Writers - where do you write?

[November]

Where do you write your drafts? What do you use to write and store you thoughts on before you have a complete story? How do you save it safely? Where do you publish? What themes do you like to write on? Do you self promote or set the story free and see how it goes? What makes you want to keep writing?

 

[Fuffy Baith]

I've been using Papyrus Author for a few years now, to write novel format. I can write down ideas on the side like a "Post-It board", I can separate out my chapters, and I save it multiple times, to my computer, to an external hard-drive and to the cloud. I learned the hard way once, when I didn't have a back up and had to rewrite a bunch of edits. I also write my thoughts and ideas out on paper, usually type it up and then print it out, so I have all my ideas organized. Kind of like my own story bible. I haven't published in years. I tried WattPad but didn't like it. I'm not good at self promotion, and the one book I did get published didn't sell well and the publisher dropped me. Working on my novel now, and what keeps me going is that I truly love the story that I am building and telling and I enjoy the process of writing start to finish. Even if I never make any money off it and now one reads it, I'll always keep writing.

 

[twoslayers]

I write on my laptop. For anything other than flash fiction, I write an outline, then break it down by chapter, then start writing. I write a chapter, then edit, and don't try to edit as I go too much. I write a lot of Buffy fanfics, some are crossovers with other shows, and I lean more to writing f/f romantic pairings. A lot of AU stories. I like to put Buffy characters into thriller settings. I publish on Archive of Our Own where I post as storiwr. I do have several original novels in progress, all of which are very start and stop. I occasionally dabble in poetry, and was published in a few printed collections many years ago.

 

[NotASlayer]

I write in Notepad, at least for drafts. It's stored on my computer and OneDrive. Mostly what I do is flash fiction, with quite a lot of femslash fanfic, though occasionally cosmic horror. And lesbian, um, naughtiness, though that is harder to finish.*

*I was going to say bring to a climax...

 

[DeepBlueJoy]

I write fiction on my laptop, in my bed, using MS Word.
Occasionally, if I am on a roll, i make story notes longhand.

I write poetry and songs longhand, just about anywhere, on paper, cardboard.... Packaging material, wrappers, etc. - using anything that makes a mark - pen, pencil, crayon.

 

[wolfheart]

I make drafts on paper and when im sure about the story, i write the story fullout, had some great stories who are cemented in my head but are gone on paper and pc. Like The wolf who wouldtnt cry to the moon, Jack the good shark, Why ? Wolf! Why?

 

[CrypticMystic]

I write on my computer in LibreOffice. It depends on how big and complicated the fic is. Lots of times I just wing it. With my 40 chapter Dresden Files fix it, though I had several documents for outlines, lore and other items.

I actually wound up going downstairs one night right after getting into bed to hastily type out something that came to mind for a BTVS fic I've been working on, lol.

 

[NotASlayer]

I actually wound up going downstairs one night right after getting into bed to hastily type out something that came to mind for a BTVS fic I've been working on, lol.

This is why I have a notebook beside the bed.

 

[Ethan Reigns]

I started out with writing by hand then realized I couldn't read what I had written, so I moved to a computer. I started out in Word Perfect then moved to Word then to Libre Office.

 

[ILLYRIAN]

I always use MS Word on my desktop computer, mainly 'cos its a force of habit, it has been made flamin' awkward because of MS 365. One problem is changing what I have written, that and the software going all ca-bleu-ey. A few months ago it took out the fan fics I was doing. My latest problem was changing words on the first five pages meant I didn't get anywhere for ages. Still, I kept trying, having new thoughts on writing new stories from old story's became harder to do with MS 365.

 

[CrypticMystic]

This is why I have a notebook beside the bed.

I might have to start doing that!

 

[November]

Thanks all 🙂 I am going to check out all of these options. I appreciate you sharing your knowledge.

I have filled 16 handwritten notebooks in less than a month, so I figured it was time to get it on to the computer somewhere. I am open to buying the right software, since microsoft word doesnt just come free with the laptops anymore!

Papyrus Author

This looks great, thanks for sharing! I had never heard of it.

 

[NotASlayer]

@November Notepad is really simplistic and not the best in many ways. It can just be easier to write without all the bells and whistles. Notepad+ is better, and free.

