Paper is wonderful! Recently, it has been replaced by the computer, which makes a lot of things easier and convenient, but it is not quite, quite the same.
For the last several days, off and on, I have been working on a story I started last January, using Scrivener as the editor. My Chrome book is also seeing use. And finally, paper and pen when I just don’t want to look at another monitor, or just want to go outdoors and enjoy myself.
While I am not going to go into what I am writing, I do want to explore the process of writing. As the title of this entry suggests, words are very important. One of the things I find so irritating in an author is a failure to provide a variety of terms. For instance, I recall a very popular recent author whose use of the same word within a few sentences has driven me to distraction! What is wrong with finding a synonym? In prose, variety is important, but in poetry, the repetition of sound creates a very different pattern, and so the usage of a word numerous times may be very appropriate and artistic.
This is where paper and pen can come to the aid of the computer-produced manuscript. I like to take what I have written and give it double- or triple-spacing. Then, stapled together, I take it someplace outside or at a coffee bar and sit with a pen to edit. I circle, I cross out, I re-write. In short, I edit with a different perspective because I am seeing the writing on paper.
While I love the convenience of computers and such, I also love the feel of a good pen on a piece of paper. The experience is physical and sensual and intellectual all at once. And it is a very real experience – just like we are trying to create for our readers.
Ink, Yarn & Beer 