil and paper is personal.
Is anyone else like this?

[Ange]

I find that my best way of getting things onto paper so to speak is my computer.
Although people say I have very good penmanship. I find it much quicker to type then write.
A

[Silvia]

i use a lot of different things.
when i'm at home and jut need it done, or i already have everything planned out, it's definitely the computer (way faster)

but if i have time to think, and i still don't have a clear image of exactly waht i want, i'll write it out. but always in pen, preferably black. the thing with pencils is that the lead rubs off.

[Kenzie]

I so feel the same way Dianna. The computer is for a period of long time usage and the paper is more of a draft. The paper is quicker to get to, but I am sort of switching to liking the computer.

[[deleted user]]

I wouldn't use a typewriter because if you make a mistake you cannot backspace like you can on a computer. Then, you have to start all over.

[[deleted user]]

I would have to say a computer. The only bad thing about a computer is that you can't write when your not at home unless you have a laptop.(which i don't!!) So when it comes to that paper and a pen is always nice when your not at home!

[Ashley]

I use pen and computer. Oftentimes I'm out at my daughter's ballgames or in a place where I can't plug into power, so I write by hand.

[Mystique]

I'm skittish about using a computer, but for other reasons. I use a company laptop, and I always think...if I die during my opus (as does many a great writer :D ) then someone will have my unfinished work! (I jest...sort of.)

[Kenzie]

You don't want others to read your unfinished work? I don't care if I died and someone else stole my work. I would just be mad if I was still alive when they took it.

[Bloomin’Chick (Jo) aka The Eclectic Spoonie]

pencils in my sketch books (where i write my fiction & non fiction stuff), pen in my journals & computer for getting stuff together from my sketch books! i used to LOVE just typing away on my type writer until they stopped making ribbons for it! (i "felt like a writer" what ever that actually means!) i've never been able to type away at my pc like that! (i can on my lap top though - i wonder why?!)

[Veronica, What the neck!?]

i get that "felt like a writer" feeling even though I have never used a typewriter. Heck, I've never even seen a typewriter!

[Tess]

i used pencil and paper, and when i really like it, i type it up.

[Veronica, What the neck!?]

me too!

[Scott]

I really want to get a typewriter, but in the meantimes, I carry a notebook and pencil with me always, or sit down to my laptop.

[[deleted user]]

I find that it's almost impossible for me to start an idea unless it's with a pen (or pencil) and a notebook. I guess it's just something about the way everything feels.

[Sella, ov vey! i haven't checked this group in months. ><]

When I'm writing, I find that when I get an idea and want to try it out, it flows better on a pencil and paper. That's always worked for me. Then, when I have finished and maybe want to do something more with it, I'll type it up. Also, if I'm looking for speed, I'll type it- I type faster than I write. Typing is better for editing, because it's much easier to add stuff and change stuff, but when you have an idea and don't care about perfecting it or anything, and you just want to get it out, I like writing by hand better.

[Brigid ✩]

It depends on my mood, and how confident I am in the story. If I don't really know if the story is going to go anywhere, I usually write down the first few pages first. If it's really good, then I type it up. If I hate it or don't know where else to go with it, then I put it away somewhere for possible use in the future. (Recycling old ideas is always acceptable.) If I'm really confident in a story, I'll type it directly onto my computer. When I was thirteen I wrote an entire book by hand, but I don't usually write by hand anymore. It is satisfying to write in a notebook, but notebooks often fall apart and/or you fill up the entire thing and have to find another notebook. I think that when I feel more tired I write in a notebook, but when I feel awake I type. I don't really know, but I do a fair amount of each.

[Katie]

When I'm doing writing exercises or just starting out with ideas (or if I'm traveling), I use a beautiful colored ink pen (no black or blue or red...that's boring! And certainly not a ballpoint.) and a journal-style spiral bound book. For some reason the colored ink inspires me and makes me feel better about what I've written (even if it's crap!) Plus I can use different colors for different directions I may want to take things in.

