A long time ago, when my children were children, they discovered their granny’s old Olivetti manual typewriter. They were entranced. They both played around with it until my son - very young - sat down to type in earnest. He wrote about deep inner thoughts and expressed a part of his personality which we had never seen before or since - even though he was given the typewriter. It had liberated an aspect of his psyche. Fascinating stuff. Imagine a similar effect on a writer. These things can happen.
Thanks for the posts on equipment. I’ve hesitated to feedback as I could only really echo your colleague’s comments on ballpoint pens. I’m not sure if that is my impatience or your labouring of a point. I can see why environmental issues matter and that your initial stance here is important. Beyond that I would say to anyone looking for advice, “Just get on with it” and then maybe recommend your book if they want the detail… Personally, I would have abandoned the book by now unless you could actually tie this content better into the meticulousness you talk about or even say why you think this is important. At the moment it just feels laboured.
what typewriters don't afford, unlike writing by hand or even more so the superficially more similar experience of word processing, is an ease of editing. I don't have a typewriter nor have ever really tried to write with one, though i remember clearly the sound of my father's bashing away and the sound of the carriage return. But i imagine it requires closer connection between thoughts and words and more commitment to how you are expressing yourself without the ease of immediate ready edits of small or large chunks of text. I wonder whether the output of typewritten text is more direct as a result, more thinking done in advance of words appearing on the page? Less spit it out and tidy up after, more considered and measured and clear-sighted?
A long time ago, when my children were children, they discovered their granny’s old Olivetti manual typewriter. They were entranced. They both played around with it until my son - very young - sat down to type in earnest. He wrote about deep inner thoughts and expressed a part of his personality which we had never seen before or since - even though he was given the typewriter. It had liberated an aspect of his psyche. Fascinating stuff. Imagine a similar effect on a writer. These things can happen.
What a moving thing.
I learned how to type on a manual typewriter in high school. To this day, I still hit the laptop keys much harder than they deserve.
Thanks for the posts on equipment. I’ve hesitated to feedback as I could only really echo your colleague’s comments on ballpoint pens. I’m not sure if that is my impatience or your labouring of a point. I can see why environmental issues matter and that your initial stance here is important. Beyond that I would say to anyone looking for advice, “Just get on with it” and then maybe recommend your book if they want the detail… Personally, I would have abandoned the book by now unless you could actually tie this content better into the meticulousness you talk about or even say why you think this is important. At the moment it just feels laboured.
what typewriters don't afford, unlike writing by hand or even more so the superficially more similar experience of word processing, is an ease of editing. I don't have a typewriter nor have ever really tried to write with one, though i remember clearly the sound of my father's bashing away and the sound of the carriage return. But i imagine it requires closer connection between thoughts and words and more commitment to how you are expressing yourself without the ease of immediate ready edits of small or large chunks of text. I wonder whether the output of typewritten text is more direct as a result, more thinking done in advance of words appearing on the page? Less spit it out and tidy up after, more considered and measured and clear-sighted?