I’ve been curious if my writing style would change based on the materials used to write. I didn’t see much difference when I was switching between graffiti on my Palm and a keyboard, but had noticed differences when I’ve started a story longhand. Making a guess that my tone wouldn’t change much if I switched mid-stream, I decided to write an entire story by typewriter.
Believe it or not, this is the first time I’ve written a story on one of our typewriters. Technically, I used three of them since I started with our Duotone Royal and then had to switch machines because the platen is too hard. The type was cutting through the paper.
I switched to the Smith-Corona Sterling, which is a nice little machine, to finish the composition. With both machines, I felt myself wanting to use more archaic language and sentence structure. I think this was in part because the apostrophe key is above the 8 and requires use of the shift key.
Also, the slower pace probably had an effect. The Sterling is really good about not jamming, but it still takes more effort to write than a computer keyboard. Needing to hit the carriage return and sliding a new sheet of paper in weren’t as disruptive to the flow as I thought they would be.
The biggest thing, though, that had an effect was the lack of an insert key. Typos, I don’t mind, but being unable to go back and insert a sentence while working was a little frustrating.
After I finished writing, I edited directly onto the page and then retyped it on our new Woodstock. Since we just picked it up from the repair shop today it still has that new typewriter smell and is very comfortable to type on. (I did wonder what the neighbors thought.) I didn’t just copy the text straight, though that had been my plan, and wound up doing some changes as I went.
All in all, I think I prefer the computer, although the lack of internet is handy.
Here’s the first bit of the story, which, not surprisingly, features typewriters.
A Type of Favor
Jenn stared at his chin, focusing on the stubble and hoping that her distaste didn’t show. Why had she borrowed his tools? Now she owed him. So Harold’s request to borrow one of her typewriters for the film he was working on was perfectly reasonable. This did nothing to keep the sour taste out of the back of her mouth. When she’d traded borrowing points, she hadn’t thought the typewriters would be in danger. No one used them anymore. She’d thought she was throwing skills or tools into the communal pot. Was there a way she could say “No” plausibly?
“These are very delicate machines.” She stood between him and the — not collection — the group of typewriters on the shelf of her cubby. Past the four short walls the constant murmur and hum of the Broadway Cooperative continued without regard for them.
If you have time to offer feedback on the whole story, it’s 1280 word SF. Drop me a line to ask for the password if you don’t have it.
I think the pace of input does affect things. I think I tend to like the writing process better when I am actually using pen and pencil. This is because handwriting things take longer. While I am writing, more and more ideas are coming to me. I am just sorting out all these ideas while they keep coming. On the other hand, typing on a computer is faster, so sometimes it feels like you already got all your ideas down onto the screen. Then you get the feeling of “now what?”
So I am thinking maybe it’s similar with typewriters too. With a slower input method, you just have all these ideas in your head trying to get out. You never run out of them and that feels good.
I love this line: “When she’d traded borrowing points, she hadn’t thought the typewriters would be in danger.” Very intriguing and makes me want to read on!
I think pace has a lot to do with my writing tool. I can’t write prose by hand because the thoughts come too quickly for me to follow unless I’m typing, and otherwise I’ll lose the story as it’s “happening”. But I can’t type poetry, because writing poetry by hand gives me the time to explore the language and rhythm.
I can’t imagine typing first draft on a typewriter. If I decided to use a typewriter rather than a computer as an experiment or whatever, I’d almost certainly do the first draft longhand and the second draft on the typewriter.
BTW, your site seems to be crawling today.
BTBTW, I sent an e-mail about reading the story. I’m posting here just in case it didn’t go through or got caught in a spam trap.