Writing in longhand -v- writing to laptop Part 2

My muse!

 Recently I posted about writing a story in longhand and what I had learned. I didn't expect to write a second part. Then again one never stops learning in this writing business. My experiences will always be a bit different from your own because we are unique and what works for one doesn't necessarily work for another.

Having finished writing the story totally in longhand, I knew I would have to type it up, and immediately I realised why I stopped writing in longhand. I hate having to type it up! In my world, that meant hours of trying to make sense of my scrawl, and I considered this a waste of time. Time I could be writing something else straight to laptop. Still, it had to be done. I left it a while as the thought of having to copy type (something I've never been great at) was daunting.

I was given two conflicting pieces of advice by members of my writing group on this, which made me laugh. One person said don't edit it as you type. The other person said the opposite. I am with the latter. I always edit as I go. Just tweaks. Nothing major. Generally, I read back what I've written before I start writing again, and I might make a few tweaks, but nothing major. I tend to go with the flow and write at break-neck speed and then have to go back and fill out the bits I skipped over when the whole thing is written. I'd call this method writing the bones of a story.

Typing up this story felt like a slog. I kept looking at how many pages I still had to decipher and sighed. Editing was done lightly, though. Written in a stream of consciousness at the time, I found errors even though I had read the last bits back. Mostly, they were missing words my brain had automatically put in. In the end, it took me four or five sessions to get it all typed up. I had two major sessions transcribing it and finally it was done.

I write in longhand like I type - fast. There were parts that didn't quite make sense, parts that I really loved and others that needed a lot of editing. It ended up as over 13,000 words, around 42 pages of A4. I was chuffed I'd actually written that much by hand.

The last time I wrote something as long was one summer when I spent all the time in the garden scribbling away and for the first time I set a story not in the UK. I wrote it as a non-linear novella. I really liked that until I typed it up and read it back, and I wasn't sure it worked. It's still sitting on my laptop, and one day I will have to go back to it and see if I can save it. I still like the story, but I think it will confuse the reader. All the scenes are individual and, as I said, not in chronological order. I've read novellas written this way, and this was my first experiment with this method. However, it needs a lot of work on the structure.

Having written both ways (I began writing in exercise books in the early days) would I do it again? Well, I'd say it has its uses. At the time, I was about to go on holiday, and writing by hand was easier, and I rather looked forward to my little writing sessions. A notebook is certainly more portable than having to take a laptop out with you. Mine isn't the smallest. It takes up a lot of space on a table when there are several of us using laptops.

I certainly wouldn't make a regular habit of writing by hand. The quality and way I write is about the same. The mistakes are the same too! When I meet up with the writing group to write, I always write by hand. The immediacy of free writing by hand is quite liberating. 

This piece of longhand began as a scribbled opening on A4 printer paper as I had no time to type it, and then I decided to carry on doing it this way. It was convenient while I away from home, and I continued and experimented with writing in a cafe to finish it. Now and then it is good to try new things in writing. If I'm in the zone I can block out the noise around me. At home I use earphones and listen to music while I type, but I've realised I can be quite versatile in the way I work, and that's good. I didn't want to become one of those writers who had to have the right surroundings in which to write. Years ago as a teenager I wrote in my bedroom, sitting on the bed or floor (no desk) and later I wrote on a laptop on the dining table (this is where the earphones came in as the TV might have been on at the other end of the room). Now I have my own room in which to write, with a little drop-down desk I bought for my son when he was working from home during covid. You certainly don't need a room of your own (though it is very nice, and I love it).

I'd say go and experiment and write in different places both in longhand and straight to laptop. This experiment taught me something. That it is a freer way of working, and I still hate typing up my own work!

Aside from this, dog walking has improved my ideas. The experience of dog walking has resulted in a poem about it, which came to me the other day when walking Rue. It seems he is my muse!