No hate anywhere. Writing by hand is a commited effort. The moment the ink sets, it’s there. No back space to hit and erase whatever you wrote because it doesn’t sound good. You can cross it out but when you go back to read what may have survived you remember what you rejected in the moment and that may actually be useful if tweaked or reviewed.
And writing by hand is useful. It actuates the body. Works it. Develops fine motor skills. It can even let out cues to mental states in how the hand writing comes out. And it is physical. It exists. It is not an ethereal string of bits that may cease to exist if an electrically charged storage medium fails.
This is great advice, but doesn’t work for everyone. I’ve found the snowflake method gives me more motivation.
It works by identifying the core element of the story and expanding with ever more detail. I prefer this method because if you get an idea in your head you can start writing about the most exciting things first. Flush out cool ideas first and it encourages iterative working so even if your first couple passes are garbage (as they will be) you get to refine them as you mull things over in your head.
If you want to write, just write.
Get some paper, a pen, sit your butt down and write.
Don’t use a computer. Not yet. Commit to writing what comes out. Keep the mistakes, the bad spelling, the weird phrasing, everything.
Just let it out.
Then get away. And I do mean away.
Throw it in the corner, maybe behind the cat litter or the dog food or perhaps near the toilet or stand your bed lamp on it.
Let it get cold. Maybe a week.
Then go back, read it and, now, you can you the computer or the cellphone to start cleaning up the thing and improving it.
Why the computer hate?
If I tried to write long form by hand, somewhere around two-thirds down the first page I’d have nothing but illegible chicken scratch.
No hate anywhere. Writing by hand is a commited effort. The moment the ink sets, it’s there. No back space to hit and erase whatever you wrote because it doesn’t sound good. You can cross it out but when you go back to read what may have survived you remember what you rejected in the moment and that may actually be useful if tweaked or reviewed.
And writing by hand is useful. It actuates the body. Works it. Develops fine motor skills. It can even let out cues to mental states in how the hand writing comes out. And it is physical. It exists. It is not an ethereal string of bits that may cease to exist if an electrically charged storage medium fails.
This is great advice, but doesn’t work for everyone. I’ve found the snowflake method gives me more motivation.
It works by identifying the core element of the story and expanding with ever more detail. I prefer this method because if you get an idea in your head you can start writing about the most exciting things first. Flush out cool ideas first and it encourages iterative working so even if your first couple passes are garbage (as they will be) you get to refine them as you mull things over in your head.
https://www.advancedfictionwriting.com/articles/snowflake-method/
And is it not good that it does not? Serves to show that creativity is a unique process to each individual. If it works, that is what it matters.