Typewriter Anyone?

[calieber]

The difference between using a typewriter even 30 years ago and using one now is the difference between Cervantes writing in the contemporary form of his native language and Pierre Menand writing in an archaic form of a foreign language.

(And I suspect Borges dictated, though possibly not yet in 1939)

 

[fredXgeorge]

I learned to type on a manual typewriter at age 7. I didn't get a computer till 1998, and before that, I used typewriters and/or word processors to do all of my schoolwork.

I wrote my very first novels on a manual Olivetti typewriter back in the late 80s.

While I love typewriters, I can't imagine using them for any kind of serious writing. I have recurrent tendonitis and require an ergnomic keyboard. Typing on a typewriter would absolutely kill my wrists. Makes me sad b/c I still have a few typewriters sitting around. I also recently acquired my grandmother's 1926 L.C. Smith typewriter, the same one she used to write her newspaper column years and years ago! I love it. And what's even more amazing is I can still find ribbon for it!

JEALOUS. I'd love to own a typewriter. I wouldn't write novels on it but they're just gorgeous.

 

[muravyets]

Nostalgia has inspired me to download a typewriter sounds Mac app. Now I can turn it on and off to have while writing and not have while gaming - because, you know, killing orcs n stuff on a typewriter might be taking it a little too far.

 

[aruna]

Lol, and I'm the exact opposite. For me, writing by hand connects with my creative brain, and I have recently determined that I get more new writing done by hand than by typing, whether on a typewriter or a computer. Everyone is different, and that's why it's good we have a variety of tools available, eh?

.

Oh, I agree 100%. I just don't agree with the notion that writing with a certain instrument makes us more or less creative. It's the other way around; the creativity is there, and the intsrument is merely the means of expression. We use what is available to us, and we get used to that method, those tools; but the methid or the tools are not responsible for creativity. I'm sure that if all I had was a pencil I'd still write, somehow. If I could read what I'd written afterwards, is a different matter altogether! And I'm sure that people in the past who wrote with pens would just as well used PCs if they were available. Creativity is independent of external aids.

 

[aruna]

I have no interest in typewriters and I won't trade in my automobile for a horse and buggy.

Aww! Me neither; but they're still SO romantic! Seen in Salzburg a week ago:
http://youtu.be/Dsa1znPRczY

 

[DancingMaenid]

I've always liked typewriters, especially manual ones. My dad gave me one when I was a kid.

But I mainly like them as a novelty. I never did much writing on one, and I definitely prefer the computer.

 

[vitani]

My sister had a typewriter when I was growing up, and I used to love messing around with it. I'd copy pages out of books, just so I'd have something to type.

I do remember the keys being hard to hit. My fingers would get sore quite easily.

I'd love to have a typewriter, just as a collector's item but I couldn't use it to write. I write scenes exactly like I used to write essays in school. I make a list of points to cover first, and then flesh each one out. The same with scenes involving dialogue. I write out the conversation and then go back and add tags and action. I find using a computer to be the easiest way to do that.

 

[mrsvalkyrie]

I'm similar, and that's why I call that the attitude of a discerning consumer. Technology is great, but it's not a panacea and newer doesn't always mean better. There are many uses for which the newest tech is a godsend, a revolutionary leap forward in productivity, comfort, and ease of living. But there are other uses for which the older tech actually works better, more efficiently, more productively. I think it's just smart to mix the old and the new for optimal, customized results.

Exactly!

I'd never say that a typewriter would make my creativity flow any better than a computer would, but I do prefer them regardless. The first computer came into our house when I was 8 or so (I'm 25 now) and before that we had WebTV (ugh...) and even before that my brother bought me a word processor and my mother let me use her typewriter, so I guess the fact that the first thing I ever used to write was a typewriter brings back the good ol' times and makes me want to stick with it.

And I would totally use a horse and buggy over a car if they still existed. At least a horse doesn't use gasoline!

 

[Sirion]

There's nothing a typewriter can do that a computer can't do better.

But I suppose some people may enjoy the feel and sound of typewriters, maybe it gets the juices flowing?

I know that sometimes I switch to pen & paper when I've been in front of a computer screen to long, it helps change my 'writing mode'.

 

[aruna]

But I suppose some people may enjoy the feel and sound of typewriters, maybe it gets the juices flowing?

But it's really not the feel or the sound that gets the juices flowing, but the habit, the association -- it's like Pavlov's dog. The brain gets used to writing a certain way, and so whenever the thing, or whatever, is around the juices flow. With me, it's the time. I write early in the morning -- I trained my mind to do that, and so every morning at five the scenes stat running through my mind and even when I really, really want a lie-in I'm composing the damn story. You can train your mind to do whatever you want. Read Dorothy Brande's Becoming a Writer -- it's explains quite clearly how these things work.

 

[chicgeek]

But it's really not the feel or the sound that gets the juices flowing, but the habit, the association -- it's like Pavlov's dog. The brain gets used to writing a certain way, and so whenever the thing, or whatever, is around the juices flow. With me, it's the time. I write early in the morning -- I trained my mind to do that, and so every morning at five the scenes stat running through my mind and even when I really, really want a lie-in I'm composing the damn story. You can train your mind to do whatever you want. Read Dorothy Brande's Becoming a Writer -- it's explains quite clearly how these things work.

This totally nails how I feel. Also, Dorothy Brande's Becoming A Writer is a solid recommendation. I'd pair that with Natalie Goldberg's Writing Down The Bones, where she compares writing to meditation.