Planetfurry BBS

[RunningCat]

For a long time know I have been wondering what writer in this digital age use to write their first drafts of stories. For me as I do not have a laptop I still use a pen a paper and write everything out long hand, was never that good a cursive. HOWEVER, I am in the process of buying a simple laptop that I can connect to the internet and do my writing so that may change.

Any advice from those who use a computes for there first drafts?

Thanks in advance to any and all who respond to this fast cats thoughts and ramblings.

[Rabbit]

My advice is to look for a big battery. I often use my laptop to write away from home, and there's nothing worse for a writer than having to stop before he or she is really finished. In fact, I write away from home so often that to lengthen my "unplugged" time I bought a rechargeable twelve-volt battery meant to power a wheelchair and an automotive cigarette-lighter adapter for the laptop. The setup gives me at least five hours of typing time (I've never run it dry yet) and cost less than $200.

Other than that, pretty much anything in the way of a laptop with a full-sized keyboad will do. Good luck, and happy writing!

[GriffinX]

or if you prefer to talk out any ideas you may have i suggest you set up a voice recognition, now the only draw back that i have found to this way of getting it all down on paper is that i you speak with an accent, dialect or draw that isn't quite right with how the original language you use is suppose to sound you my not get the word you wanted, for example, i am from Utah, now teric can back me up on this, utahns have a distinct ascent just like ppl from new york or the broncs or the south or Texas. i have had to learn to say certain words properly other than the way i have always said them. other than that i find it to much faster than typing and it spells everything for you so not near as many typing errors.

[RunningCat]

How about a second battery by chance. I have a second battery for my PDA but in the last couple years since I got the little device I have yet to need to change to the back up battery and I have always wondered about people who need a second battery if their primary is large enough

[Kasyl]

I work with what I have, where I am.
My laptop has a relatively small battery capacity (about 2 hours from a full charge, already turned on), but that hasn't been an issue... yet. I also back up everything onto my Palm, which follows me everywhere and comes in handy during a fit of inspiration. If worse comes to worse, I use the other backup copy on my flash drive and plug it into any available computer.
If there is no other alternative, I write on paper (I even used a napkin from McDonald's once).

[Rabbit]

[Syrius]

Woody Allen has the habit of writing down a good idea onto a scrap of paper as soon he has it, then he stores it in a drawer. He made Mighty Aphrodite this way. If your laptop is not around, try this. I managed to re-create Kamikaze Kitsune that way, from the lost story that my friend deleted when he nuked his livejournal. ( I only used one scrap of paper and kept it in my wallet, though.)

When I am in the mood to write, though, I use my hotmail account. That means I can access the original draft from anywhere I can get an internet connection.

[Kelvin]

Brains are a good thing to use. I know; I learned that the hard way. *does not use brain*

[Loafer]

First thing I use is my brain what little I have of one from watching all those anime's hehe

Seriously I think my story up in my head and work on the basic details of what I want to be in the story. Usually I come up with the ending long before I finish the story. I write all my story's in notepad and my way is don't bother about spelling or gramer or ever hitting enter until im all done. For me it just saves time to be able to just keep going..

After the main story is done, (feel free to make it up as you go since I do hehe) I put it into word and then hammer out the basic spacing and spelling and junk. after that I would end it off to my friend to look it over since it's always good to have a 2nd opinion in writing.

[RunningCat]

That is cool Loafer. I do something similar, except I do not have any friends who understand the furry universe (or mine for the matter) except those I have online and sometimes it takes a lot to let someone see something that you are not sure about.

[anthony]

I do all my notetaking, outlining and first drafts on an 'ancient' Psion S3c clamshell PDA.

The keyboard is surprisingly good for such a small machine(It's difficult to touch-type, but holding it in both hands and using thumbs to type works surprisingly fast), the black/gray/white(not exactly truecolour) LCD is easy to read in almost all light conditions, and it gives me 45+ Hours active usage on a pair of AAs.

The OS handles multiple instances of the Word(Wysiwyg wordprocessor), spreadshhet, database and other applications, and it''s easy to jump between documents.
The Wordprocessor even has an outline view for easy navigation.
(It's limited to about 42KB filesizes, but as the format is very compact, that can end up as 20 A4/Letter pages)

The only 'problem' in fact is that the optional SSDs needs to be formatted to reclaim space. (This is 'first generation' SSD technology from before 1990 )

The later S5 series is also good, though a bit more flimsy.
(Get the 8MB model, though as the 4MB soon runs out of space)
On this series a pair of AAs only lasts for 30Hours, but you get 'unlimited' length files on it.

[Sigurd Volsung]

Here's the first thing I absolutely need to write and this is absolutely critical, MUSIC, I love iTunes. The music I listen veries greatly depending on what I'm writing, like in order to work on fantasy I need straight instrumental folk, medieval/renaissance, classical that has a purpose, or fantasy video game music (Zelda and Final Fantasy work great). For the urban fantasy stuff I write in the Mystic Wolf stuff it varies on the story itself, some times I need love songs, sometimes I need mellow (not lite but mellow) rock, other times I need straight Punk. With out the music I'm screwed the ideas will jumble. When I'm bored at work I will go over and over the same scene usually of stuff I've already posted on Raccoon's Bookshelf and music doesn't help so at work I usually listen to books or old time radio shows. By the by if you try old time radio shows keep scrap paper or a PDA handy because you'll often get spring board ideas. Often you can get old radio shows from your local library in their books on CD area, if you can't find them their I have a growing library of them, though right now it's limited to mostly sci-fi and adventure, and I'll send you some stuff for the cost of shipping.

As far as writing goes I do most of mine sitting at my desk on the desk top though I almost always have a note book or index cards at paw in case I get a brainstorm.

[Sigurd Volsung]

Just picked up a new tool to get rid of all the annoying note books and note cards. A digital voice recorder

[redcard]

I use an Alphasmart NEO.

It's a full sized keyboard with a small LCD screen (VERY small, think 1/2 the size of an EEE PC) , a USB port, and you simply type on it, then connect it to a PC and send it up.

Battery life is about forever.

[Fel]

Guess I'm a mutant in that I keep most of it in my head. Sometimes I forget things, but at least I always have most of my material at hand.

About all I keep externally is a "reference list" of names, physical statistics, little things like that that I've learned over the years that I can easily forget, and can wreak havoc when it's time to go back and edit.

For me, it is a certainty: I can forget an important supporting character's name twenty seconds after I introduce it, but I can recall some utterly useless bit of trivia like what color a drape was in a chapter I wrote two years ago in a book I finished six months ago with instant and unerring clarity.