Young Writers Society

Hello. I have written a brief outline for my novel but I'm not sure whether I should type it in the computer, write it on lined paper or in a notebook. How do you write your novel?

I type it. When I try to handwrite things, I can't keep up with my thoughts and end up losing ideas. I like to outline on paper, though, so that I'm not limited by my word program's capabilities. Sometimes while outlining I do sketches or write upside down.

Good luck with your novel!

All three. Maybe that's why it's taken so long...

I vary. It usually depends on the story. Some will feel better being written on paper, whereas some just feel right if I type them.

I find editing is easier if you handwrite first, because then you can re-write it onto the computer, and you edit a whole lot as you write it.

I find it easier to focus myself when i write it on paper, but once it's done I can't ever bring myself to type it out because I'm a little bored with the story. So if possible i write the outlines by hand and then type the story itself.

i do all three but type everything out when ive finished.

i think editing is easier on a computer because its quicker.

I type it out on the computer. I'm trying the outline theory (which is actually very helpful) and it's on the computer, as well as the story itself. I'm so much better at typing and my hands get tired or cramp up when I'm writing too much at once. As Jenna said, my mind works faster than my hands.

I'm all over my comp and MS Word specifically. However, when editing (my work or others'), I print them out and edit with a red pen. I catch so many more mistakes, and it seems to be an entirely different story when you read it somewhere besides your computer.

Whatevers

Jabber, the One and Only!

I use the computer mainly, one way or another it has to go on there. If however, I am lying in bed, not tired but can't be bothered to read, I get my little book out and stick some cool phrases, develop the plot, or write some pages. Usually the latter. I even print the msot recenr page and add to it.

Its preference really.

I print them out and edit with a red pen.

I edit, but not with red. Hmm... Good Idea!

~D'Aedomir~

I vary. It usually depends on the story. Some will feel better being written on paper, whereas some just feel right if I type them.

Same!

Some things are just ... supposed to be hand written. The Fate of Stories has spoken, and the story must be written in red pen on unlined paper. Or possibly blue pen on lined paper. And others are meant to be typed. In Arial Narrow font. Or whatever.

I don't make the rules.

What Choc and Lucy said! What I've noticed I tend to do, though, is outline and write poetry and notes to myself on paper, and almost everything else is typed. Editing, it really depends, since if it's my work, I just hack at the computer. Someone else's I either print and stab, or I use the track changes option on MS Word. Lovely thing, that. *over-uses the comment button*

My best advice is to try everything! Then, you can see what works for you, and go from there.

I used to just write it down on paper, but I don't hold my pen in the right way, (it's a habit I've had since I was five) and get very sore fingers as a result of this.

So I tend to write it all out on the computer, but sometimes I draw up plans, spider diagrams etc just to get the words flowing.

Also, I'm a sucker for a good notebook. I feel like it really helps my creativity.

Eimear

I always used to do novels on the computer, and I never finished them. I didn't even get a quarter of the way through them.

For the novel which I actually finished (or finished a first draft of, at any rate), I wrote the whole thing out, across about five different journals, and then typed it up when I had the whole thing. It was more daunting and more tedious having to type the whole thing up than it would have been to type snippets as I wrote them, but I really don't think I would have finished if I'd done the first draft on the computer.

I think it worked like this because most of what I write is poetry, and, until recently, I always handwrote it, only typing if I wanted a second opinion, or was submitting it somwhere.

I think it's a matter of personal preference. Do whatever works for you. I like notebooks because I'm not really one of those writers who has a writing desk and just sits there for hours-I write in most rooms, on the floor, on the bus, in the park, in cafes, anywhere, really, so notebooks worked for me as I could just carry them around and wasn't stuck writing in one place.

All three. Actually, I attempt to keep my writing confined to notebooks, but they always inevitably get lost or whatever, so now it is mostly on looseleaf on a clipboard (ancient old thing) and then typed up onto my computer.

For editing, I like to print off the file from my computer and mark the hard copy up with pencil so that I know what it is I am going to change. Then, when I edit it on the computer, I save it on a different file. That way I don't lose my old draft. I have thrown so much stuff away that I wish I hadn't because it contained exactly what I needed for the new draft, but I couldn't remember exactly how I worded it, or what the details were and I no longer had the piece of paper or file that it was written on. Gah! Life is awful! But I learned to live with it...

~GryphonFledgling

I can't do pencil and paper. I simply can't. The presence of the pencil and the awareness of the paper (especially its size) is too much for the right side of my brain to handle. I type all my stories, and I find I get out the writing much better that way. With a 128 WPM speed, too, it gets done a lot more quickly than it would with a pencil.

-Kakky-

If I absolutely must, then I will write longhand.

Otherwise the standard word processor. Nothing wildly inventive.