I am so weary of this winter and you are probably weary of me complaining about it. Sorry. We are in the midst of a major winter storm and will have 12-15 inches (30-38 cm) of fresh snow by noon tomorrow. This on top of the snow that has been piling up all winter. It is getting really hard to shovel the sidewalk when the piles of snow I have to shovel the sidewalk snow onto are nearly chest high. Granted, I am short, but I am not that short! At least I don’t have to fling the snow over my head, yet.
Yesterday I got home and sat down to blog and realized I hadn’t thought of anything to blog about. I stared at my computer screen for about ten minutes and no ideas came to mind so I gave up. I would have given up today too if I hadn’t come across an interesting article.
Booklist has a wonderful article with short short essays by writers who write their novels longhand and why. You all have probably figured out by now I have a fondness for writing by hand so you won’t be surprised over how much I loved this article.
It is interesting that author after author remarks how they like writing by hand because it forces them to slow down, to consider their words more carefully. Several also comment how writing longhand in a notebook removes all the distractions of writing on a computer. There is no temptation to check email, Twitter, news headlines. One writer mentions the “quietness of paper” and how intimate it is to write a novel in a notebook.
A number of writers note how sensual writing by hand is. Most of them mention their favorite kind of notebook and pens and pencils. A few talk a little about their methods like draft on verso, revisions and corrections on recto.
I find writers writing longhand and talking about it a fascinating topic. Thirty years ago most writers wrote by hand or on a typewriter and the few who wrote on a computer were unusual. These days it is assumed everyone writes on a computer and those who don’t are the odd ones. How times change. At least one writer (Joe Hill) thinks that when he writes by hand he produces a different piece of fiction than when he writes on a computer — shorter stories that move faster and with not as much ornament. I wonder if any of the other writers feel that way? I’d be really interested to hear more about that.
That’s interesting. Of course, I’ve noticed that when I scribble blog posts in my diary rather than type them up, I end up with more honest posts that require minimal edits and rewrites.
But writing a whole book longhand is a lot of work (especially chunksters).
LikeLike
Nish, I couldn’t afford a computer when I first went to college and the computer labs were small and always full so I spent several years writing all my 10-20 page essays by hand and then typing them. I’d revise and edit as I typed and it was pretty efficient because, as you find when you write you blog posts out by hand, I’d usually end up with minimal edits and rewrites. But, yeah, can’t imagine writing a novel by hand.
LikeLike
@stefanie: same here too. But now, I am so out of the habit of writing by hand😦
LikeLike
I was wondering if you wrote this blog post in longhand first then typed it up?
Stephanie, I have not noticed you complaining about the weather/snow.
I agree, where do you put all the snow?? Ours is getting quite high but we currently have a warming trend so we are getting more room in the event we do get more snow – which I really think WILL happen.
LikeLike
Helen, nope, I write my blog posts on my computer first as a text file and the I copy it into WordPress and make finals edits before posting. That’s the simple version of my process anyway! Thanks for not noticing how much I have complained about the weather!🙂 Enjoy you warming trend. We had two days earlier in the week above freezing but we are plunging back to subzero in the next few days. Sigh.
LikeLike
This is embarrassing because I’ve forgotten his name, but one of the early American IT academics (can’t think of a better way to describe him) apparently insisted that his students hand in their assignments handwritten because he apparently felt that the essays were better planned. As I recollect – it was something to do with overuse of cutting and pasting.
And I did laugh at your opening comments re winter. I was having coffee with a friend this am, sitting outside in lovely 25°C temps, and we were both bemoaning the winter that’s to come. A lot of our friends don’t like the heat but she and I do.
LikeLike
whisperinggums, what an interesting story about the IT academic! Cutting and pasting can come in handy sometimes but if you aren’t careful it can definitely get you into trouble. And then there is spellcheck! It really makes me lazy sometimes always to my regret.
Oh, 25C sounds heavenly! That is a nearly perfect temperature in my opinion. Enjoy your warmth and think of me shivering and shoveling snow🙂
LikeLike
Yes, I think 24-26°C is bliss. Today it’s going to be 27°C and our niece is getting married. Should be great.
I think his point about cutting amend pasting was also something about planning. He seemed to feel students didn’t plan or structure their essays as carefully
LikeLike
I hope the wedding went well!
Ah yes, planning. It’s all well and good to cut paste if your essay has a structure otherwise it is just a horrible mess!
LikeLike
It did … A lovely family affair with several young children who all behaved beautifully, though I suspect it was work for the parents.
LikeLike
When I lived in Marshfield, MA, I remember seeing piles of snow in the town shopping mall, left from plowing the previous winter, still melting away in June or July!
