Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Benefits of writing by hand

Any of us that have computers and use them frequently have this issue. Pencil (pen) and paper just isn't fast enough. I can type quite a bit faster than I can write. Almost at the speed of my thoughts. Pencil and paper just takes TOOO LOOONG!

But wait a minute. Maybe I'm hurting myself in this process. Good writing isn't a "from the mind to the page" perfect art form! It takes time, patience, thinking and re-thinking to do right. For many years now I've been outlining on paper then drafting on the computer. This time, as I was rewriting my first chapter, I wrote everything.

What I found astonished me. Continuity errors. Gaps in logic. Character miscues. Subtle mistakes that good agents and editors would have found on a skim through but because I KNEW my material, I didn't see it. But writing by hand made me stop longer and think longer about what I was saying.

I hate the idea of physically re-writing my entire novel. Even worse, typing it in again. But seriously, if this is going to be what it takes to make a good novel great, I need to do that. Good thing I'm not afraid of hard work!

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