So yo want o be a writer?

[AvestheForumFox]

Greetings one, greetings all! The Fox here with a little tidbit about writing.

Please keep in mind that what I have to say in this little document is entirely of my own preference, though it may help some of you others who wish to embark in a long career of writing. So let's get started. Today's post in this thread will be about the tools that I use.

- notebook
- special pen (or pencil)
- manual typewriter
- notepad
- dictionary
- a chair
- small foldout tv dinner table
- a bag to store your tools in

The Notebook:
This serves well for first draft work. Some of the best novels are usually first handwritten (or typed with the manual typewriter, which I'll get o in a sec). but he notebook also serves as a useful tool for jotting down specific notes about characters, places, items, etc. I usually have four or five different notebooks that I use all at once to help me keep things organized.

Special Pen:
Some writers use a special pen in all the work that they do. The pen is often called the writer's sword for it is through that very tool that they create their romance. From the mind to the paper, the pen is a gateway into the author's mind. So when choosing a pen to do your bidding, think of yourself as Harry Potter when he first got his wand. Or Martin the Warrior, when his father gave him his sword. Its indeed something special. =)

The Manual Typewriter:
Let's face it. Technology today has made many writers lazy in their work. they have easy cut and paste tools and editing tools, spellchecker, etc. While these tools may seem to be the writer's heaven, its also made people sluggish and not caring when it comes to their word. Not only that, but the computers that we use have so many bells and whistles that we so easily get distracted and never get anything accomplished. Where did all those hours go to today when yo should had been working on your manuscript? Why the internet! no? how about World of Warcraft? or Solitaire? That is why most authors still recommend manual typewriters. Unlike a computer, these ancient tools force the writer to think of nothing else other than his work. I've recently purchased an old Sears typewriter (none electric) and since, I've found myself glued to my work, though it requires a great deal of getting used to (harder keystrokes than your average computer keyboard).

Manual typewriters are also portable, they don't require electricity (unless yo buy an electric typewriter) nor any batteries, yo can take them anywhere. Perhaps a scenic park where its nice and quiet and inspiration flows like a fountain (I prefer a nice forest glade myself, really). You don't have to strain your eyes like yo do when looking at a computer screen. And no, there's no internet or any games. but hey, we need to get away from this excuse to procrastinate anyway!

To understand more about this method of using typewriters, check out this website:
http://staff.xu.edu/~polt/typewriters/index.html

also check out these essays (from the same site, above) from some pro writers explaining why they still recommend the typewriter. Its a great read!:
http://staff.xu.edu/~polt/typewriters/tributes.html

Here's what your average page will look like (double spaced, with editing marks):


oh, and check out this list of famous authors and the type of typewriters they used:

