Shakespeare
did it, and so did Dickens. Tolstoy, too, for that matter. In fact, up until
about a century ago, everybody did it. Everybody who wrote, anyway.
I’m talking
about writing in longhand, with a pen and paper. Before the age of the
computer, before typewriters came into wide use, everyone wrote in that
fashion. Over the years, a number of people have believed (and still believe)
that doing it that way, putting actual pen to actual paper, makes someone a
better writer.
Unless you
were William Faulkner. He used a pencil, rather than a pen. A soft pencil on a
cheap, ruled drugstore-style pad. He said it was important to him to be able to
actually feel the words as he was writing them.
And then
there was Hemingway, who wrote on a typewriter, but what would you expect? He
used to be a journalist.
If They Can, So Can I
Being a
recovering journalist myself, and being of the computer age, I’ve written all
of my first three books on a computer. I do the outlining and plotting
longhand, using a fountain pen and good paper, but when it comes time to do the
book, I sit in front of the computer and let the fingers fly over the keyboard.
Until this
time. As I was finishing my third book, NotDeath, But Love, I decided to try something different. I’d write the first
chapter of the fourth book (title still undetermined) in longhand with a
fountain pen, or pens, just to see how it would feel to do that, and to see if
I could detect any difference resulting therefrom in my writing style.
In
anticipation of the experience, I visited Silberman Brown Stationers in Seattle
during our recent trip there. It’s an elegant stationery store, located at
street level of the Fairmont Olympic Hotel downtown. When I said I was looking
for a pad of high-quality paper for writing with a fountain pen, the
knowledgeable clerk steered me to Clairefontaine Triomphe, a French luxury
brand. I bought one pad lined and one unlined.
Feel the Glide
I used the
ruled paper, of course, and now that I’ve finished the first draft of the first
chapter, I wish I could give a more definitive answer to the question of what
difference it made to write fiction longhand. I’m really not sure.
The
experience was certainly different, inasmuch as he words weren’t coming out as
if shot through a fire hose. I’m a fast typist and tend to really get on a roll
when I write, and doing it by hand definitely slowed down the proceedings.
One
consequence of this, which may or may not be a good thing, is that it gave me
more time to think about (and have doubts about) the quality of my writing.
When I finished the chapter, I felt less confident about the quality of it than
I had of the first chapter of the two preceding books.
Then I
showed the manuscript to Linda, who said she was drawn in by the story elements
and that it seemed faster-paced than my other books. I wonder if writing it out
is enough work that you steer clear of excessive verbiage and perhaps do more
editing as you’re writing. I don’t know. I’m going back to the computer for Chapter
2, but think I’ll try doing the first chapter of the next book in longhand as
well to see if I gain any further understanding of the process. I need all the
understanding I can get.
