Category: On Writing

It’s disastrous when your document is lost because it wasn’t saved. All that work, all that time flushed down the toilet because the “save as” command wasn’t clicked.

Even though I learned in school to always save your work every few minutes, there’s a part of me that wants to keep typing without having to pause and click “save as” when I start a document. It’s like pausing for even a second would be slamming down on the brakes, and to resume and pick up where I left off at would be almost impossible.

Being in the zone is where I want to be when I write. But when I am in the zone, I forget to save the work, and like all unfortunate events that can happen on the computer, something awful can happen out of nowhere: the computer freezes, the power can go out, or the program itself crashes. You’re left staring at a blank screen, realizing that all that hard work has been lost, like it had been written in the sand and the wind blew it away.

In my last post, I wrote about the differences between pencils and pens, but is it fair to say that they’ve been supplanted by the keyboard? Besides, a person can write (type, to be accurate) much faster on a keyboard than with a pen or pencil, and to draw on the computer has limitless possibilities–depending on the software and tools, of course.

For example, when writing with a pencil or pen, it takes time to write each letter and word, and editing can be laborious, tedious. But on a word processor, the words can zip by depending on how fast one types. Formatting and spellchecking take just a couple clicks on the mouse, and the same could be said of changing the font, text size, and spacing. Even words, names, and phrases can be replaced throughout the entire document without having to leaf through dozens of pages to find the exact words or phrases.

And when editing, comments and changes can be saved onto the document in real time and shared with other people through email or if they have access to the same document. In fact, digital writing, editing and graphic design has made all the laborious work of the past, which took hours and even days to finish, streamlined to the point where a few clicks can get the job done.

Despite all the advantages that computers and electronic devices have to offer, many people still return to doing work on paper with either a pencil or pen. Even though the final product can be done on the computer, there is something about the experience with writing/drawing on paper that is unique and personal, since it is direct and tactile.

It’s something that digital technology cannot replace, since it resonates with that part of our human experience where we need to be directly connected with the creative process, of fashioning and making things with our hands in the same way a sculptor or a painter directly applies paint to a canvas with a brush. It’s as if the pixels on a screen that represent our art or story is subpar compared to it being held in our hand on a canvas, or when it’s in a physical format, such as a hardcover or paperback book. In a way, it’s not enough for it to be 2D, but 3D.

To start a story, you simply have to write. Even though it sounds simple enough, one of the many things that can get in the way is overthinking it or over planning. With each day we push writing aside from our schedule, the idea starts to lose momentum. We can tell ourselves we’ll write when we feel ready to, or when we’re in the mood. But all that does is delay it from happening. If we do that for long enough, we’ll start to lose interest, and it will end up being a forgotten idea.

We can talk about starting from morning to evening, but until we start, it simply remain an idea, like a world of what ifs and what’s next and maybes that are waiting to see the light of day.

Most of the ideas I’ve had for the novels I’ve written started off as short stories, something I could type in a day or two. But for some ideas, they evolved and grew beyond the confines of a short story, branching out to layers of detail that require hours, weeks, and months of dedication to rummage through and explore.

It begins as a seed that soon grows into a tree that encompasses a universe of imaginative events, bringing forth twists and turns and character arcs and pivotal moments where more mysteries lie. It blooms into something we couldn’t have imagined unless we tended to it overtime with care and passion.

Although we can have dozens of ideas for stories, a small portion will catch our attention, won’t leave our thoughts until we tend them again and again, watering them with our time and research and labor until they stand tall in a field of finished works while others bask in its shadow.

When we write, our thoughts can get ahead of us like we’re trying to catch up with them in a relay race. They sprint ahead while we struggle to hand off the baton and keep up from behind. Sometimes our thoughts will leave us in the dust, speeding blindly forward as if the baton was in its hand when it’s actually empty.

When thoughts get so far ahead that we can’t catch up with them, we do our best to remember what our mind told us, typing from working memory rather than following it side-by-side, which is what we prefer. It’s like our hands, no matter how fast we type, can’t catch up with the voice inside our head that dictates to us at an unrelenting pace.

But instead of lamenting about it, this dilemma presents itself as an opportunity. Writing no longer is a sprint after our thoughts, but a chance to write in broad strokes. Instead of trying to create a masterpiece, it’s a chance to see what secrets the subconscious has to bare.

If we give it a chance, thoughts will begin to spring out in its raw and purest form, unfiltered and organic like a tree branch that extends and twists about openly in the air, unguided by some preconfigured pattern or design. It’s unique and personal without the impression that it’s been borrowed or copied from elsewhere.

