#AND IT'S LONGHAND?????!!!!!

[buggeryisthegenus]

Holy shit, someone did it.

Someone made an accurate DS9 polycule diagram.

What do we think of my DS9 polycule diagram?

[petermorwood]

Hi, Peter! I am tossing this question at you, but I hope Diane and some other writers will toss it around, too. Do you still draft your work in longhand? What is it like? I'm asking this as someone who has written by keyboard only for almost 20 years, but started keeping a longhand journal again about four years ago. I'm feeling so blocked that I wonder if I could take up longhand creative writing again.

This got well buried, but better late than never!

I certainly do, much more than @dduane. (She makes a lot of notes in LH, but not much in the way of drafts.)

I've heard / read complaints about longhand (and typewriter) drafting that "you can't correct mistakes". Usually what this means is "you can't delete and over-write".

You can. Use one of these.

The first lays white masking fluid over the error, the other two do it with a strip of white tape, and after a few seconds to let the fluid dry, or immediately with the tape, you can re-write over the top.

I'm sure some people also remember the Tipp-Ex / Liquid Paper paint-pots with brushes, and the little sheets of white-backed correction paper used with typewriters. (Some, like my cartridge-ribbon Smith-Corona, even had a correction cartridge.)

*****

A more usual method with pen or typewriter drafting is strikethrough.

The mistake is still there, of course, and IMO that's not a bug, it's a feature and - so I've found, anyway - makes me think a bit more about what I'm going to write down before pen to paper or finger to key.

Besides, the "wrong" (often first) choice of word may well turn out to be the "right" choice of word after all, once the rest of the paragraph has developed. YMMV, but it happens often enough.

It's also why proper MS format is double-spaced.

In working drafts, this leaves room to add a correction, often using different colours of ink, which can even be done with a typewriter if it has a black-red ribbon.

In a final draft, double-space (and a clear, non-fussy font like Courier or Times Roman) is easier on an editor or test-reader's eyes.

All the business of fancy fonts, typesetting, end of chapter and between-paragraph glyphs * etc. happens afterwards.

*****

* The section-break symbol or "dinkus", can be as simple as one or several asterisks, but may be a fancy little curlicue called a "fleuron" or - if a book has a high enough profile - a appropriate custom design.

[priest-iuput]

Flathead screw

[yoyoseriousfish]

henceforth refering to the void as the frying pan.

yoyoseriousfish

[longhands-the-second]

Latest tristamp rewatch is giving me brainworms.

[marypsue]

something about how short fic / one-shots tend to be places where I get the most mileage out of getting excited about character interactions, and long fic / multichapters tend to be places where I get the most mileage out of getting excited about the setting and its vibe.

[scribefindegil]

once again mad about how applying for disability is like "oh you're too sick to complete tasks? complete this long string of extremely complex tasks. if you don't do it perfectly we will reject you. if you *do* do it perfectly we will probably still reject you. you can expect to hear back from us in between one and three business years. what are you supposed to do in the meantime? idk not our problem."

[longhandsart]

[brionbroadway]

the worst thing brennan has ever done to lou is make him write an essay. everything in acoc included.

[gold-for-xp]

Didn't realize it until I got to the end of the Beam Saber r2pz episodes, but I think the OriCom crew have been my favorite so far. I hope we get some detail on whatever went on with Lunar Leson

Also Memphis Longhand true MVP, best to ever do it, GOAT of all time, etc.

[tennessoui]

Hey Kit just wanted to say I love your fic titles! Do you have a favourite or one you’re most proud of?

aww thank you!! the fic titles of mine i'm most proud of are probably the ones that connect most with the material of the fic in a sort of tongue-in-cheek way

off the top of my head, here's a few examples:

use my body to break your fall (yk, cause obi-wan's a fallen jedi and anakin is being paid to have sex with him lol)

come on baby, sweep me off my feet (yk, cause hot air balloons fly but it's also just a cutesy lil title for a cutesy lil fic)

burn every bridge but please leave me a boat (yk, cause obi-wan sorta leaves the order aka burning that bridge but master skywalker says no thanks get back here and obi-wan says yes master)

[builder051]

I’m pounding out some Creedless Assassins. I’m in the longhand notebook; it’s way easier for me to spew content without worrying about detail edits. I hope to have it up before the weekend is over.

In the meantime, how about a game?

For every 🧠 I receive, I’ll reply with a pondering (I have a ton of them, and they are super random.)

Alternate version: send me one of your ponderings, and I’ll reply with my take.

Let’s make it a nice, social, productive afternoon. :)

[longroadstonowhere]

paradoxcase hat auf deinen Eintrag geantwortet

Neat. I don’t think there’s any way I could do that, because my handwriting is a bit fucked and I get constant hand cramps when trying to write lots of stuff out, and it’s also not a sure thing that I’ll be able to read the handwriting afterwards. But that’s very oldschool, I like it

in all honesty my handwriting is basically indecipherable to other people, and when i'm reading it back myself i'm mostly using it as a memory aid to remember what i was thinking when i originally wrote whatever i'm trying to read, ahahahaha - i've definitely looked back at some older notebooks and could not interpret what i'd written for the life of me

[longhands-the-second]

A little scribble. Experimenting with brushes in procreate again.

[frankencanon]

[longhandsart]

I’ma be real I can’t remember when I did this one lol