 

[DeepBlueJoy]

I always use MS Word on my desktop computer, mainly 'cos its a force of habit, it has been made flamin' awkward because of MS 365. One problem is changing what I have written, that and the software going all ca-bleu-ey. A few months ago it took out the fan fics I was doing. My latest problem was changing words on the first five pages meant I didn't get anywhere for ages. Still, I kept trying, having new thoughts on writing new stories from old story's became harder to do with MS 365.

I refused to write on rental software so i wont ever use 365 as my work would become unopenable should i ever lack the funds to rent access to my own work.

I might have to start doing that!

Been keeping pen, note & drawing paper next to my bed since i was a kid.

Used to have a 3 ring binder with poems in front and drawings in the back. Wish i knew where it was. Tons of notebooks, notepads, random scraps...

 

[NotASlayer]

I refused to write on rental software so i wont ever use 365 as my work would become unopenable should i ever lack the funds to rent access to my own work.

The idea of renting instead of buying is something I find offensive. I bought second hand copies of Office and various Adobe Creative Suite software on eBay second hand. Totally legally, according to the sellers; I admit I had no interest in checking to be positive, especially when it comes to Adobe. Old for Office; very old for Creative Suite.

Adobe CS6 was the last time you could buy their software instead of renting it. Given that Creative Cloud came out in - checks - 2013, that means the software I am using lacks 13 years of updates. Updates that, according to Adobe, are needed. Yet I haven't needed them once. Now, admittedly I have only had them for a few years so I would have only spent a few hundred pounds in updates, but my experience shows that they aren't needed for me, probably no other amateur and likely not for various minor professionals. And I think that shows the real reason why they went to renting with updates instead of new software. Previously, someone could buy the software and use it for years and years without issue. All that money Adobe was missing... Now, with monthly rentals, customers become cash cows.

Of course, all this looks like it's going to cause issues for Adobe as their greed - you apparently have to pay a fee to stop paying the monthly fee - led to someone using AI to clone their software. And distribute it for free.

 

[DeepBlueJoy]

The idea of renting instead of buying is something I find offensive. I bought second hand copies of Office and various Adobe Creative Suite software on eBay second hand. Totally legally, according to the sellers; I admit I had no interest in checking to be positive, especially when it comes to Adobe. Old for Office; very old for Creative Suite.

Adobe CS6 was the last time you could buy their software instead of renting it. Given that Creative Cloud came out in - checks - 2013, that means the software I am using lacks 13 years of updates. Updates that, according to Adobe, are needed. Yet I haven't needed them once. Now, admittedly I have only had them for a few years so I would have only spent a few hundred pounds in updates, but my experience shows that they aren't needed for me, probably no other amateur and likely not for various minor professionals. And I think that shows the real reason why they went to renting with updates instead of new software. Previously, someone could buy the software and use it for years and years without issue. All that money Adobe was missing... Now, with monthly rentals, customers become cash cows.

Of course, all this looks like it's going to cause issues for Adobe as their greed - you apparently have to pay a fee to stop paying the monthly fee - led to someone using AI to clone their software. And distribute it for free.

You can only gouge and control for so long before people find replacements or workarounds, legal or not. This goes double for now the internet has so many tools to do things for which one might once have had to take classes. And tools to accomplish it, many actually legal.

My artwork software is less sophisticated but does all the things i need to do. Most of it is cheap or free and all of it resides on my own computer.

I never upgraded adobe's pdf reader. I have other software that reads and writes pdfs now so i no longer need care about if i have online access when i have work to do.

My back ups are fire proof drives, not the cloud where an organization i was part of lost over 20,000 of my images after moving to the cloud for "safety" and "convenience".

Because i am paranoid, I had backed up a lot of it to my hard drives where what is left it is no longer easily available to others, but the organization saves money? (shrug) The rest of us peons transfer huge amounts of data in various inconvenient ways.

None of us trusts the "new" cloud convenience. But the company got rid of their (stable, well maintained) servers that also managed their financial side flawlessly for years...

Funny thing, cloud storage companies are nowhere as motivated to care about individual servers the way creators & owners always are. For them it is just rental propery.

One unseen consequence of using cloud storage and software is that some of us do not always live on the grid. It is quite possible (sometimes desirable) to be offline but still have power to run a laptop.

Possession (of my own creative work) is 9/10ths of my sanity.