I was interested to read JG Ballard's comments in Writers' Rooms in yesterday's Guardian, especially his assertion that no great novel has yet been written on a PC. It struck me that I've absolutely no idea whether he's right, simply because I've no idea how most writers write. Was he being a bit of a grumpy old man (why should a PC be considered less 'authentic' than a typewriter), or was he making a point about the particular way a computer allows you to write? I know a lot of writers, even if they have no qualms about computers generally, like to get their first drafts down on paper by hand, maybe because it makes you think that little bit harder about every word if there's not the option to delete and rewrite straight away.
For my own part, well, it all depends. I DO like to write by hand wherever possible, and type things up much later, but it's not always possible. What about when you're sitting in front of a PC at work and a few lines come to you? Straight onto the screen, I reckon. But I'd be interested to hear people's preferences...
2 comments:
what strikes me is that most so-called great novels couldn't have been written on a pc... as far as i know there never was a Pentium Imperial for Dickens to buy... and how do we know that some of todays pc written novels may not in the future be regarded as great... maybe two hundred years from now, some geezer will mention in the paper that people should use the old fashioned pc, as no great novel has ever been written on the holostylus....i write on whatever i have handy.... and lets be honest with ourselves.... most of us may rewrite our firt drafts, then rewrite again, and again, and edit here and there... but an awful lot of us end up resigning the early versions to the shredder... if only due to lack of space... wheres the difference between destroying the written word in the papier mache bucket, and deleting the words from the screen...
I tend to agree. On the other hand, part of the thing about personal preferences is that they're just that - it's a bit of a lucky charm type of thing. I don't suppose it does any harm always using a particular pen or type of paper - if it relaxes you and puts you in the frame of mind for writing, it's doing its job.
It's a bit like the little rituals sportsmen have to get themselves in 'the zone'.
Post a Comment