Where are you writing?

In my opinion you should write in notebooks AND a creative/novel writing program.

1. Writing in a notebook is great because you can write anywhere.. ie the beach, the park, at school, etc.
BUT, writing by hand can become painful and kind of boring, especially when technology is awesome

2. Computers are NOT reliable. ALWAYS back up your work on a external hard drive, CD, flash drive, or even a floppy or zip drive.

3. Using a creative writing or novel writing program is GREAT because if you have a good program then the program should help you organize your chapters, organize your characters, organize your locations, give you character or location names in a generator to prevent writer's block, and include a dictionary, thesaurus and spell checker.

4. Writing in notebooks is awesome but writing in software is just as good because it will be much easier to print the manuscript and send it to your publishing company or literary agent of choice



I would suggest a program like NewNovelist. It's my favorite program on my computer and unfortunately it's not free but freeware sucks sometimes.

The software costs less than $60 which is cheap compared to the $200 programs I've seen out there that probably do the SAME thing.


Creative/novel writing software are better for writing than basic writing programs like Word because Word is just document stuff. Word won't organize your chapters for you will it?


Better your writing self and try some writing software :]

I write in notebooks and word. I always have a small notebook on me for when I'm suddenly hit by inspiration and I like to begin ideas on a notebook and make scribbles and cross outs, though everything final is on the computer and I usually finish what I started on there.

~Mr. Pie

I'm a scattered writer!

I write my poems on paper, out line on paper, write chapters on paper. I prefer paper over computer-- it make me feel more productive, and I'm less likely to overwrite or zone out.

My computer has issues. I've lost so much work due to it. I have a flash drive, but it once corrupted that, so I don't trust it. Usually, I back up my files by emailing them to my gmail account, so that I can open them without downloading and access them anywhere.

For heavy writing, I use the computer. I use word most of the time, but for work I have to use wordpad sometimes-- don't know why, just don't ask-- and other strange programs.

So! Usually for me, it's paper, word, or email.

June

Notebook/Word writer here! *waves*

I have two notebooks: my writing journal and my writing notebook. Actually, I call them both "writing notebook" but I know what I am talking about. The journal is where I write down what I've been working on lately, how I feel about it, any ideas I've had for it or any other projects, and inspirational books/movies/music I've run into lately. It's awesome.

The notebook is where I actually write, mostly on stuff that doesn't have a home somewhere else (my NaNo novel has a binder that has all of my handwritten stuff for it). It's all dated and labeled with different colored sticky notes so that I know where I wrote two pages of this one thing and five pages of this other thing...

I use Word for my heavy-duty writing, like actual chapters for novels and whatnot. I just churn out stuff faster that way. Handwriting is what I use for concepts and dabbling in stuff, but typing is my medium for actual hardcore writing.

Yay for writing, period!

~GryphonFledgling

Notebook and MS Works Word because my dad lost the MS Word key code

Yup, and on top of that I have a notecard box that I fill with little notebooks and notecards full of notes.

Like June, I also copy and paste into email and save them to my gmail because I have to reprogram my computer a lot =_=

I have a notebook for almost all of my novels...
I'm a very outdoorsy person. If it's nice outside, i'll sit outside on a lawn chair and write away.
If I'm out with friends and we're just relaxing like at the beach or at a coffee shop, then I can write in a notebook too.
So I always have my baby notebook AND a novel notebook handy WHEREVER I go (most of the time)
If I'm going to a party, then I'm not gonna bring a novel notebook.. that'd be stupid lol..

I love writing by hand. I have to admit that sometimes when I'm in class, I'll whip out a notebook and start writiing. I get a lot of my writing done at school- I don't suggest that to anyone haha!

But each novel has it's own notebook and when I'm out on a road trip or something I love bringing them. It really gets out of hand when I'm going on vacation and I'm carrying a bookbag full of notebooks because I don't want to leave them home in case I suddenly get inspired.

I also have my two flash drives and I do save my stories to email too sometimes.
Whenever I feel like I've written a lot in my notebooks, I type it up in NewNovelist. The only bad things about using NewNovelist (for me) is that whenever I start writing something from out of my notebook, I feel so inspired that I keep going and going. And then I end up passing up what I've written from my notebook and I have to copy what I typed in the program inside of my notebook.. but whatever, no biggy.

I just love writing, so it doesn't matter to me :]

-Jassie

I used to use New Novelist, but then it got hard because the spelling/grammar check isn't very good and I sometimes rely too much on those types of things. And, it did help organize characters and the setting, so I still use that part of the software.

So, I use my 2003 Microsoft Word. I really should get a flash drive for my current novel. But, the one I have now has, like, no room. So, I should really do that.

I do have a notebook where I have random ideas/parts of novels, but I don't actually write the novel in the notebook. I just bring it around with me just in case some inspiration strikes. I brought it to the beach in Florida, and that was really cool.

I write in WordPerfect (yeah, I'm weird, I know) most of the time, but I'll also write on paper a lot. It kind of depends on the story. I have one story written almost exclusively on the computer. I only write that one on paper if I'm not at my computer.

Then again, I have another story written almost exclusively on paper... in cursive... don't ask me why, it's just one of the quirks of that story. My stories have personalities like that.

Both, but notebooks and paper are for rough drafts and ideas. Then I type it when I think its 'ok'.

ImaginativeInsanity, that's so cute that your stories have personalities! That sounds so inspiring!

you an take a notebook anywhere! A plot bunny never escapes.

I mainly use Papel(google it, it's outdated but it still works) and MS word, but I write in a notebook or on scrap paper when I don't have access to a computer.

I keep a notebook on the computer because I can't write very well on paper. Then, once I think the story line out I write a general outline of each section on the book (I go backwards End to Beginning) and do my character sketches. Then do my first draft.
I kind mixed a bunch of methods together and it works for me.