I write better when I use my computer. My handwriting has declined, I think faster than I write, and I have arthritis in my hands, so writing by hand is painful. I use a fountain pen or a felt tip pen when I write by hand. That keeps me from pressing too hard and reduces the pain in my hands.
Thank you for the tip about Goulet’s pens. I just got two bottle of ink from them, De Atramentis Pine Green (gorgeous!) and Sapphire Blue, which I haven’t tried yet. I plan to buy another fountain pen from them today.
LikeLike
Joan, heh, yup, some huge mall parking lot usually has a big plowed up pile of snow that lasts well into June.
I understand how writing on the computer is easier for you. I am glad you are still able to enjoy writing with a felt tip or fountain pen. And yay for new ink! I love De Artamentis ink. I have a bottle of “Jane Austen.” Their inks flow so nicely and are the easiest to clean out of my pen of any ink I’ve used. Pine green and sapphire blue both look beautiful. You make me want to go ink shopping now! What fountain pen are you going to buy?
LikeLike
The Monteverde Invincia Deluxe Fountain Pen – Nighthawk. They’re discontinuing it, so I ordered it yesterday. It’s carbon fiber, so I’m guessing it’s a light weight pen and should be easy to hold. I also like the brown and black color.
LikeLike
Oh, so jealous! I hope you enjoy the new pen!
LikeLike
I have always thought way faster than I can write, so as soon as I could teach myself to type on my father’s manual typewriter (a Royal), I was off and never looked back. My handwriting is part cursive and part print, not very legible, and seldom seen.
LikeLike
Jeanne, I completely understand! Very often when I am writing I start off slowly and my handwriting looks great and then my thoughts get going and my hand can’t keep up and things on the paper start looking rather messy. My mom had a huge Selectric typewriter when I was a kid and it was so loud and so fast it terrified me to use for a good many years!
LikeLike
Cursive writing is has been eliminated from many schools, and emphasis is now placed on keyboarding. The benefits of cursive writing, however, have to do with much more than manipulative skills and involve the thought process and creativity. I can see that some authors would love the process and benefit from the slower, but more…intense?…method.
http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2013/04/30/should-schools-require-children-to-learn-cursive/the-benefits-of-cursive-go-beyond-writing
LikeLike
Jenclair, it is to bad most schools don’t teach cursive any longer though there are a handful of states that still require schools to do so. I would think that composing a novel by hand could be more intense in some ways. It seems a person would be more connected with the work, more intimate with it as one of the authors mentions.
LikeLike
I love writing by hand but because of back and neck problems I have to use a computer. When I was doing academic writing I would always plan by hand and then write on line which seemed to be a nice compromise.
LikeLike
Alex, that’s to bad you are prevented by back and neck problems to write by hand. It does sound like you have found a good compromise though!
LikeLike
I think I’m repeating myself, but when I was working on study support, it certainly helped students to handwrite rather than use the computer. They had more flowing sentences and better grammar. That cut and paste function can do dreadful things to essays, that’s for sure. Julian Barnes is someone who handwrites his novels, and does so in different colours – I presume to indicate changes and so on. If he does it, then I’m sold on it as a good idea!
LikeLike
Litlove, I think you may have mentioned that before but it bears repeating🙂 What an interesting method Barnes employs! I would love to see his colorful manuscripts!
LikeLike
I hate those days where I look blankly at the computer screen and wonder what to chat about too! You always find the most interesting articles to talk about, though! I came across an interesting sounding book at work as I was placing orders–have you already heard of Philip Hensher’s The Missing Ink–The Lost Art of Handwriting? I have a sinking suspicion you have already written about it–now I will get to look at it close up since my library is getting a copy!
LikeLike
Danielle, Glad you like the articles I find! Oh yes, The Missing Ink, I read it last year. It’s a fun book, not spectacular, but enjoyable nonetheless.
LikeLike
For a while there I actually thought about typing my journal entries and then pasting them in a journal. I did that for some weeks but couldn’t go on. It is so wonderful to take the time and just write. I have bookmarked the article because I can’t wait to read about favorite pens and such!
LikeLike
Iliana, there seems to be something against the grain typing and then pasting your writing into a journal. Though I could see you doing some interesting collage type stuff with it! I hope you enjoy the article🙂
LikeLike
Yes, I definitely prefer to write longhand. I have to slow down and consider what I’m writing. Most fleeting ideas that I can easily capture as they come when I’m typing are sorted out later. But when it takes more time to write, the fleeting, silly, meaningless things disappear and fly away, and only the pretty things stay. The things I remember at the end of one sentence, if writing by hand, are typically far more worthy of the next sentence than when I let all the thoughts tumble out on the page when typing. It’s interesting. I do type the final drafts, but I prefer longhand and dictation via Dragon (so I can read it aloud as I create the final) over typing.
LikeLike
Pingback: Writing Your Novel in Longhand — Bound and Determined