Re: On Writing


| I found this BBC article of interest. I still have an electric typewriter
| that I suddenly realized that I hadn't used for about ten years. How many
| professional writers I wonder still use typewriters and are there any who
| still write in longhand with pen or pencil ? Surprisingly film maker
George
| Lucas of _STAR WARS_ fame never uses computers or a typewriter he writes
all
| ideas and plots by hand on yellow legal sheets with a #4 pencil - he says
| it's the only way he can work.


Anne Perry writes all her books by hand -- on legal size, narrow-lined
pads -- and has a secretary who then transcribes them for her to the
computer. She showed me her next book in progress at a conference here two
years ago when I shared a coffeebreak with her. She has very tiny spidery
handwriting, btw. Said too that she finds it convenient to carry the pages
around with her in her large handbag.. :-)

Dennis Lehane has said in the past that he writes everything in longhand
first and then in the evening transfers the day's work to computer. That
way, he always has two drafts going while he works.

Lauire King wrote all her earlier books in longhand. Then I read in an
interview a couple years ago where she said she's just recently graduated to
a small laptop.

I supect there are other authors who still prefer doing longhand drafts
first...

Annie



Before the computer age but well within the typewriter age author Nigel Balchin described his writing habits - he would sharpen a dozen HB pencils and put them in a jar to his left - he would write until a pencil was blunt then he would put it in a jar to his right - when all the pencils were blunt he would finish writing for the day - the sharpening of the pencils before his writing day was a necessary ritual for him - a little like doing stretching exercises before physical activity.

I remember seeing in a British museum an original Arthur Conan Doyle manuscript for a Sherlock Holmes story, written in beautiful copperplate, perfectly legible with very few corrections.

Dave in Toronto

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