Writing Longhand versus Typing
I’ve been writing a lot of fiction lately (well, a lot for me) and I’ve been realizing that I prefer to write in longhand rather than on the computer.
Writing on the computer is nice because that’s ultimately where I want my story to end up, so if I write it on the computer I don’t have to later transcribe it. But, writing on the computer makes it much easier to go back and edit things. That may sound like a good thing, but for me it’s the kiss of death.
When using a word processor I find myself just writing the gist of things rather than what I really want to say, telling myself that I can easily go back later and fill in the details. But that’s the thing, I never go back, so sections of my story are anemic. Sure, I could fix that in a second draft, but by then it’s likely that I will have forgotten the ideas and feelings I originally wanted to evoke. Also, if the reason I put off sections is because I found them too boring to write, then they are likely too boring to read and they should have been cut out in the first place. The problem is that sometimes those scenes are pivotal to other later action and I end up not knowing how to fix it when editing. I don’t want to excise the stuff, but I don’t know how to make it exciting. When I write longhand, I get it all out right then and there. I have to. There’s no room to squeeze it in later like there is on a computer. And if it’s too boring a read at that moment I have to find a way to fix it, at that moment.
I also like the freedom pen and paper allows me. I’m not tied to the computer. I can sit wherever I like. One of these days, when it’s nice, I really want to get outside and do some writing. I think that would be really nice. I always seem to get the best ideas when I’m sitting outside.
I also just love using pen and paper. I don’t know what it is about the feel of paper under hand, but it makes writing so much easier. The words just flow out of me, whereas when I sit down in front of a computer I immediately feel blocked.
Anyone else feel the same way as I do?
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Oh… Sitting here writing this while husband watches TV, I just realized another benefit of using paper: You don’t get dirty looks for typing too loudly. 
My line of work is a bit different than yours, but I come into contact with scads of writers because of it, and while many of them (and I, too) prefer writing on a computer because it can be easier to edit and fill in those details that you find easier to write out by hand, it’s interesting that there’s a definite segment of the population who finds it easier to fill in those details by writing in longhand.
I personally write longhand very, very slowly, but I type very quickly, and I think too quickly for me to adequately write out, in longhand, everything and all the details I want to include in my writing. (And with all the writing I need to do for school, anyway, during the year I simply don’t have the time to write everything longhand.)
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May 25th, 2008 at 9:22 pm