# Change to paper



## Miskatonic (Jun 23, 2015)

Been stuck trying to get started writing what I'm currently wanting to work on. For awhile I couldn't figure out what was keeping me from just getting it done. I finally realized that using my laptop (or any computer) to type was introducing way too many distractions, especially from web surfing. I've decided to put the laptop away, get out a blank notebook and just do it the old fashion way. I can just type it up later. 

No distractions. Give it a shot if you are having trouble with just sitting down and banging out a few pages.


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## Legendary Sidekick (Jun 23, 2015)

It really does help. You're not the first here to do this, and those who have so far have reported the benefit.

I decided I want to combine story and art. I can draw on my tablet, but if I draw on paper and color on my tablet, I'm far more productive. I'm learning to use soft brushes, which allows me to color without zooming way in. That also helps productivity—learning not to be such a perfectionist. Hopefully, I'll remember that when I get to the editing phase so I can actually complete an episode.


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## evolution_rex (Jun 23, 2015)

I avoided writing on paper for the longest time, mainly because I have terrible handwriting. But I began jodding notes for my stories while I was busy doing other stuff, sort of like how people doodle while doing their homework. I realized that I got more done then than on my free time, and so I started doing it by hand, adding more detail and revising it on my laptop.


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## skip.knox (Jun 23, 2015)

Another vote for writing by hand. I also find I make more progress, in part because it's too damned hard to go back and edit. I just keep going forward. And, as the OP said, it's so convenient to carry a little physical notebook around with me all the time.

A word of caution:  make it *one* notebook. I've complicated my life by having multiple notebooks.

You might consider writing in the date of each entry. I have found it mildly interesting, though never actually useful, to look back and see when (and where, if in a different city) I was writing. It's the historian in me, I suppose.


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## Saigonnus (Jun 23, 2015)

I just can't use paper anymore. I have carpel tunnel and writing for any length of time gives me cramps and pain beyond anything most people have ever experienced. I think even if I didn't, I would still use my devices for writing.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Trick (Jun 23, 2015)

I've never changed from paper. I write almost everything by hand with the exception of a couple short stories. I am a terrible typist and I use Dragon to dictate my stuff into Word. Writing on paper helps my creative juices flow and keeps me away from the distractions of the interwebs.


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## Miskatonic (Jun 24, 2015)

Trick said:


> I've never changed from paper. I write almost everything by hand with the exception of a couple short stories. I am a terrible typist and I use Dragon to dictate my stuff into Word. Writing on paper helps my creative juices flow and keeps me away from the distractions of the interwebs.



I had Dragon a loooong time ago, maybe a decade ago, but I just haven't got over the hearing the sound of my own voice constantly issue. I start to talk and in a few seconds it's "Uhhh...hmm...uhhh" and then stop the recorder.


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## Gryphos (Jun 24, 2015)

I'd never be able to do anything by hand. My handwriting sucks major dick and I' wouldn't be able to deal with the hand cramp or the slow rate of writing. Also, my writing tends to be quite spontaneous in that I don't exactly plan how a scene is going to go before I write it. A lot of the time I'll get half way through a scene and decide I want to go an entirely different direction and start over. So I think I'm better suited to the good new fashioned way.


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## Trick (Jun 24, 2015)

Miskatonic said:


> I had Dragon a loooong time ago, maybe a decade ago, but I just haven't got over the hearing the sound of my own voice constantly issue. I start to talk and in a few seconds it's "Uhhh...hmm...uhhh" and then stop the recorder.



I probably should have used a different word than dictate. I read what I have hand-written into Word. I don't think I could just dictate my book into Dragon, for the same reasons.


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## evolution_rex (Jun 24, 2015)

Gryphos said:


> I'd never be able to do anything by hand. My handwriting sucks major dick and I' wouldn't be able to deal with the hand cramp or the slow rate of writing. Also, my writing tends to be quite spontaneous in that I don't exactly plan how a scene is going to go before I write it. A lot of the time I'll get half way through a scene and decide I want to go an entirely different direction and start over. So I think I'm better suited to the good new fashioned way.


Spontaneous in this case is a good thing, in my opinion. If I type it, I end up overthinking it. Writing by hand sort of forces me to just do it, and the result is a very honest, directly-from-the-mind style which I can then tweak later.


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## Caged Maiden (Jun 24, 2015)

I wrote ten novels by hand.  Of course that was all before I learned a thing about editing or you know...writing in general.  HA!

I'm a fan of paper and pen.  I think it really got me writing and kept me writing.  If I'd started with a computer, I'd have never done any of that.  Now that I've learned to write, though, I'm all about my laptop.  But it's a different game at this point.  I'm glad I started where I did, because otherwise I would have quit.


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