You can write only with your brain; but whether to process your thoughts with a computer or pen and paper is your first practical choice as a writer. I suppose it is still possible to ignore the computer and write just with pencil and paper. A surprising number of writers, including Martin Amis, A. S. Byatt, Ted Hughes, John Irving, Joyce Carol Oates, Susan Sontag, John Updike, and Edmund White prefer longhand for serious writing. But the advantages of the computer are so great that it seems almost irresponsible to pass them up. A computer greatly accelerates editing procedures, allowing you to take a piece through far more drafts than you could otherwise. On-screen correction is so easy that people of all ages find the process relaxing, even pleasurable. Computers give a sense of freedom from lasting error that no one who has experienced it will want to give up. I shall never forget the excitement I felt, twenty-five years ago, when I discovered that words had ceased to be indelible. So in this book I shall take for granted that you will probably use a computer for some, if not all, the processes of writing.
Many people use a computer throughout, and never feel the need to print out hard copy. Mathematicians, in particular, produce papers and even books entirely onscreen. In principle, it is possible to write and publish electronically, without ever lifting pen or pencil. For some, however, especially those engaged in literary work, this may not always be the way to get the most out of the computer.
Computers of the present generation have certain limitations, arising from the screen display, which for some people tend to complicate the process of writing long pieces. Even with the best flat-screen monitor you can’t comfortably read long texts. And you can’t actively browse with any clear sense of where you are in the text.
Good writing depends on extensive reading, not only previous reading of other works but also frequent scans of your own piece, the one you’re working on. Yet if it runs to any considerable length, uninterrupted reading on-screen is difficult. A monitor’s field of view is necessarily local, limited to about 150 words—much less than a printed page. This is fine for drafting a postcard; but not for extensive reading or browsing. To scroll through successive screenfuls is hardly an adequate substitute: it is too fragmentary and remote from ordinary reading. In active browsing you need to be able to skim or read a page or two here, check the index there, and jump back or forward at will, always aware of structure and proportion, always aware of each passage’s relation to the text as a whole.
Working by the screenful can have the unfortunate consequence of smoothing your writing prematurely. For onscreen correction is so easy that the grammar and word choices gel too soon, without enough consideration being given to the overall sequence or the underlying structure. Decisions about the piece as a whole may tend to be passed over, so that the end result is polished enough, but boring: flat, shapeless, even garrulous.
Some have gone so far as to argue that the fluency and facility of composing on-screen are positively bad for writing, since they make you forget the reader’s experience of your piece. The beautiful screen is supposed to delude us into a false consciousness, flattering us with the illusion that technical procedures (correction of typos, format changes, boilerplate insertions, rearrangement of phrases, and the like) can do it all by magic. You cast wonderful spells, but find they are somehow not enough. But the evidence for all this (cited by Edward Mendelson in a 1990 Academic Computing article) is no longer thought compelling. In any case, the remedy is a very simple one: any limitation you feel in the computer’s display can be overcome by printing out hard copy. I shall assume, in fact, that you will work from printouts whenever you find it more convenient to do so.
Composing on-screen, revising as you go, is obviously fine for short letters, emails, and routine reports. But many people find that anything longer than 250 words or so—and certainly any competitive or ambitious piece that needs much thought—is better printed out for reading and drafting. For many writers drafting is not a detour but the best way forward.
An additional reason for alternating screen and paper applies only to some writers, who find their thinking in front of a screen slower. After a time the computer has for them a dulling, even stupefying effect. Others report quite the reverse, finding that the computer’s pleasurability encourages thinking on-screen, as Michael Heim claims in Electric Language (1987). People differ; but it does no harm to take a break from the screen every half hour or so, for your circulation’s sake.
Some writers find it helps to jot down the earliest draft on paper, where they can vary the size of words for emphasis, use abbreviations, and resort to private symbols. Even illegible scribbles can be turned to account: paper writers can postpone resolution of ambiguities, defer grammatical structuring, delay lexical choices, allow their minds to explore vague surrounding associations, and perhaps encounter serendipities. For them, the computer closes off too many syntactic options, and calls for definition of ideas still inchoate. Other writers, however, more at ease on the keyboard, value the rapid rearrangement and deletion that can be done on-screen. Inserts can go in as they come to mind, without need for memos or post-its. In drafting, the choice between pen and keyboard may be partly a matter of age, partly of training and temperament.
At any rate, when you have reached the stage of a rough outline, you may want to print it out for ease of reading. Working with the draft on paper, you can read it more easily, and see whether each passage is proportioned and positioned where it should be. But don’t forget to have the latest draft on-screen, ready for you to slot in corrections, references, and new ideas.
Except for a complete beginner, computer spellchecks can waste time. They have a way of giving the correct spelling of the wrong word. Better to have a good dictionary on disk (or on your desk), and consult it for yourself. When you work on the final draft, though, a spellcheck sometimes finds inconsistencies. A grammar check, too, if it is a very good one, can be instructive. But again it is better still to learn some grammar. If you could have a program to write the whole piece for you without effort on your part, would you buy it? If the answer is yes, read no further.
Taken from “How to Write” by Alastair Fowler (Oxford University Press 2006)
Writing with pen or computer has their own advantages and disadvantages. Uniquely, I fuse both pen and computer every time I write. I usually write the outline of my writing with pen first, then present it with computer. Whenever I have an idea to write, I add it to the outline by pen, so I will not waste my time to open the computer with risk that my idea can be disappeared from my mind. After all of my ideas listed by pen, I start to present it with computer and use the facilities provided in the computer practically.
ReplyDeleteYeah, it is unique, I think. But everybody has their own most convenient way to write. Whatever the way, the result is the most important thing.
Using pen or computer have their advantages. I always make sketch with pen then type it in the computer. Why i use the pen first? Because i usually get idea then i want to write it quickly. If i use computer, i have risk that my data will lose. In my opinion, whether using pen or computer is not the main idea in writing. However, the most important in writing is our result.
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ReplyDeleteWriting, either with pen or computer has their own advantages and disadvantages. Some people enjoy writing with computer, when others prefer with pen. In fact, it's about style and people convenience.
ReplyDeleteIn my case, i prefer start writing with pen to make an outline first, until i transfer all ideas from my mind into the paper. Then, after the outline is finish, i start to write with computer.
Finally, The quality of writing is defined by its content.
there is one advantage that i get from using pen while working. i can throw away my pen when i start getting frustated because of the assignment. how about when i use a computer? of course i can't throw away my computer. my parents will assassinate me after that.
ReplyDeleteI always enjoy typing with my computer because the sounds of my keyboard inspire me to write and make me eager to continue my writing. I also prefer computer than pen because I'm a kind of man who often make several mistakes in handwriting and so using the computer makes me easier to minimize the mistakes I've made.
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