    * John Ashbery: Royal Aristocrat
    * Isaac Asimov: pink Selectric (on cover of his Opus 200)
    * Paul Auster: Olympia SM 9 (There's a book about Auster's Olympia.)
    * L. Frank Baum: Smith Premier
    * Brendan Behan: Remington portable (1920s)
    * Saul Bellow: Royal KMG
    * Stephen Vincent Benet: Remington portable (duotone, 1920s)
    * Ingrid Bergman: Smith-Corona Skyriter
    * Marlon Brando: Royal De Luxe
    * Gwendolyn Brooks: Underwood 6
    * Helen Gurly Brown: Remington Rand
    * William S. Burroughs: 1950s, various typewriters, since he was constantly pawning them--many of his manuscripts were done on a Remington; Naked Lunch typed from handwritten notes by Kerouac, presumably on Kerouac's Underwood; 1965 Paris Review interview: Facit Portable; cover of Word Virus anthology, 1970s photo: Olympia SG1. (See Naked Lunch for Burroughs' imaginary typewriters.)
    * Robert Caro: Smith Corona 210
    * Raymond Chandler: Underwood Noiseless
    * John Cheever: Royal portable (30's-40's)
    * Agatha Christie: Remington 5 (portable)
    * Noel Coward: Royal KHM
    * Bing Crosby: Royal portable (1920s)
    * Don Delillo: Olympia SM3 DeLuxe
    * Gwen Dew: Hermes Baby (called "Tappy")
    * Philip K. Dick: Olympia SG3
    * Joan Didion: Royal KMM
    * Stephen Dixon: Hermes Standard
    * Bob Dylan: Royal Safari, Olivetti Lexikon 80
    * Harlan Ellison: Olympia SG 3 (read an interview with Ellison that explains why he writes only on manual typewriters)
    * Ralph Ellison: IBM Selectric
    * Douglas Fairbanks: Underwood 5
    * William Faulkner: Underwood Standard Portable, Royal KHM
    * Ian Fleming: Royal portables, Triumph Gabriele (1950s)
    * Janet Frame: Brother DeLuxe 1350
    * Ian Frazier: various Olympias
    * William Gaddis: portable manual Olympia
    * Erle Stanley Gardner: Underwood 5
    * David Gerrold: 1966 IBM Selectric
    * Allen Ginsberg: Smith Corona Electra (in the 1980s)
    * Dashiell Hammett: Royal De Luxe
    * Tom Hanks: Smith-Corona Clipper
    * Joseph Heller: SCM Smith Corona Electra
    * Ernest Hemingway: Corona 3, Underwood Noiseless Portable, various Royal portables, Halda portable
    * Katherine Hepburn: Royal De Luxe
    * James Herriot: Olivetti Lettera 32
    * Hermann Hesse: Smith Premier No. 4 (used from about 1908 to 1942); Remington Noiseless
    * Marguerite Higgins: Hermes Baby
    * L.Ron Hubbard: LC Smith 5
    * John Irving: IBM Selectric
    * Thom Jones: old Royal portable
    * Buster Keaton: Blickensderfer no. 5
    * Harry Stephen Keeler: L.C. Smith with carriage return lever on right
    * Helen Keller: LC Smith 5
    * Jack Kerouac: Underwood portable (On the Road was typed on a continuous roll of paper)
    * Rudyard Kipling: Remington Noiseless (in late life)
    * P. F. Kluge: 1920s-30s Royal desktops and some others (see photo)
    * Ring Lardner: Royal No 10
    * Stanislaw Lem: Remington noiseless portable (and others)
    * Sinclair Lewis: Underwood 6, folding Corona 3
    * Jack London: Standard Folding
    * Morris Lurie: Hermes 3000, Olivetti portable
    * Bernard Malamud: Royal Quiet Deluxe (50's)
    * David Mamet: Smith-Corona portable, IBM Selectric
    * David McCullough: Royal De Luxe
    * Larry McMurtry: Hermes 3000 (he thanked his typewriter at the 2006 Golden Globes).
    * Terrence McNally: Olympia SM 9
    * H.L.Mencken: LC Smith 5, Remington Noiseless Portable
    * James Michener: Olympia SM
    * Gerald Murnane: Remington Monarch
    * Jim Murray: Remington 17 (1945)
    * Joyce Carol Oates: SCM Smith Corona Electra
    * Flannery O'Connor: Remington noiseless portable
    * Roy Orbison: Underwood TM5
    * Joe Orton: Adler
    * George Orwell: Remington Home Portable (name variant of the #3)
    * Ruth Park: Underwood Golden Touch
    * Pope Pius XII: Olivetti Studio 42
    * Katherine Anne Porter: IBM Selectric
    * Anthony Powell: Olympia SM 9
    * J.B. Priestley: Imperial Good Companion
    * Ernie Pyle: Remington Noiseless
    * Thomas Pynchon: Olivetti portable
    * Grantland Rice: Royal No 10
    * Harold Robbins: IBM Selectric II
    * Will Rogers: Remington portable #2
    * Damon Runyon: Underwood 6
    * Carl Sandburg: Underwood 5
    * David Sedaris: IBM Selectric II
    * Georges Simenon: Royal 10
    * Neil Simon: Olympia SM9
    * Upton Sinclair: Underwood 6
    * Isaac Bashevis Singer: Remington #3
    * Red Smith: Olympia SM7
    * Mickey Spillane: Smith-Corona desktop
    * John Steinbeck: Hermes Baby, IBM Executive
    * Joe Strummer: Remington Envoy III
    * William Styron: SCM Smith Corona Electra
    * John Cameron Swayze: Cole-Steel
    * Hunter S. Thompson: red IBM Selectric
    * James Thurber: Underwood
    * J.R.R. Tolkien: Hammond
    * Mark Twain: Sholes & Glidden
    * John Updike: Olivetti from the '40s
    * Kurt Vonnegut: Smith-Corona Courier
    * E.B. White: Underwood portable (two-tone, 'Underwood' in cursive writing on typewriter)
    * Patrick White: Optima portable
    * Tennessee Williams: four-bank Corona ca. 1940, Royal KMM, Olivetti Studio 44. (This man loved to have himself photographed with his writing machines!)
    * P.G. Wodehouse: Monarch; Royal (bought reluctantly when the Monarch died)
    * Tom Wolfe: Underwood (1966)
    * Richard Wright: ca. 1940 Royal portable

(I may include a picture of my typewriter soon, I'm proud of the little machine ^_^)

The Notepad:
This is just handy when yo need something hard to write on =) nothing more!

Dictionary:
As the pen is the writer's sword, the dictionary is his shield. Every writer needs a good dictionary to look up words and their meanings, or to look up the correct spelling for a word!

A Chair:
All the more for siting in. xD  But seriously, if yo ever want o go out and do some writing, a good portable folding chair would make a great companion.

Small Foldout TV Dinner Table:
Or a card table (as they're often called) this will be your second aid (with the chair) when going out to those scenic views to do your writing. One would be enough to fit your typing machine on, a second would be cool for storing finished pages and notes on. =)

A Bag to Store your Tools In:
As the title already puts it. A good sturdy book bag to store everything in (except the chair and table). yo may also have other small containers and baggies to keep things sorted and seperated. Makes it easier to find.

More to come soon!

