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I saw this question in a comic strip today or yesterday. Do you think that writers of the past (Shakespeare, Poe, Twain, [insert name here], etc.) would have produced different works if they were able to write with PCs rather than by hand? If so, how would their works have been different?
I whole heartedly believe the answer is yes. I cant tell you whether the work would be for the better or worse, that would probably be for the individual reader to decide. But doing a lot of writing myself I find there is a big difference when I am pecking away at the keyboard as opposed to writing by hand on a legal pad. My thoughts flow differently when writing by hand, maybe a little deeper because it's something I'm used to doing, but when I'm typing I am concentrating not only on the story itself but my typing as well (which stinks by the way).
I write better with the keyboard than I do by hand. Michael Crichton writes many of his novels with a palm pilot while flying all over the world. I suspect that each writer will develop a fondness for different types of technology. Most would probably love the computer because of the ability to store, encrypt, and mass produce his work with the blink of an eye. 🙂
Another point is that writing with a computer makes it easier to go back and rewrite small or large sections of a work. I think that authors of the past would be less likely to correct minor bits of sentences or passages if they were not borderline about keeping them. How many times have we written essays and upon reading them and re-reading them we change a word here and there and there?
Thats what writers are supposed to do. Stephen King calls it killing your baby (For him he would say that) but what he means is its hard for a writer to go in and change or edit out something that he created. I know it is for me. I know it is easier for me to correct and edit on the computer (before I get attached). 😀
