does it make a big huge difference if you use a computer or write w/ pen on paper?

like, do you feel using one rather than the other will somehow affect your writing in a way you might not want it to?

I prefer using pen and paper. I can write faster on the computer, but I feel that physically writing is more effective...like it can express emotion better somehow. I rarely write anything very seriously though...and for school papers I just don't give a shit how good or bad they are. I think type is cold.

i use a typewriter : oldschool:

i like to pen and paper. it feels right.

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it depends. i write essays/college papers on the computer. but i keep a diary/notebook where i write all the other stuff that's in my mind and i want to write.

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then she dances skirt swaying in the half-light she dances white blossom in the black sky
'I need new clothes', she thinks, 'new skin, a mind I can bear to live in'.

pen and paper feels more....personal.
i hate writing personal things on the comp.

poetry/lyrics: pen and paper
prosa: pc

it does make a difference; at least for me.

Your body remembers where you write. If you associate your computer with writing essays for school or columnist-y rants on message boards, or even just whatever your epistolary identity is in emails, you will write with that same argumentative linearity on the computer. It's hard to break this.

Writing by hand also doesn't obey the box- your eye strays around the page, and your mind treats letters not as mass-produced objects. You can get over this if you pay attention bodily to what you're typing, but I still say it's different. Joan Didion once said that writing a book on the computer is more like sculpting than the mad sense of invention that comes from doing it by hand or typewriter. I agree.

I suggest writing by hand to produce brainstorms and totemic material, i.e. the raw meat and inspiration of what you need. Then refine on the computer so you aren't subjectivized by your handwriting.

Manual typewriter pages then edited by hand are a great way to meet the two aesthetics halfway. I love the way a type-written draft looks, covered with penmarks and revisions.

I want a typewriter.

I know it can emote on paper, but the keyboard works wonders for me in different ways.

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WE MADE BROWNIES. I THINK WE'RE DEAD.

I prefer pen and paper. But unless it's journal type stuff, I make myself use the computer, because otherwise, I will never transcribe notebooks full of stuff onto the computer to do anything with. It took a while to get used to, sitting at the comp makes me feel trapped and edgy, but I have realized that because my mind is usually way ahead of my writing speed, at least typing helps keep up a little, and I can still scrawl future ideas on a notepad next to me.

EVERYTHING I write is put diwn on paper first, including the wonderful 4000 word essays, its a bitch to type up afterwards but thats when you make big grammar or structural changes. I just can't think logically enough when I type...nothing comes, with a pen its just flows naturally. I even hand write emails then I type them up and send them...unless its really trivial.

That's an interesting question. I think my style varies depending on how it's written. On a computer I think I'm more stream of consciousness and experimental - I feel more free, and more able to write obscenity(!) but with a pen in my hand I feel there has to be something respectable, I feel more guarded, and my thoughts sometimes get ahead of my hand.
My more thought-out, emotional stuff comes out in my physical writing, but I prefer what I type, because I think it's more me.
I always think that when I finally get a laptop, "the novel" will just jump out of my fingertips.

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computer as i like to polish as i go, else i read back and think it's just too shit.

poems pen and notebook. polish later. no idea why.

my question is does it make a big difference if you use cigs coffee booze drugs?

I like the feeling of writing, but to be honest I think I tend to write better when I`m using the computer.

Anything but the computer fucking sucks.

Pen and paper drives me crazy. I end up with most of the page scribbled out and it takes forever. I like to mess around with each line as I go and it's hard to do that without a delete button.

Typewriters are also torture. I tried using one and the novelty ran out within ten seconds. It's still too slow and each word you put down on paper is like a commitment. Corrections are a drag.

you mean while you're writing?

cigarettes i suppose could make for a nice reason to take a break and gather your thoughts.

coffee is good to stay alert and on the ball.

booze & drugs i've heard are quite beneficial but i suppose it depends what exactly you're writing, i don't know as i don't really dabble in either.

and, I agree that pen & paper is the best way to write personal things. unfortunately, i can only write about two sentences with a pen before my wrist feels like it's going to explode.

Usually I write via pen and paper because that way makes me feel more creative, but i think i prefer using the computer. Only because I'm faster at typing and I can get more of what I want to say out in the open.

I prefer to write (lyrics and poetry) with a fag in hand, sober and on paper.

But essays are done on computers for speed (and the fact that I may need to research or spell check something)

xxx

I can type really really fast, but I am so slow at writing, mostly because my handwriting is really neat, but only when I write slow.

I haven't hand written much at all in the past couple of years; I have planned for essays by hand, but ultimately, it all gets done on the computer.

However, I completely agree with what Ella Luciana said, I always feel more guarded when writing by hand, as though I know I can't iradicate any mistake I can make like you can on a computer. I have really weird writing habits that I have had since I was young.

But overall, I use the computer when I need something written fast, and handwritten for more personal things.

For essays I tend to plan them on paper then type them on the computer.

With everything else I prefer to write it by hand first. It's to easy to delete and retype stuff on the computer, so I tend to end up overanalysing every word and deleting everything and trying to make it perfect in the first draft, so I rarely get past the first sentence. Whereas on paper at least I can get to the end of what I'm trying to write, then go back and edit.