I may be a novice, but I know it’s damn hard to write a novel. We like different computer programs, methods, locations, everything. It’s our thing.
Rarely do I hear about using a pen to simply write the story.
Last September, you might recall that I wrote the first draft of my First Novel Evah all longhand. It wasn’t very good, and needed a major rewrite. And also several more after that. LET’S NOT DWELL ON THAT. I wrote that novel in 29 days, which resulted in several hand cramps a day as I tried to keep up with my thoughts.
By no means did I plan, or want to, write the whole thing by hand.
I had to.
See, my relatively new, precious Mac had to go to the Apple Hospital after SOMEONE (no naming names *Ninja*) dropped water on the keyboard. But the story wouldn’t wait. I was afraid that if I tried to just remember all the scenes, I would simply forget them.
So I wrote them down.
I still do this. Even with all the fancy iPhone note apps, the ability to save to my iDisk or email myself, I still grab a trusty pen and write out whatever ideas or scenes pop into my head. I started with napkins or scraps of paper, but I’ve since upgraded to moleskines.
Don’t get me wrong, I still depend on my computer and phone apps to keep me organized. I like a plain text editor for novel-less scenes, and various free apps to free outline or cluster. And for collecting, outlining, and researching my full length works I can’t go without Scrivener. But if I don’t have them ready, I don’t fret.
So just remember. You don’t always need all those computer or phone apps, or even a fancy notebook to write your big idea.
All you need is a pen.
How do deal with the onset of sudden ideas?
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I have recently returned to doing a lot more handwriting. It kick-starts my muse more easily than staring at the computer, where, let’s face it, there are way too many distractions.
The other benefit is that when it comes to putting the words on the computer, I do an edit along the way.
I also carry a pen and notebook with me at all times, because if an idea hits it’s just too easy to forget exactly what it was. And it’s always the biggest, bestest fish that get away. So now I write it down the moment it hits. I will even pull over in traffic and write it down.
I get way distracted on the computer too! And I tend to look back too often and edit edit edit. Writing difficult scenes out by hand often helps me bypass the inner editor and just write!
^_^
I have a writing notebook I keep on me at all times and really, sometimes, when nothing’s flowing from my fingers onto the keyboard, I write longhand and it works so well.
Sarah´s last [type] ..disneystrology
I know exactly what you mean! After fighting for – and getting nothing – on a computer screen, I pull out my writing notebook. I’ve had some scenes really flow on the spot writing longhand!
^_^
pen and paper, the traditional foreplay of writing which never fails.
I always start my books and stories with pen — actually pencil (I have a thing about Bic mechanicals….don’t know why), and my research is done the same way.
Eventually it’ll switch over to OneNote and then Word or OpenOffice, but there’s something so organic about paper and words.
Which makes me think of ebooks, but I won’t go there… Especially b/c my mind is slowly changing on the whole subject, surprisingly enough
But an entire novel on paper! Major props to you! I have to start typing after a few chapters simply because it’s faster once I get the story going. I’m a *mind’s eye* writer (def a pantser!), so I can’t write fast enough to put down what I’m seeing play out in my head.
Editing, on the other hand….oh that works soooo much better when printed out and marked up with pen or pencil. It’s amazing the mistakes you miss onscreen.
eden tyler´s last [type] ..Saturday Sass
It was seriously hard to write the whole thing longhand. I’m a pantser too, so there were a lot of post-it’s throughout the journals that said things like “don’t forget to add this character and his reaction blah blah blah” lol. I do LOVE editing longhand though – there’ve been times that I’d been tempted to print out a crit partner’s ms and work on that.
Using pen and paper for the beginning of a novel and research feels very organic for me. Sometimes, when a scene is being sooper difficult, I’ll even revert to longhand for the flow. It’s definitely helped!
^_^