other creative writing Shoutout to the Writers, here

[ManInMauve]

I was wondering if anyone else uses Werdsmith? Do you prefer a different app or word/writing program? Are you old school and go for pen and paper, a type-writer, or do you go that extra mile and use a quill and ink?

 

I tend towards a mix of pen and paper, forums like this one, Werdsmith, and Microsoft Word. Though, I want to improve my penmanship. I feel like it’s lacking, just like my writing style.

[LeonaFair Deactivated]

Pencil and paper is more my forte but at times I use Microsoft Word just for spelling checks. 

[Peculiaritree Deactivated]

I have dysgraphia (deficient fine motor control, especially in the hands), so hand-writing anything is pretty much right out for me. I generally use Word or LibreOffice Writer, depending on what operating system I'm using at any given moment.

[WritesNaughtyStories]

I'm a fountain pen guy, so my first choice is long hand.

On the penmanship front: practice. Even if you're not working on a story, copy lines from books you like. Slow down, engage with the process, write from the shoulder. Make a cheat sheet with 15° slants to help train keeping your letters parallel.

Unfortunately, long hand is a real pain in the ass to share, so I write a lot in email clients, and straight text editors.

[Peculiaritree Deactivated]

Hey, man, I really do appreciate the advice! I've been doing what you've said since elementary school on medical advice and it has worked to some extent: my writing is legible, if I take my time, but it will never be good, and writing anything more than a couple paragraphs gives me hand cramps. Unfortunately, the nerves required for the level of precision handwriting demands just aren't there.

Curiously, I've found that cursive is easier than print. Perhaps not lifting the pen as much helps in some way.

Edit: I've realized that you were talking to ManInMauve, not me. Oops...

[WritesNaughtyStories]

I am not an occupational therapist but I am kin to one. My suspicion is that there's less tendency to "finger write" and the motion is moved farther up the hand.

The old master penman texts encourage writing from the shoulder, relaxing the grip an the pen and working on soft, fluid motions.

Again, I'm no expert on dysgraphia, but trying to crush a writing instrument, squeeze tiny block letters, and over work a bunch of smaller muscles can only make it more difficult and more miserable.

If you're making progress and enjoying the process, I'd say that's enough and fuck the asshat on the internet. If it hurts too much, you don't like it, fuck it, don't do it. 

[Peculiaritree Deactivated]

You've... pretty much nailed it, actually. I tend to write from the wrist, which I'm aware of but can't seem to do much about. My finger muscles "lock up" around the pen. It's almost a binary system; holding or not-holding.

I'll try writing from the shoulder as you suggest. Worst-case scenario, nothing changes and I go back to what I was doing before. Never hurts to try, though!

[IsabellaRose]

I write almost exclusively on some form of electronic device. I find that the ability to quickly self edit a line makes my writing much more legible. All the strikethroughs and circled phrases with arrows pointing to where they belong in the sentence when I write with pen are just crazy.

Plus, then it's easier to store/index, edit, copy/paste to various online forums, etc. 

I usually just use a plain text editor like Windows Notepad, Atom, or Notepad ++, depending on what machine I'm on. I store everything on Dropbox so I can get to it from any computer, tablet, or phone I use.

[Peculiaritree Deactivated]

Notepad++ is absolutely amazing, both for programming and for writing. It's one of the first things I install on any new PC. I'm just upset there's no Linux port (that I know of). I may have to try that someday as a personal challenge...

[IsabellaRose]

Atom... version for every flavor...

[Peculiaritree Deactivated]

I suppose. I have an irrational dislike of anything Electron, barring Discord and VS Code, so Atom just never struck my fancy , and I personally find Notepad++ easier to use anyway. But hey, different keystrokes for different folks!

[MagnificentBastard]

I use Libre Office and Grammarly to write my book that and a writers group have helped me a lot to get my writting going.

When I first saw this post I thought it was about giving a shout out to some fresh writters here.

I have met some great roleplayers here who I think are excellent writters and I think thet deserve some praise but I think I'll do that on private.

 

[ManInMauve]

@Peculiarity Yeah, I tend to use my wrist and hand when writing, myself. I’ve had an employer who rather shocked that whenever I wrote, it left deeper traces in the paperwork than other employees. I only recently let up with that tendency because of the pens that I’ve been using.

@PsychoSexual That would be awesome and real nice thing to do for them. Thinking back on my time roleplaying, I never remember anyone doing something so... hm, genuinely cool. 

[Novaer]

20 hours ago, Peculiarity said:

I have dysgraphia (deficient fine motor control, especially in the hands), so hand-writing anything is pretty much right out for me. I generally use Word or LibreOffice Writer, depending on what operating system I'm using at any given moment.

Same although for me its mild-Dyspraxia, and my hands start cramping like little bitches when I start writing. The upside to all of this? I'm ambidextrous, so I can use both hands for writing... Equally as terribly. I much prefer typing all round, it's less painful and I can usually accomplish an awful lot more. 

As for what I type on... Mainly nowadays it's Google Docs - I am trying to find my own self-hosted version of collaborative document editing software, but it's quite difficult, and the ones I have found run like a skid mark from the previous occupant, across a hotel bed sheet, as in not fucking good at all. But I have used Microsoft Word and other similar applications, although I tend to fall back on Notepad++ for making notes. 

Writing with pen and paper is usually a last resort thing for me. Although I absolutely fucking loathe typing out on a mobile phone... and actually prefer writing with pen and paper than doing that, sometimes. That said I do like the voice to text recognition on my phone, it does that pretty well, except for punctuation. 

[PolkovnikRybalko]

I use Libre Office Writer for anything long, and Notepad for short things like blog comments.  Thanks to my third grade teacher, my handwriting is very legible, but also very slow, and combined with my fibromyalgia, I get writer's cramp very quickly.  Anything more than about ten words, and I much prefer to do it on my computer.