How do you write your novel?

I do mostly typing, but that's only since I got my laptop *hugs Pearl* (note: Pearl is my laptop's name) Originally, I used lots and lots of notebooks, and I actually found that typing up hand-written things gives one a great opportunity to edit. But, as I edit as I write, I normally type these days. I do, however, keep a commonplace book (which is like a journal, diary, schedule, piece of random scrap paper, ect.) in which I can write out ideas or whole scenes if my computer isn't handy.

Note: I never outline! It just totally ruins the whole story for me; I find all the fun goes into the outline, and then I feel tied down to that main plot (and that ending).

I write very rough drafts of odd scenes in a lined notebook (although a lot I don't plan to use in my main novel, I just use it to get my ideas straight) and often write my outline in a notebook, so I can have it in front of me while I'm working on the main novel on the computer.

Computer is always best though for the majority off it. Easy to change things, easy to spell and grammar check, easy to edit and revise and swap things round and create new documents to rearrange things.

I have to use a word processor. I'm such a horribly indecisive writer that I am constantly going backwards and forwards, changing sentence structure or substituting better words in, and so on and so forth. Editing is just so much easier on a computer. If I write stories out in longhand, most of the page ends up being a mess of scratched-out paragraphs and new ones written in tiny, cramped writing in the margins. Not pretty, and totally indecipherable when it comes to actually re-typing it on the word processor (which I kind of have to do to "feel" finished).

I do print out a copy of each draft as I finish it and edit it with a red pen (or sometimes green ) because I find it easier to catch typos and the like on a hard copy than on a computer screen, but most of those printed-out drafts end up with half the words on them scratched out as well. What can I say? I'm a perfectionist.

I write on the computer, usually aiming for a finished chapter every weekend. In class I usually scribble down ideas and scenes so that I can incorporate them in once I get on my computer again. I'd kill too many trees if I wrote on paper.

I use a notebook but then transfer it onto the computer to edit.

I like writing in a notebook, it's easy for me to consentrate, the computer has so many cool things to do that I find I have a word document, an internet page (to either yws, another writing site or google), a few web radio's and random e-mails, webpages, etc. open. It's just too much!

I stick to paper, where the only distraction is my parents, little sis and whatever book I'm currently reading. =)

I always write out the first draft of a story in pencil in my notebook (hehe-it's missing a cover and falling apart). After that I go over it again, still with a pencil, and make obvious edits. And maybe I do that one or two or three more times. Then and only then, if I really care about it, does it go into my computer. At which point it will get edited several more times before I consider it done.

My plug for a notebook is that you can write stories in class. If the teacher doesn't notice. *shifty eyes* At least, it's a plug if you don't have a laptop (like me).

Yeah, that's about it. Happy writing!

I use the computer. It's much faster than handwriting and somehow seems to flow more for me. It's also easier to edit on the computer and the writing is much clearer than my chicken scratch that is barely readable.

teenweirdo wrote:I use the computer. It's much faster than handwriting and somehow seems to flow more for me. It's also easier to edit on the computer and the writing is much clearer than my chicken scratch that is barely readable.

Are you my twin? This is exactly how I feel. I hate that I can't write by hand, but it just doesn't feel right, or come out like I want, when I do hand-write.

~JFW1415

A lined notebook. the type I use at school.

I type it. When I type it, I get it down and out much faster and easier than writing it. Also, the older you get, your hand writing tends to increase, so lets say that you write terribly now, and put it down on paper, you take a break from the idea, but forget about it. A year or two later you come across this, and you can't read it as well, or also, you might lose the notebook or paper. If you type it, save it, and email it to yourself, it won't lose it, and you will read it just fine. Does that make sense?

I usually write all my stories on paper, but this time around I decided to try out the computer. I'm not entirely sure which I like better.

The best thing to do is to keep a notebook with your ideas in there because when you're using a computer you never know whats going to happen. Also a computer is definitely good because its going to have to be typed when or if you what it published.

I'm a notebook and pencil kinda girl...my earlier writing days were filled with lost loose-leaf and half-finished word documents, so my way is the best for me XD. plus it just seems more....personal, if I can use that word.

after that type it as-is onto the computer, print out sections at a time, then edit them. After that I have to re-type. Takes a while, but it seems to work.

I have manila file folders, each labeled with the name of whichever novel I happen to be flogging about at the moment. I write the novel itself on bits and pieces of everything: post-it notes; the backs of old typed pages (love paper too much to waste it); in cheap, one-subject notebooks bought in packs of five from Staples. All of the little scraps and snippets go in the file folder for safe keeping, otherwise I lose theml. I am a firm believer in longhand- it lends a sense of tangibility and action to an otherwise intangible art. I loathe typing, but I make an exception for Microsoft OneNote: handy for keeping track of technology-reliant scraps and snippets.

Type it. And get the scenes that you want to write most out of your head, then the ones that are most vivid and then the rest is up to you.