As for actual writing, I go laptop computer all the way. I understand the argument for "feeling" the writing and it being personal, but once I'm past ideas and actually into the writing, I can't stop my fingers from getting down to business so I HAVE to use a computer. Plus it saves your sanity when you edit...I'm an editor, so trust me on this one!! I actually require my writers to give me a disk copy...too many people got written versions back covered in red ink like a bad exam in high school and then they got all upset because it looked like I'd torn it apart! But that's my job...and in the end they were better off for my butchery!

And no offense to you pencil folks, but yeck! All I think of with pencil is 5th grade math:( I hated math...

[Dan]

My stories go from brain to post-its and miscellaneous scraps of paper containing cryptic notes to the computer. The ease of editing on the computer is a big selling point for me. I bought a hardcover notebook about six months ago with the intention of writing an entire story in it but it's so far unused.

[Xerxes Break(Vivian Ephona)]

Most of my stories are with pen and paper but I plan to transfer them all onto the computer while I edit.

[Brigid ✩]

yeah, i doodle pictures of my characters in manga-style all the time!! lol. i'm not that great at drawing manga, but it is still fun. most of the time i don't draw my characters like i picture them in my head, though...

[Sella, ov vey! i haven't checked this group in months. ><]

I'm not a drawer. I mean, I like it, but still...I can't draw. Believe me, you do not want to see my drawings!

[Brigid ✩]

that's ok, sella, because you're an awesome writer!!!

[Veronica, What the neck!?]

I've never drawn pictures of my characters, but that sounds like a cool idea. But I can't draw either. I draw people like I'm in 3rd grade. I draw only a little better now than I did in 1st grade actually.

Anyways, I actually started a rough draft on my laptop, and Its not that bad. I can type a whole lot faster than I can write things out on paper. I think I type about 45 words per minut, but it depends on if I'm typing fast or not.

[Xerxes Break(Vivian Ephona)]

It's fun. I draw most of my characters. Some of my characters my friend really likes and she draws them. Its cool to see because my style is a kinda unique cartoon manga while hers is anime/manga. Its fun to see the same character in both styles.

[Sella, ov vey! i haven't checked this group in months. ><]

Thanks, Brigid! :)

[Brigid ✩]

you're welcome, sella :)
tori, that wasn't very nice of your friend!!! I hate it how people are so prejudice against manga sometimes! Just because the people have unrealistically big eyes... They just look cooler than drawings of normal people, ya know?

[Brigid ✩]

haha, i totally agree tori. my dad is also an artist, and he's good at doing pictures of people, but i don't draw realistic people at all. they always turn out horrible! I remember one time one of my friends was flipping through one of my sketchbooks, and she really liked all my manga-style drawings. when she came to an attempt that i had made at a realistic person, she literally screamed, like "AAAAH!!!" then she was like, "Sorry Brigid. haha. just, this picture is just kind of um... scary." and i was like, "yeah...i know." lol. manga is just so much more fun, and it looks better.

[Allie]

comp. my handwriting is aweful. and i couldnt draw a decent picture to save my life.

[Kenzie]

I know, Allie. I absolutely stink at drawing. My people always tend to look like demented bunny rabbits. Lol.

[Allie]

LOL

[Brigid ✩]

i used to draw bunny rabbits a lot, in like sixth grade... they had big anime eyes... they looked like hamtaro only bunnies. lol. :)

[Sella, ov vey! i haven't checked this group in months. ><]

lol

[Brigid ✩]

i used to write everything in notebooks. i used to buy tons and tons of notebooks. i got, like, obsessive-compulsive about buying notebooks. i still have so many blank ones lying around my house. lol. but then when i was twelve my mom got this used laptop for me off of ebay or something, so now most of the time i just type everything up. i still like writing by hand sometimes though. a lot of the time, if i'm not sure a story will go anywhere i write it down first and if i decide it might have potential i type it up. oh, and i write character inventories by hand.

