Why Pen And Paper For Rough Drafts?

[runnjump]

We've brought this up in other threads, but I thought it could use its own discussion...

 

My rough drafts in pen and paper look like a disaster. Words and fragments scribbled everywhere, whole paragraphs crossed out, the same sentence written three or four ways, a tangle of arrows.

It seems that I should really prefer the word processor, where I can add, delete, cut & paste infinitely.

 

But having it on paper works better. I can see the process of my trials and errors. It helps me keep moving along, helps me see how my thoughts are gradually coming together.

 

The computer screen, where things can just appear and disappear, is somehow unsettling and causes me to go in circles.

[sharonspens]

Last week I edited a draft of a dissertation proposal; first time in quite a while I've done a paper edit. I enjoyed the process, and the opportunity to use some COLOR on that paper! I don't know what my student will think of it; I should hear from her within the week!

 

Sharon in Indiana

[kestrel]

I focus better when I write because, I think, it forces my brain to slow down a bit. I deliberate more before actually setting words to paper and I am less likely to overlook key points than I tend to while working at a keyboard. I get several students every year whose written work borders on incoherent because the brain is going so much faster than the fingers can record on paper. I refer to it as a fighter pilot brain linked to helicopter pilot hands.

 

Last October I delivered the eulogy at my mother's funeral. I wrote three full drafts in three days and found the writing by hand process easier and much better emotionally for me than word processing, which I used for my father's eulogy several years ago.

[ac12]

It all depends on the person.

• Some people can thing the whole document in their head and dictate it to be typed and signed.
• Some need the flexible structure of an outlining tool. And having used one, it is a LOT easier for moving entire structures around than a word processor like WORD.
• Some think graphically, so paper and arrows and notations work better.

[Orpilorp]

For rough drafts I would suggest those fountain pen friendly pads from Dollar General. Steno pads, legal pads, all for $1 per.

[Runnin_Ute]

There is a reason they are called rough drafts. They are supposed to be effective not pretty.

 

I think with a keyboard we get caught up in "the pretty" a bit to much, and end up wasting time making it look good at the expense of good content. I know I have been guilty of this at times.

 

As long as you can follow what you have done who cares what it looks like?

[inkstainedruth]

There is a reason they are called rough drafts. They are supposed to be effective not pretty.

 

I think with a keyboard we get caught up in "the pretty" a bit to much, and end up wasting time making it look good at the expense of good content. I know I have been guilty of this at times.

 

As long as you can follow what you have done who cares what it looks like?

 

Agreed. I've found that when I've written stuff on the computer, I care a lot about formatting when I should be caring about content. Plus, I have been tripped up on more than one occasion by spellcheckers autocorrecting words to what the program thinks I mean and NOT what I actually do mean. A friend of mine was complaining on FB a couple of days ago about weird autocorrects, and I think what annoys me most about autocorrecting is that if someone is trained as a touch typist, they aren't supposed to be looking at the screen/page -- only at what you're transcribing. But with autocorrect programs you HAVE to look at the screen because God only knows what sort of screw-ups you'll end up with if you hit the send button before proofreading....

When I write on paper with a pen, I'll have all sorts of arrows and crossed out words and stuff crammed in between lines and in margins, but it gets me where I want to go better and faster. If I get into a writing zone, I can easily write 6-8 pages on unlined printer paper, with only minimal margins, in one sitting -- and since I write small, I can cram a lot of text onto a page. That's the equivalent of maybe 10-12 pages of double-spaced typing/keyboarding, with "normal" 1" margins (standard page formatting and good for determining approximate word counts if you're actually trying to market your writing). I can't type that fast. I sure as heck can't type that fast on my laptop.

If it's a first draft, who cares (besides me) what it looks like? I think of that scene from the movie Amadeus where Mozart's wife goes to Salieri with the music and Salieri says "Where are the rough drafts?" and she looks puzzled and says something like "There aren't any...." Well, I'm sure as heck not Mozart and while I work out stuff in my head on a regular basis, it doesn't necessarily go down on the page that way....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[amberleadavis]

Ruth, you nailed it for me in the first sentence. A lot of attorneys draft via oral dictation and then the secretary worries about formatting. For me, long hand is awesome for the first draft. Also, I still do my first draft of questions via hand because the questions need to be linked and I draw arrows.

[clazbill]

I've noticed a tendency to have a few lines/paragraphs that I'm just... not quite happy with. If I have the marked out/reworked/scribbled over versions *right there* I spend less time in the future trying to work on it more. Keeps me from getting stuck in a loop or going back to old versions.

[Torrilin]

Bumping this because my first drafts are mixed. I’ll usually do pages of background stuff to build up a structure. Maybe maps, sketches, diagrams too. If I find a thing in the background stuff, I’ll probably type up a rough outline. For nonfiction I may build the thing typed right on the outline, but for big stuff there’s probably a lot of scribbling to get to the typing. For fiction, I’ll probably handwrite the filled out outline. Then for anything I want to be it’s best I’ll retype it to get a clean draft. For both fiction and nonfiction there’s usually going to be byproduct art that has to happen to get to a typed draft.

 

A thing in this case is something that has structure and I can see that it can be completed. By me. There’s lots of stuff that doesn’t have thingness. I’m not the right person, or I need to grow up more or it needs a creator with an attention span bigger than a gnat’s...

 

I can and do compose at the keyboard. But I’m prone to deleting stuff or getting lost if it’s more than a day of work. So the paper stages help keep me on track.

[CraigR]

Older thread but I am glad it has been re-opened. I like to work with pen and paper on drafts of stories, articles and such. My tendency with a computer is to edit as I write. A backspace button can be counterproductive. When I use pen and paper, I have a much purer connection with what I am writing. I have a rule of a single strike through on mistakes and errors allowing me to see content that would have been deleted by a backspace button.

 

A number of years ago, I wrote a lot of engineering reports for my business. I did that in longhand on legal pads with fountain pens and ink. My assistant (secretary back in the day) would type them up for review and correction. Not efficient in today's world, but more enjoyable I think.

 

One of the other habits I had was to keep a second pad of paper for making notes on ideas as they occurred to me while writing a report or letter. I still do this even when using a computer.

[inkstainedruth]

When re-reading this thread just now, I realized I had not mentioned my husband. He's a software engineer/software developer. He is dyslexic and has horrible handwriting, plus he went through an experimental phonics program in elementary school that was taught badly -- and after a couple of years the NYS school system decided it didn't work but his "control" group was thrown back in (without any remedial work). But he always does his preliminary design work on paper with a pen (I've been trying to coax him over to the dark side for a couple of years now). It just works better for him -- in spite of having done programming since high school, and having a degree in Applied Mathematics/Computer Science from Carnegie-Mellon, and then partway through a CS Masters degree from CMU. And in spite of all his issues with reading and writing.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[ParramattaPaul]

I will mind map and outline by hand. I key board rough drafts since I tend to self edit as I write - as a component part of drafting what ever I am writing. Past experience has proved that self editing while drafting by long hand is a needless waste of paper. My outlines often end up chopped and changed before I get halfway through one.

 

That may be one of the curses of a lateral or abstract thinker.