I am sure that this has been asked before, but, what the heck.

Elisabeth and I have totally different muses. If I attempt to write out what I want to have happen next in my story on paper, then by the time it gets to the computer, it will totally change. I find it easier (and less wasteful) to just compose on the computer.

What Elisabeth writes down on paper looks remarkably same on the computer. She rarely changes a thing.

What about y'all? Are you like me or Elisabeth, or somewhere inbetween? Or even something totally different?

James

Sometimes, I write what I want to happen next on paper (usually, I'm at work at the time, and can't get to my story files), and then type it up when I feel like it, editing as I go.

Other times, I just type the ideas as they come, then I read through four or five times to edit myself before I send what I've typed to the beta(s).

But no matter which method I use, I ALWAYS have to mull things over in my head for days--sometimes weeks or months--at a time before putting anything to paper/keyboard.

I am more like you, James. I have a hard time writing on paper, period. But that also limits the times that I can write.

But my real problem is that I make massive rewrites to my story. My poor betas must feel like tearing their (or my!) hair out. I don't know that I am ever going to finish my current WIP because I keep rewriting the darn thing.

I'm definitely like you James. I always have been when in school and the assignment required that I include a draft copy, my final copy is always completely different from my original draft because I change things around so much. So if I never needed a draft included in the assignment, I would always write it out on the computer then begin the task of editing my essay or whatever.

Paper? What is paper?

No writing on paper here! I compose at the keyboard exclusively, and usually I'll write a little, edit it a little, and then close the file. The next time I sit down to write, I go back to the beginning and read what I wrote before, making still more revisions as I go along and then adding some new material to it. Each time I return to it - say it's a chapter in a story - I go back to the beginning and make another pass, so that by the time it's finished, I've been over it quite a few times and only have to do a last cursory proofread before posting. Some sections stay relatively the same throughout this process, and others change so much they're unrecognizable. It just depends.

The downside is that with a long story, I still feel the need to do this (go back to the very beginning) every time I sit down, and it gets harder and harder to produce anything new; all of my time is spent re-reading and tweaking what I wrote before . It's one reason I post WiP's, even though I suspect my stories would be better if I didn't. Once it's posted, I'm not as tempted to fiddle with it and can mentally move on to the next part.

Interesting question! I love reading about other peoples' processes - and, obviously, rambling on about mine

Caroline

I used to write everything out on paper and then would type it up, revising as I went. Now I generally have the idea in my head, type out a scene on the paper and then go back and revise, fill in details and edit it. I have found that there is a tendency on my part to rewrite endlessly, so I now get it on paper(or computer), revise and edit about twice, then go on. If I include something later that requires revision of an earlier part, I'll go back and fix it, and then, when the whole thing is written I go back over the whole story one last time for minor edits and proofreading. If I didn't do that, I'd never get anything written in final form and posted. If I spot an error after a *part* has been posted to the message boards, well, there's an edit button there for a reason.

Nan

Well, I remember the days when we had no choice but to use paper. Heck, that first Apple didn’t come out until I was out of high school.

But whether I write things on paper (very rare these days) or on the computer, there are always some major edits. The only time I’ve write using paper these days is if I’m sitting some where waiting, and then I might end up only writing what would be the equivalent of 2 or 3 pages in the word processor. I suppose I could use my palm pilot, but composing on it is pretty slow - slower than handwriting for me. But my preference, by far, is to use the computer. I can type SO much faster than I can write that it’s tons easier. It doesn’t hurt the carpal tunnel as much, and it’s a heck of a lot easier to edit using the computer. Mostly if I try to write by hand, I get bogged down. I have trouble keeping up with my ideas as it is when I’m typing. I’d probably just give up if I had to write it all down on paper.

I write mostly on the computer, but this past summer, my youngest son (who is almost two) wouldn't let me be at the computer without throwing a temper tantrum. So I took to writing a few scenes down on paper (he didn't have a problem with Mommy writing on a tablet of paper. Silly kid!) and then I would type it up and edit it late at night after the kids went to bed.

I'm the same way. It takes me so long to write anything new, that's why I haven't posted anything yet. My muse is too unpredictable, sometimes months go by without writing a word. So I'm waiting until I finish the story I'm working on now before posting.

