Is Writing by Hand Better Than Typing up Your Novel?
One of the things that I love about writing is that there are so many options when it comes to what you use to write with. Some people love to go with the traditional pen and paper, while others like to use an electronic device. Some people like to record themselves narrating their book, and let a program translate that into writing. With so many options, it can be hard to decide what to use. I’ve been asked a few times what’s better, or what would be more efficient. I think it depends on each person. I do a bit of both. I am faster with a keyboard, but I like the feeling of writing things by hand. What works best for me is doing the writing for the novel itself on my computer, while taking some notes physically with pen and paper. I even have a map of the star system that I’ve made for my own reference for The Vision of Light Series.
From a publishing standpoint, a lot of places don’t want a mailed in manuscript anymore, so it seems like you would have to type it up later after you’ve written it by hand if that’s the route that you want to take. I know some authors don’t mind this. I think it’s best to experiment and find what flows the easiest for you. Writing a novel takes time, and it’s best to make the process easier where you can.
While I’m not that great at drawing, I think it’s fun to make up maps of things to visualize things better. That along with physical notes and charts that I’ve done has made my writing process go smoother. I’ve even done this for layouts of ships that my characters didn’t have for long. I don’t have any experience with recording myself narrating my writing, but I know that for some this works really well. Some people say that it is faster than typing!
If you like to mostly type up your novels like I do, you come to find that there are many different programs and ways that you could do that with. You could even write your novels on your phone if you really wanted to! With Bluetooth things have never been easier for setting up a smaller workstation with a wireless keyboard and mouse. I have a smaller workstation for when I want to write on the go, and it’s amazing how portable it is.
The programs that I like to use for writing are Scrivener and Microsoft Word. I use Scrivener to write the novel, then I use Microsoft Word to make a final draft that’s edited and formatted correctly. I like Scrivener better myself because you can set up different folders and pages that help keep things more organized. I like to use the split view function, where I can see two pages at once. One has what I’m currently working on, where the other one either has the previous chapter or the page of a character that I’m writing about. I also like that Scrivener has word count goals, as that helps me see how far along I am in writing a chapter. Microsoft Word gives me a bigger picture of things in a way, and helps me to see what needs to be done for the novel to reach its finalized state.
If you’re unsure of how you want to go about writing, I would keep experimenting until you find what works for you.