[Sella, ov vey! i haven't checked this group in months. ><]

LOL. I used to be obsessed with notebooks, too! I would be like "Oh, I have a new story idea!! Quick, let's go bye a new notebook so I can write it!" Now, I do almost everything on the computer. Sometimes, though, if I've been using the computer for far too long, my brain starts to hurt, so it's a relief to relax down with a pen and paper that way.

[Brigid ✩]

yeah. if i sit at the computer for too long i start going cross-eyed. haha. then i space out and stare at the page for a while and don't really know what i want to happen next. then i play virtual solitaire for a while until i get an idea. lol.

[Sella, ov vey! i haven't checked this group in months. ><]

Hehe. Yeah, whenever I don't know what to happen next, I usually procrastinate.

[Brigid ✩]

yeah. when i have writers block, i either play solitaire or i go to this site. lol. right now i'm taking a break from soul stealer for a few minutes...

[[deleted user]]

I prefer a computer; I'm a fast typist and I can edit my work more easily, without the mess of erasing and scribbling out and drawing arrows when I want to shift text. With paper, I'm always afraid of it getting lost, soiled, etc., so though I fear computer failure like anyone, I think it's safer, and I make sure I have backups to my most important documents. However, when I'm stuck proofreading, it is easier to edit a paper copy, and when a computer isn't available, I don't turn my nose up at a notebook and pencil or pen. (Though I have way too many little scraps of paper where I've written ideas as they've come to me at those random moments when a notebook wasn't available. So annoying to go back and make use of them! :-)

[Chase]

Pen and notebook to start a poem. Because poetry is so personal it seems only right to use the pen.
Computer to write prose, then I print it out and mark it all up with the red pen, then type it in again.
Some times when I am really stuck I may go back and forth.

Chase

http://wanderingwriter.org

[Brigid ✩]

yeah. i don't use pens either, cuz i end up scribbling over everything. i need to erase. the only annoying thing about pencil is that it rubs off, so all the stuff i wrote in fifth grade i can barely read anymore. i have to type it all up before it completely fades off the page!

[Sella, ov vey! i haven't checked this group in months. ><]

That's one of the things that I don't like about pencil- it fades away, and can be erased easily. I like to have my work stay on the paper. I usually use pencil, though- I always erase- but sometimes I'll use pen if I don't mind all the crossing-outs.

[Brigid ✩]

well now i usually just type. only there's always the risk of the computer crashing and not saving my work, or someone accidentally deleting it... i'm really paranoid about that. so i copy all my work onto a flashdrive like every single day. lol.
so i don't really use notebooks that much anymore, cuz of the whole pencil-rubbing-off thing; also the cover always gets ripped off or the pages fall out. argh. also you can lose notebooks really easily.
OMG!!! that reminds me of something...
story time!
So when I was writing my book, Destiny, I wrote it all down by hand at first in this notebook. and i brought it to school a lot so i could work on it during study (or for when the teachers weren't looking. no joke. heehee) so i had written like half of it, which was like a hundred pages. and so i was in music class one day, and i was with a couple other kids while we were working on some project. only then there was this emergency evacuation cuz the school was apparently flooding. we had to leave all our stuff on the floor in the classroom and get out right away. so i had to leave my notebook behind!
then the next day when i went to school, this annoying girl comes up to me and starts freaking out. she was like, "all our stuff got covered in toxic waste and they had to throw it out!" and i practically started hyperventilating cuz i thought i had lost Destiny forever!!! AAAAH!!! only it turned out that all my stuff was fine, and i like almost started crying when i found it. haha. but after that i started typing everything, cuz i got so scared... :D

[Sella, ov vey! i haven't checked this group in months. ><]

Wow that was long. I agree, typing is the best...and I am scared that something will happen, but I haven't done anything about it. Maybe I should save it on a flashdrive too...Notebooks get lost all the time.

OMG that is such a close call! Did that girl just make it up, then? That's mean.