[Amaranthine]

Thanks for the tip, but I usually write my stories on the computer. It's just easier for me that way. I mean I still do get into deep description about my stories I don't see myself as being "lazy" I just prefer it that way. *shrugs*

However, I do have some gratitude jorunals and notebooks to jot ideas down if I don't have the computer near me, so yeah, thanks for the tips.

[Drake]

Sorry, but I prefer the computer. It's much easier with the spellcheck and online dictionary. I'm not often distracted from writing while on the computer, when I set out to finish a chapter, I finish it. Most of the time.  

I don't often write notes for my ideas because I feel that when I do the notes are rather disorganized and I have a pretty good memory anyway.

[aabicus (LettuceBacon&Tomato)]

With you all the way on the special pen thing. Mine's green :-)

I don't like the computer for writing; it's too easy to get distracted, what with the Internet and iTunes at your beck and call. I usually keep the computer shut down when I write, and transcribe my stories when they're done.

Having a typewriter would be freakin awesome, you are so lucky, Aves. I think you're gonna make a great write someday, and we'll be reading your name on that list of typewriting authors.

[Explorer]

You've got many good points there; actually most of them are.

But also, I like to write my stories on the computer, since its easier to carry. But hardly for anything else. Whatever I write is copied from a paper I previously wrote manually.

However, I do manual verification of the possible errors in the computer, since it doesn't detect all of them.

[AvestheForumFox]

I do use Word but mainly for the final draft. I like to take the finished material and dres it up like a real book =)

Also the correction tools do come in handy for those tiny litle mistakes that you mised on the former drafts

so no, I'm not saying word processors are bad for you. I'm just saying that people have become far too dependent on them... People need to look back at the time when the great authors such as Tolkien and C.S Lewis were around. they typed their manuscripts possibly hundreds of times! each time their story became something more. More rich in detail and element.

Now people don't often rewrite their work, they just 'click' 'click' and its 'done' ... its not nearly as polished as it should be.

[Serris]

I NEVER use a typewriter.

All essays are done on the computer. And , I DO reread them, that is why it takes about a month for a chapter of my fan fiction to come out.

And most of the time the work comes out the way I want it.

[Kor]

Some of the tools suggest may work for many, though many will have their own preferences that work for them.  It can be a starting point for some to try out as they use and try other tools and methods so they can get an idea of what will work for them.

[Vaan360]

I use the computer to write sometimes, but I ussualy write my stories by hand, and only after I pass it to the pc, I write them in english, because to translate them after it¥s boring <_<

[Cancerian Tiger]

Whatever I write is copied from a paper I previously wrote manually.

However, I do manual verification of the possible errors in the computer, since it doesn't detect all of them.

Same here .  

One other tip: Persistency.  Publishers reject potential authors nine out of ten times.  I'll admit I have not done too much in seeking publication yet, but if it's what my Creative Writing instructor taught me, then it must be true .

[rosie]

I know the feeling.

[AvestheForumFox]

A tip I've been told about publishing is to keep sending your manuscript to the same publishers several times. Not just once. reason being, your manuscript will very possibly not be read by the same person who rejected your work. And one of those persons may like your work and submit it to the next level of decision making.

hope that made sense.

[Vaan360]

A tip I've been told about publishing is to keep sending your manuscript to the same publishers several times. Not just once. reason being, your manuscript will very possibly not be read by the same person who rejected your work. And one of those persons may like your work and submit it to the next level of decision making.

hope that made sense.

Yeah, and it is a good tip, thanks

[AvestheForumFox]

My preferred writing setup:


obviously outdoors on a warm day, all my tools present =) I've been a busy bee today with my novel work!

[Explorer]

Those are usefull, nonetheless. I used to write with those. Except that I don't have them at home.

[Vaan360]

If I¥m not mistaken I think My cousine has one of those or looked alike, she uses it to write all kind of stuff she needs.
And i¥m thinking of buiyng one myself to try it out

[Kor]

Be sure to always have stuff to secure things can be easily blown away or easily knocked down.

[Ptyra]

*Ahem* Where would I find a typewriter   ?
I'm writing my book (no guessing what it's about) and I'm writing it on paper and on Word. But I've been wanting a typewriter so I can have something nice to turn into the publishers.

[AvestheForumFox]

*Ahem* Where would I find a typewriter   ?
I'm writing my book (no guessing what it's about) and I'm writing it on paper and on Word. But I've been wanting a typewriter so I can have something nice to turn into the publishers.

often yo can find them at thrift stores or yard sales. some independent office supply stores may carry them. Or you could look for them on the online market =)  E-Bay has quiet a few listings for typewriters

[Drake]

However, I do manual verification of the possible errors in the computer, since it doesn't detect all of them.

Yeah, me, too.

A tip I've been told about publishing is to keep sending your manuscript to the same publishers several times. Not just once. reason being, your manuscript will very possibly not be read by the same person who rejected your work. And one of those persons may like your work and submit it to the next level of decision making.

hope that made sense.

Thanks for the info.