# Long hand or short hand?



## Vore Writer (Nov 30, 2007)

Long hand-pen and/or pencil and paper.
Short hand-computer and/or typewriter.

Of course comes the question: Do you write your first draft by long hand or short hand?

Long hand for me. I got too distracted whenever I used the computer, and when you're writing, that's the last thing you want to deal with. I finished a lot of stories, both vorish and non-vorish, by using pencil and paper. It'll also kind of explain my user title.


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## TakeWalker (Nov 30, 2007)

I hate the physical act of writing. I'm computerized all the way anymore.

Of course, if the muse hits afk, I've no choice but to pick up the ol' pencil. And a handwritten first draft is useful, because it all but forces me to rewrite everything when converting to the digital format. But still, I'd rather use keys.  They hurt less over a long stretch of time.


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## ShÃ nwÃ ng (Nov 30, 2007)

I've got a notebook around with me for whenever I might have the creative idea. However, I do most of my writing short hand.


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## Kumiko_Fox (Nov 30, 2007)

I do both, but I only do long hand when I'm at school during study hall and my MacBook Pro has run out of battery, which happened today.  So I completed my latest short story first using pencil and paper and then typed it up once I got home and submitted it to FA.  Although the vast majority of the time I just type it, I hide all my other applications and just have textedit up and just wright without the distractions that the internet provides, although sometimes I listen to music while I write.


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## M. LeRenard (Nov 30, 2007)

Computer all the way.  You don't have to retype it when you're done, you can make as many copies as you'd like in no time at all, you don't have to keep track of hundreds of pieces of paper....  Just seems the easier way to do things.
Although it is a bit easier to get distracted on the computer.  I just unplug the internet and make the document full screen.  It's like typing on a word-processor that way.  Or I just let myself get distracted and work real slow.
I haven't done long-hand in a long time.  Not since I got my laptop, anyway.


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## Xipoid (Dec 1, 2007)

Short hand. I've always been told my penmanship is dauntingly difficult to decipher. In addition, computers are so much more convenient.

Though a bit astray, I do wish to partake in calligraphy someday. (Call me traditionalist, but it goes well with wax sealed parchment)


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## Rilvor (Dec 1, 2007)

It depends on my location. If I'm not near a computer I write it down.


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## TheGru (Dec 1, 2007)

I'm a short hand writer. Long hand is murder on my inspiration for some reason so I only use it for notes to my stories that I'll need, or for when I'm in between class and have an idea I MUST jot down.


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## Damaratus (Dec 1, 2007)

If I'm of a calm enough mind I'll long hand for a little while, but my mind often moves faster than my hand can write and I end up with amalgamated words like "withe" (with + the) or the accidental tacking on of extra letters at the end of one word because it is the start of the next.

At least when I'm using the computer I can mostly keep up with thins, and as a bonus I can always hit backspace to fix an error while on paper I'm stuck having to cross the word out and waste precious space.


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## TakeWalker (Dec 1, 2007)

Damaratus said:
			
		

> If I'm of a calm enough mind I'll long hand for a little while, but my mind often moves faster than my hand can write and I end up with amalgamated words like "withe" (with + the) or the accidental tacking on of extra letters at the end of one word because it is the start of the next.
> 
> At least when I'm using the computer I can mostly keep up with thins, and as a bonus I can always hit backspace to fix an error while on paper I'm stuck having to cross the word out and waste precious space.



Oh yes, add this to my list of reasons for detesting longhand (as defined by the OP). My mind moves much faster than my stupid hands can follow.

And why _can't_ "withe" be a legitimate portmanteau? D: I certainly use it enough in my writing!


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## Vore Writer (Dec 1, 2007)

Luckily I don't really deal with that issue a whole lot. There's times I do, mainly when I'm writing up a storm, but I manage to slow my mind down.


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## Keaalu (Dec 1, 2007)

It has to be the computer. I can't get a sentence down without rewriting it half a dozen ways until I'm happy, which means my longhand writings are horrible and convoluted and full of arrows and crossings-out. I've already re-written this paragraph alone about three times, adding words here and there... 

Mind you, I used to do ALL my writing longhand - in lined notebooks, each of which contained pages of utter drivel. Â¬_Â¬ Bah.


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## Le_DÃ©mon_Sans_Visage (Dec 1, 2007)

Shorthand, plus tons of little comic book style doodles. I can get stuff down faster written than typed for some reason, even tho I type reasonably fast (60 wpm).


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## Molotov (Dec 2, 2007)

Heh, long-hand for me. I am easily distracted on the computer. When I've written the draft and the final (on paper), then I post 'em on the computer.


