Writing V.S. Typing

juelz4sure

juelz4sure

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It's been a while since I've been on here so I'm not sure if this has been done before but I'm curious if given a choice on how to work on a W.I.P who would choose typing over writing and why? I'd pick writing, I think its easier to clear my mind. It's hard to explain but paper just feels right...
 
Typing for me. Arthritis in my hands means even I can't read my writing and holding a pen hurts, so has to be typing.

My only wish is that I could actually learn to touch type. I've tried a few teach - yourself courses but maybe I'm too old to learn, or too many bad habits because I never seem to get anywhere.

Repetitive strain from too much typing since March last year means a wrist brace now so not sure how long this can go on. Can't imagine I'd enjoy voice recognition software much and if the tap - tap of the keyboard irritates my family can you imagine how the constant drone of my voice will affect them? Could be divorce!
 
Typing for me. I learned touch typing at school so am pretty quick - about 70wpm. Having said that, sometimes I'll work at small sections or the challenge entries on paper and find it quite freeing.
 
Typing. My handwriting isn't the greatest and I haven't used pen and paper seriously for anything since the sixth grade.


And don't get me started on speaking.

Seriously. Just don't. I am a far better typist than orator.
 
Typing, but not exclusively.

Pen and paper I still use, especially when I get stuck with comedy. The slower process seems to help thinking, and the lack of being on a computer means there are fewer distractions by far.
 
Brian Turner said:
The problem with writing on paper is that it almost certainly needs to be typed up in the end anyway. Better to learn to type well. :)
Click to expand...
Aye.
I used to write with pen & paper exclusively as it seemed to flow out of my head and onto the page better, but I then had to sit and type the thing up anyway! I then taught myself to type at a decent speed and now find that the words flow just as smoothly with a keyboard as they do with a pen. The only benefit with p&p is that you can carry a notepad and jot down ideas and stuff. I know you can do the same thing with iPads and tablets, but maybe I'm Old Skool... ha-ha!
 
Typing I'm afriad jeul,

I learnt how to touch type (by osmosis, or magic from the touch-type fairies that live in the keyboard) from decades of having a PC on a desk in front of me. I can also just about keep up with my fast thoughts with touch-typing, whereas my hands struggle to keep up and tend to make loads of mistakes, so I produce manuscripts that look like a gang of ink-slugs have been all over the page.

In fact on the account I am left-handed, a physicist for part of my life and a Doctor means that my handwriting is appalling*. Whenever I write something down either I have to take days to make it pretty (which dives my fast brain mad - so it usually takes over and ups the speed), or the meaning on the page has a half-life of about 12 hours. After about 36 hours I might as well be trying to read cuneiform.

Someone who can produce a lovely flowing script by hand has my utmost admiration.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* These are my excuses and I'm sticking with them! :D
 
Never liked the idea jot method.


No, I tend to live in my mind more than reality, to be honest, so I've never needed a notepad. One of my major stories came from a dream I had, actually...



I'm actually self-taught to type; and not with the home row method, either. *sigh* Used to hate the whole home row, fingers on the keys at all time thing. Never worked for me.


What I like to do is have my fingers hover above the keys in a certain way; that way every one I need is within quick strike reach. Haven't tested myself on WPM, but, on a good day, I can do pretty well, I think.
 
I find that when I do write things long-hand (as I've done with queries lately) I tend to write shorter sentences. Typing = sprawl, though of course you can always edit afterwards. (However, typing = legible.)
 
juelz4sure said:
would choose typing over writing and why
Click to expand...
  1. EDITING!
  2. Backups
  3. Speed
  4. Sharing to readers
  5. Proof reading on Kindle
  6. Copy and paste new items to separate files (Characters, food, places, technology etc)
  7. Search
  8. Search & Replace to change all occurrences
  9. Cut and paste to rearrange scenes.
  10. Using online translation or collaboration.
Other important aspects:
  1. A decent text editor with powerful search & replace is better than a full wordprocessor (paste to WP to format for readers, agent, publishers, eBooks etc).
  2. Turn off any Autocorrect, spelling and grammar till you have a full draft.
  3. Make sure a good keyboard
  4. Turn on Laptop before breakfast and off as you go to bed.
  5. Make sure you don't need mouse till revising or cut/copy to paste.
  6. Use a laptop with Matt (not shiny) screen, a laptop is it's own UPS, so power glitch isn't a problem
  7. Use a window full height of screen, but NEVER full Screen, only wide enough for paperback amount of text per-line
  8. Only put Enter key once for new paragraph and no indent (Use Wordprocessor style to create desired formats such as indents and wider breaks or double line spacing).
  9. Save regularly
  10. If writing on the move, use Android JotterX or equivalent on phone and USB transfer text file to laptop. Don't use proprietary format or MS Office.
  11. Use a file per scene/chapter till at LEAST first draft complete
  12. use separate files for Characters, food, places, technology etc. (Having a local Wiki is handy)
  13. Make backup to USB stick or other device each day you write
  14. Don't trust Skydrive, Google Docs, Amazon Cloud etc except for an additional backup, They can lose your work, or your internet can be lost or it can be exposed to hackers and public. Also they automatically scan stuff for their own purposes.
  15. have desk at right angles to window and pull curtains.
I only use paper (a notebook) for occasional notes (which are dated and labled with work etc).

Even if you can't type today, two fingers on a DECENT keyboard will be better than handwriting after about a week. Enid Blyton switched to a mechanical typewriter often on her knee on a board to boost output, she was a two finger hunt and peck typist. Asimov also wrote direct on a portable mechanical typewriter. But today you can't beat a decent laptop with matt screen in a location you don't have distractions or interruptions.

Long ago in BBC I had to type reports and logs etc on a mechanical typewriter. Horrible. Been using computer editing seriously since 1981 in work and at home since about 1986. Never learned typing. Even in 1980s my speed was more limited by my thinking speed than by my typing speed. Today I'm only limited by my thinking speed.
 
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Ouch. I don't like you anymore, Springs. 37 wpm and 6 mistakes. o_O

In my defence however - I found it very hard to read and retain the text I was copying so I think my creative typing is probably somewhat quicker. A combination of old-person's eyesight and foggy memory, etc, etc.

I can hear you from here, muttering away to yourself: "Excuses, excuses..."
 
Typing for me, even I can't read my fast handwriting.
 
I type for the most part. I do keep a notepad in my car for my lunch breaks, where I can jot down notes or scenes if I've been working on them during the morning of work. I do write poems on paper as well.

I just gave the type speed a few goes:-
The first one came out at 58 and 5 mistakes.
The second came out at 62 and 5 mistakes.
The third one, just for fun, I had my partner read out to me, and came out at 67 and 5 mistakes.

Was good fun :) I've never done any type speed tests. I have never learnt to touch type, my typing comes just from writing out my stories etc.
 
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