Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Typing vs writing

I was looking at David's blog and reading a post he made about the fun of writing [See the whole post here], and a particular topic called my attention.
He mentioned that old-fashioned writers wrote in paper, and modern ones typed, but that he felt more like a writer and less like a typist when he wrote by hand. That started me thinking.
When I write by hand, I make arrows, graphs, drawings, etc. If you saw my scrapbooks, you would see a scribbled sea of little spiders, one on top of the other, a giant knot of black pencil (I hate writing by pen, but I love my black pencil). When I type, I cannot do this, of course, but I have other resources: I can get ideas, look for unknown words, find names or characters, etc. through google.

Personally, I write by hand, on a notebook or just on any scrap piece of paper, and when I am happy with my first draft, I copy it on the computer. That’s the moment when I start looking for stuff with my bestest friend, google. I may look for a name’s meaning, some geographical information, or maybe for a writing prompt to keep on writing. I believe that writing by hand doesn’t make you more a writer than typing, but it makes you feel (at least I do) that your creation is more yours, because instead of being written in Arial 12, it is written in your personal writing.

So what do you think? Is a writer less a writer because of writing on a computer? What do you prefer when writing?

6 comments:

Áine said...

I like to write on paper but blog on the internet.Are thay the same thing? Not in my case as I think my writing style,which is quite debate-like,is a complete opposite to my blogging style,which is more like a conversation with myself lol :) Thanks for the great post,it got me thinking! :)

Unknown said...

I prefer to write on paper, too, but I blog on-line, so not sure what that says about me...

Thank you so very much for visiting my blog today and leaving such thoughtful comments. I wanted to come right over & repay the favor.

p.s. I'm your newest follower!

Roni Loren said...

I'm a typer all the way. I don't have the patience to write a novel by hand. I can type way faster than i can write and it makes correcting way easier.

I think what makes someone a writer is that you're creating a story on a page whether that be parchment, looseleaf, or a computer screen. :)

Anonymous said...

I don't think either makes you more of a writer than the other. I don't think anything makes you more or less a writer except writing more or less.

D7

Brndoutw8ress said...

I don't necessarily think typing a draft makes it any less meaningful than handwriting, but for me I have to handwrite everything. I have tried to compose at the computer but I can't seem to do it. There's just something about being able to write all over the paper, scratch things out and doodle for me. Some of my best work has little "things" drawn all over it. Once I have it written down on paper I can then transcribe it on my computer.
thanks for becoming my newest tiny head, I'll be sure to stop by for more of you.

Julie Dao said...

Absolutely not - I don't think I'm less of a writer for using a computer instead of paper. It all comes down to personal preference, but in the end, we're all getting our ideas and stories across. I like to write story ideas and summaries down on paper, but when I work on the actual novel, it's computer all the way. It's the only way my hands can keep up with my brain. Great topic!!