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## Adelio Altomar (Dec 2, 2007)

I do a combonation of both. The speed of how fast I write varies, depending on what I'm writing about or how interesting the story is to me as well if I'm typing or writing. However, I prefer short-hand since I despise my handwriting. 

Here's a sample of me writing in French.

And here's the first page from a romance/yiffy story that is still on-hold.

Imagine having to look at this everyday as your own handwriting!

People don't realize that it gets old after so long, even if it is pretty-- or so they say...


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## Poetigress (Dec 2, 2007)

My first drafts are always in longhand.  Somehow it's always seemed purer and more physical to me to actually put pen to paper, and I don't like having a computer humming at me and making me feel like I have to be productive.  There's also the fear, for me, that having something typed makes it look too "finished" when it really isn't.  And finally, I've never gotten an error message from a piece of paper.  

The downside is having to type the draft, of course, but there's actually a hidden advantage to that for me.  I generally fight revising and rewriting, but I can trick myself into doing it as I type up the handwritten draft.  >^_^<


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## Rilvor (Dec 2, 2007)

*pokes Poetigress* I see you've joined the forums  I really need to take up that offer to participate in the Thursday prompt sometime....


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## Mameoyashi (Dec 2, 2007)

It always makes me happy to write long hand. In hte end it just feels better. Even if I have to re-type it later (or not depending on what I wrote). Besides, I almost always have pen and paper of some sort handy, a word document...not so much. 

Like Poetigress says too, you never get an error message from a piece of paper. And I've lost so many files to the blue screen of death or other problems it makes me sad to think about.

That being said though...while I prefer long hand, I do type first drafts in short hand as well quite a bit too. So in the end in theory long hand in practice both.


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## Le_DÃ©mon_Sans_Visage (Dec 2, 2007)

*waves at Poetigress*


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## Kindar (Dec 2, 2007)

I've tried to use long hand, but 90% of the time in trying to keep up with my mind, I can't read what it is I've writen down, so it's pretty much a waste of time.

I carry my laptop pretty much every where I go so it's no problem simply typing when I feel the need to


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## M. LeRenard (Dec 2, 2007)

> And finally, I've never gotten an error message from a piece of paper.


That's why I turned off all of the error messages, and everything related to autocorrect.  They are very distracting.  And the grammar check is wrong about 98% of the time.

How come no one uses typewriters anymore?


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## Poetigress (Dec 2, 2007)

M. Le Renard said:
			
		

> How come no one uses typewriters anymore?



I have a manual Smith-Corona Skyriter (the spelling may be wrong, it's too far back in my closet to check)   that I bought for fun off eBay.  Circa 1940s, I think.  Very tough on the hands, though -- after getting used to a computer keyboard, it takes a lot more force than you'd expect to get that little hammer thingy up to the ribbon.

Besides, there's always the AlphaSmart Neo, which is kind of a cross between a typewriter and word processor... sort of...


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## Kemmy (Dec 2, 2007)

Longhand all the way, I'm a bit of a purest in that sense, I much more prefer the feel of a pen/pencil in my hand and hearing the _scritchscritchscritch_ of the pen/pencil on the paper. It allows for me to go through and edit/proof-read what I've written, then when I type it up, add/edit any details I want.


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## DerDoberman (Dec 3, 2007)

I normally start stories in longhand while in class (my econ notebooks are full of little snippets that I'd never want anyone I know seeing), and then eventually move the story to the computer, often when it's 1/2 or 1/3 done or something. I rarely ever finish stories longhand, which can be a downfall because I, like so many other people have expressed in this thread, have difficulty getting myself to sit down to revise my work.


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## Kindar (Dec 3, 2007)

M. Le Renard said:
			
		

> > And finally, I've never gotten an error message from a piece of paper.
> 
> 
> That's why I turned off all of the error messages, and everything related to autocorrect.  They are very distracting.  And the grammar check is wrong about 98% of the time.
> ...



I like the word check function, I like knowing what words I've mistypes off the bat instead of having to deal with them during the second read. I also use it to learn how to spell properly since I'll do my best to correct it myself before checking the list of suggestions. that's how I learned that "Calm" was not spelled "coam".


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## lobosabio (Dec 5, 2007)

For me, it depends on the situation.  If I have my laptop with me, I'll type it up.  If I don't, I'll pull out my notebook and write it out.  Then, later, I'll transcribe it.


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## Horrorshow (Dec 5, 2007)

My hands are actually quite long...


But srsly, I can't write as fast as I can type, so I stick to my guns on short-hand, when given the opportunity.
Otherwise anything more than a paragraph or so looks like absolute shit, due to me not caring about neatness, but rather getting something done.


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