It’s ours and of our own making–writing at is finest. So when thoughts start to leap ahead as we write, shrinking far away in the distance, we can at least be free to express the deepest layers of thought that have been dormant in the recesses of our mind.

Typing on a typewriter takes some getting used to if you’ve been typing on a computer a lot. The great thing about typing on a typewriter is the immediacy of the printed word, since they show up on the page the instant you type them.

But what takes some getting used to is the fact that the keys must be pressed more forcefully, like you have to put more effort into pressing the keys instead of letting them roll off your finger tips, as is the case on a computer keyboard. And unlike a keyboard, you can’t fix your mistakes immediately after they’re made, nor can you delete a word if you accidentally typed the wrong one. Whatever mistakes you make are permanent; you have to live with them and move on despite wanting to fix them. And for me, since I’m used to typing fast on the keyboard, typing in a sprint on a typewriter will often leave a trail of light impressions on the page (i.e. uneven darkness in the words).

I’ve seen people type with just one finger on each hand, kind of like they were fishing or hunting for the letters. But I’m the kind of writer that was taught to type with both hands and not look down at my fingers, since it was kind of like cheating.

I do like the sound that the typewriter makes when the keys clack, which creates a strange mechanical rhythm, almost like a beat. Even when I make mistakes, I let them go, since it’s part of the writing process (not trying to make things perfect anyway). And the faster the keys clack, and the more dings I hear after each return, the more that’s being written, like hearing my thoughts come to life.

Sometimes when I write a story, I get so caught up in research that I lose focus on what I was actually writing about. I’ll go down a rabbit hole, becoming more immersed and intrigued in the research itself than the actual story. When this happens, I have to tell myself to pause and get back to writing, or else I’ll get so sidetracked that I’ll stop writing altogether.

It’s similar to going back and editing a draft while you’re in the middle of writing it. Instead of moving forward, adding lines and pages to the story, you spend more time trying to polish it as if it were the final draft. And like research, it can bog you down, take up precious time, spoil the momentum of the writing session.

What I like to do to counteract this is to tell myself to keep writing as if I am on a time crunch. Doing so encourages me to jot everything down onto the page, putting me in the moment of the dialogue and visuals. This urgency to get every thought and idea out before time runs out is like an act of recording their transitory and ephemeral existence before they disappear for good.

When writing the first draft, I’ll use the same word over and over again without realizing it. For example, I’ll use the word “and,” “as” or “the” to no end, or I might start a series of sentences the same way. It’s not until I begin editing the story that I’ll notice these redundancies, and I’ll look for words to substitute them (i.e. synonyms), or I might delete or rewrite the sentence so that it doesn’t sound repetitive.

The Thesaurus can be a great tool during the editing process. When I can’t think of a new word that I’m trying to replace, I’ll use the Thesaurus, which will give a list words that mean (or are similar to) a specific word. It can also provide antonyms, which are words that are opposite of that specific word. I’ll only use the Thesaurus, however, when I’m editing, since my focus during the first draft is to get all my thoughts down–to fill up the pages–rather than to polish the writing.

It’s easy to overlook the small steps that it takes to reach our goals. It’s as if our minds are more enamored by the end product–the goal–as soon as it sets its sights on it. It’s more focused on reaching the finish line rather than the steps that it takes to get there. But much like writing a book or a story, it’s only possible when small steps are taken, since it leads to chapters getting written, and when enough of them are finished, the story is complete.

Or it’s like working on a math equation, where the solution is found by applying the laws of equality several times until the final line is x = a, where a is a number. The solution couldn’t have been found until the intermediary steps were applied. And a book couldn’t be written without pages and chapters being finished. All those small steps matter, since they make up the end product–are necessary to the achievement our goal(s).

Writing is a long journey. It requires countless hours of reflection and internal dialogue within our minds while we pen our thoughts down. There’s no immediate reward for it except the feeling of getting our pent-up feelings and thoughts out into the world.

Becoming a good writer or even a prolific one isn’t something that happens overnight. It takes persistence and years of practice to learn and develop the craft, of putting in the time to mull over the details of our prose, of editing every last sentence and word.

We may feel like there is no reward at the end of the tunnel, as if we’re spending time on something that will not yield some life-changing reward. But it may not be about a reward that’s waiting for us. Writing is like holding up a mirror to our thoughts rather than creating a tangible object that has some utility or function such as a chair or a tool. It doesn’t necessarily have to have a monetary or practical value, since even filling up a journal could bring joy and meaning to us.

Rather, this long journey of finding our voice, of developing our style, of putting ideas and stories down on paper, is what gives life and brings meaning to our ideas and thoughts before they disappear.