I tend to want to re-read everything, too, I've just *made* myself stop doing that. I'm a perfectionist to the max - to the point that it can cause problems and over the years, I've had to learn to not be such a perfectionist, and that includes no re-reading every single thing while I'm writing. Of course, when I'm getting something ready to send to the archive, I re-read and re-read and re-read...

James neglected to mention that ever-important first step.

I begin by writing everything down in my head. The rest is just transcription.

And of course I use paper, because up until recently we didn't own a working computer. When I started working on my current WIP, I talked hubby into letting me work on his work laptop. The old goose of a computer we own works perfectly fine, as long as I don't want to connect to the internet.

It's just easier for me to compose on paper than turn my back on the kids while they're playing, so I type things in on the weekend when he has hours free on the laptop. But I prefer composing on the computer, if I have the choice.

Elisabeth

Well, I don't have much new to add, especially since I haven't really been writing lately. However, I can point out a couple of older threads on similar topics, for those interested in browsing such things:

How do you write? is from Dec of 2005... and, actually, my post there (the second one down) has links to the other 3 already. Isn't that convenient?

Paul, still missing his friend Timmy.

Paper, what's that? <g>

I write everything on screen. I'm like Nike, I just do it. No planning. No initial thinking. If and when I can make my current WIP plausible (of which I've typed 2 pages in the last 4 months <g>), I'm just going to keep writing til the end. Then I'll go back and change what I don't like or add to what I do like... If I do too much editing or critical thinking before I finish a first draft, I'll look at it too long and finally trash it because I'm tired of it.

JD

I compose on the computer. For a long story, I'll sometimes write up a vague chapter outline, usingly involving a couple of sentences per chapter.

Often I'll compose in my head beforehand, but other times I don't.

I may take notes for reasearch, though. It's good getting the details right about foreign cities/cultures.

I write on the laptop, sitting on the sofa with loud music in my headphones - usually in the middle of the night. How's that for being precise. LOL!

Seriously, though - the stories themselves are written directly on the computer. But I always have a notebook with me (I have several actually, cause I keep forgetting to bring them along and I end up having to buy a new one *very* often) so that if I'm on the bus at night (my commute is quite long) I can jot down my ideas. My brain is made of swiss cheese, there are gaping holes in it. I can think of something brilliant and 5 seconds later I'll have forgotten it. So pen and paper are my best friends when I'm not actually sitting in front of a keyboard. I only put down notes in there, though, I don't write the actual stories or even the dialogs longhand. Just enough to remember my ideas until I get to where I can type them.

Take out the loud music, and you have my style of writing.

Although, when I'm on campus or unable to access my computer (because my daughter insists on using it, for instance), I use paper istead. but what I put down on paper is pretty much the same I type into the computer, so it isn't different for me. It's just a matter of convenience.

Since my stories are driven by conversations I'll write whenever I hear them in my head. They usually talk to me when I'm somewhere I can't start writing right away (in a meeting, driving in the car, etc.). I'll jot down a snippet on whatever's handy and then flesh it out more fully later. I also have a composition book full of snippets and story ideas but I do the majority of my writing on my laptop (because I'm lazy and would rather not have to write it twice).

Like Caroline mentioned, I also tend to go back and obsessively focus on the first parts even as I'm writing the middle and end. For the sake of my own sanity, once I have a plot outline and a very good idea of where the story is going, I'll start posting. That way I quit tinkering with the first few parts and it motivates me to finish the story.

I have dysgraphia - which means writing anything more than a grocery list is not only illegible but physically painful. (The part of the brain that integrates language with the fine muscle coordination required for hand writing doesn't work properly. Doesn't interfere with drawing or typing [different parts of the brain.] but my handwriting is positively infamous.)

My brain is on my laptop. I try not to do too many rewrites, otherwise I'd never get anything done at all.

I only write on paper if I don't have access to a computer - eg, when I'm hanging around central London killing time between rehearsal and concert, or if I'm on holiday.

Otherwise, I write on a laptop, sitting on the sofa with the sound turned down on the TV. Sometimes the TV images are too distracting so I turn it off altogether, but mostly I keep an eye on it in case something more interesting than my current WIP comes on .

