A Piece of My Mind: Paper or
Plastic?
Bennet Pomerantz
If you don't want to be replaced by a computer, don't act like
one.
~ Arno Penzias.
If you think you are worth what you know, you are very wrong. Your
knowledge today does not have much value beyond a couple of years. Your
value is what you can learn and how easily you can adapt to the changes
this profession brings so often.
~ Jose M. Aguilar
When you are in a workshop setting, people ask the strangest questions. A
young man asked “How do you write?”
He looked confused when I asked him to explain what he meant. He said
“Well do you lug a laptop around wherever you go when you have an idea?”
I smiled “I don’t!”
“You don’t?”
“NO", I said, “I use a manual system.”
“A manual system?”
I pulled out my knapsack and pulled out a spiral pad. “I usually start
from pen and paper and work my way to a computer.”
“Doesn’t that slow down your creativeness?”
I said “No. It increases it! If you use a plastic media to start with,
you are at the mercy of the machine and its battery. A notebook and a pen
don’t need a battery.”
The workshop class seemed amazed at that statement.
Let's break it down here. Most of us have idea from our idea file or a
simple premise you wrote down on a yellow sticky note.
You could outline your idea or you could wing it. An outline is a
road map where you can put more details, ideas, and invention to add to your
plot. You can use an outline to help out in your character research or
location. Winging it is like flying by the seat of your pants with paper.
You have no direction when you wing it, but you can free write and develop
the idea without a net. Either way works as long as you finish your story or
novel.
The young man spoke up again. “You could still do this on the computer,
couldn’t you?”
“Sure you can.” I retorted. “ However you have to have a file. Create a
file if you want to keep it!” I changed directions as I said, “ Using a pen
and paper is easier. That paper is a sounding board. It is easier to create.
You can carry a pad in anyplace and anywhere making it leisurely since most
laptops weigh about five or more pounds, the better choice is the pad.
When I remember this workshop when I sat in my HMO. Any medical doctor’s
waiting room is a slow and boring place. Nevertheless, once you turn on a
computer, that's when the nurse calls you back to see the doctor. I use a
pad, so if the nurse calls me back and I am waiting again, the ideas still
flow on the paper
I am not the only one who uses a pad. Stephen King wrote parts of The
Green Mile on a pad during a rain out at a baseball game. Jackie Collins
(the author of Chance and Hollywood Wives) writes from a pad
and has assistants type up her text.
Many may disagree with me on my choice of writing tools...but to them I
say this: Paper or plastic?
Until next time, reach for the stars.
****
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