: Re: How do you decide whether to dictate, type out or hand-write a piece of writing? How do you decide whether to dictate, type out or hand-write a piece of writing? I have always had a minor

@YK4692630

Vote Up Vote Down

I oscillate between handwriting and typing. I find handwriting preferable for first drafts or for getting ideas out, as I can simply scribble on the nearest piece of paper or notebook, have arrows going everywhere - it's beautifully unstructured. I like it for first drafts as well for the same reason as Steven - it slows down my thought processes, which I find gives me greater insight to the scene I'm writing. Not to mention, there's just something organic about the scratching of pen on paper. It's definitely messy, though, and my pages are always full of scratched out sentences, inserted text and arrows everywhere.

However, if I already have a scene in mind and I know pretty much where I want to go, I will type it out. It's faster and I can get feedback more quickly and easily. I also use it when I want to braindump in a stream-of-consciousness fashion. Again, fast and easy to keep up with everything I'm thinking, though you end up with a huge block of text.

I've never dictated because I find it more distracting when it gets scattered words wrong. If we talk about just recording yourself speaking, I can't do that either as I need a visual medium in order to think properly.

As always, your mileage may vary.

(0)

Login to post a comment!