Yvonne

Computer only. If you ever tried to read my handwriting you'd know why.

I'd have to say, it depends.

I've got better at drafting things on the computer as time has gone on. Certainly, for something short - a brief report, a letter, or a vignette, for example - I am more likely to head straight for the keyboard.

For a longer story, I'm more likely to use paper, at least somewhere in the process. For one thing, I like to jot ideas down as soon as I have them. If I don't, I know that I'll forget the words that have sprung fully formed into my head. That's not to say that I never compose straight onto the computer. I do. And I think I do so increasingly frequently.

I find that I can edit much more effectively on paper than I can on screen, though -- although I do both.

Editing for me is particularly important as I tend not to write scenes in the order they'll occur in a story. I need to see what I've written and mark in all the places where I need to fill in gaps. Having pages spread out in front of me gives me a much better sense of where I am than having one screen of a larger document showing. Also, for some reason, I'm far more likely to notice mistakes on paper than I am on screen. I have no idea why that is.

I suspect that, in part, my liking for paper has something to do with my age. I learned to type on a manual typewriter. I had to draft everything long hand and try to type correctly first time. (My accuracy -- which was never great -- nosedived when I learned to word process. Now I couldn't survive without the delete and backspace keys!)

Also, for me, that stage of translating words on paper into words on screen adds an extra stage in the editing process, one that I find that I really need.

Of course, all this is moot if I lack inspiration in the first place, which seems to be the case at the moment...

Chris

All I can say is that those who write on paper must be incredibly fluent writers. Take that sentence I just wrote - I typed part of it, went back to the beginning, added a phrase, deleted the whole thing and started again, added a word in the middle, etc, etc. If I did that on paper, the resulting mess of scorings out, insertions and amendments would be illegible.

Also, Chris, I'd disagree that your fondness for paper is an age thing: I'm older than you . I, too, learned to type on a manual typewriter, was very happy to move onto an electronic model, and finally transferred to primitive word processing. Nowadays, I reckon I can type as fast as I can write and, given the choice of taking dictation by hand or on a keyboard, would always choose the latter - it's less tiring and the end result is far, far more legible <g>.

Yvonne

Well, the love of paper doesn't seem to be an age thing to me. I do write on paper when I can't access my computer, and most of the time I don't need to edit much - which means that I have the double amount of writing to do. And I've learned to type on a electronic typewriter, although I've used a manual one, too. Oh, and I'm twenty-six. Not that old, huh?

I'm 23, and I usually prefer paper when I need to edit things. It's like, when I write on paper, that's my first draft, and then typing the story is my second, third, fourth, etc. draft.

I also like to beta read/GE on paper, if I have the time and/or opportunity. It's easier to spot mistakes on paper than it is on screen for me too.

It's only since I took my first college English class that I started composing first drafts and beyond on the computer, unless you count my journals, which I've been either typing or writing first since I was 5 years old.

I've also found myself typing everything first more and more often, though I still like to write it on paper if there's no computer handy. But the sad part is, the more I type things first, whenever I go back to writing my hand cramps up faster and faster every time.

I sometimes use paper, but most of the time I'm just typing on the computer. When I write on paper there are even more Germanisms in the whole thing than those that slip in anyway.

I prepare difficult scenes on the paper, changing them almost completely when I go to the computer. But I can spot plot lines that won't work out by seeing them written. Most of the time I use paper, when a computer isn't available.

Bizarrely, I also can type as fast as I write... and I agree that the result is more legible. (Is this irony? )

As for what you (Yvonne) suggested about paper lovers being fluent writers... I'd have to say no. You haven't seen my pieces of paper. They end up covered with scrawly handwriting, insertions, crossings out, asterisks to show where changes take place but where I don't have room to write them in...

Chris

Personally, I have serious trouble starting something, leaving, and then having any idea how to continue when I get back. My ideas usually come and go, which is why I only write vignettes or other short stories.

I type faster than I write by hand. And depending on the day, my handwriting might or might not be legible.

Here's something pertinent to this discussion. Go to Shoe Comics and find the Saturday, February 3rd strip.

I think that might describe a number of the writers in this community as to how we write.

Saw the commic strip, Terry. Yep, I can certainly relate .

ML