What is it about longhand which makes some writers prefer to use it, especially during the initial stages?
Writing in longhand.
It's cheaper?
And easier to carry around?
Interesting question!
You can write up the margins and between the lines.
When you correct things you can see the originals as well. So at the end of the session you can see that you HAVE done lots of work, even if you then crossed most of it out!
The words flow out of the pen which is connected to your hand. That's a more direct physical connection than the one between tapping something with your fingers and the words appearing on a screen.
Handwriting is more expressive - you can vary the size or pressure of your strokes, but to do the same on a keyboard you have to stop, interrupting the flow, and apply formatting.
On a basic level, at first it was easier for me to write than to type just 'cos of more practice. So the unconscious side of the mind wasn't being dragged into the conscious side by having to think 'which buttons for cut and paste'. And that's starting from a point where I had learned to touchtype - before then the inspiration is continually founght against by having to think where the next damn letter is!
Now that keyboards are ubiquitous, I give handwriting maybe two more generations!
Ever tried using a laptop or notebook (can't afford an ipad) on the tube? Damn sight easier to scribble on a piece of paper or handback notebook. I get through a lot of fineliner type pens these days as they can be used at all angles unlike biros. I tend to do a lot of scribbling on trains as there is always some good source material sitting across the aisle!
The other big problem I have is I find it very difficult to read a long document from a screen. I tend to write rather stream of consciousness so if I think of a good bit which I'm not sure where it goes yet, I can just write it. I'll then eventually print out and mark up to where I want to move stuff but there's something about writing. Possibly because I don't trust microsoft and suspect that one day I'll plug all of my datasticks into the computer and find that everything is gone.
There can be a problem when writing due to the editorial side of the brain overwhelming the creative side of the brain, which can stifle the imagination. I think when using a keyboard the temptation to edit and correct mistakes while writing is all too easily achievable and the creative aspect of the exercise is then interrupted. It's as if you want to see perfect text immediately.
Writing in freehand doesn't seem to afford the same facility and allows a more carefree attitude to what is being put down on paper. It can be quite difficult to turn off the internal editor and let ideas flow, unrestricted. Mind maps are a good example, where thoughts and ideas are poured out, to be sorted at a later time.
Writing's a trade, whereas creativity is an art.
Quote: andyblacksheep @ April 12 2011, 9:50 AM BSTThe words flow out of the pen which is connected to your hand. That's a more direct physical connection than the one between tapping something with your fingers and the words appearing on a screen.
Is it? Your fingers are still touching the keyboard, I don't really see any difference. If anything typing is more direct, because it's quicker and keeps up with your thoughts, rather than labouriously scribbling each word.
I have a real problem with writing longhand now. Because I've been typing for so so long my hand has "forgotten" how to write. Even after a few sentences I start getting cramp in my thumb muscle and my handwriting's atrocious, I stopped using joined-up letters years ago because nobody could decipher my handwriting. (Not even me, sometimes).
Think I'll stick to typing 
Quote: Lee Henman @ April 12 2011, 11:01 AM BSTIf anything typing is more direct, because it's quicker and keeps up with your thoughts, rather than labouriously scribbling each word.
Depends how fast you type/write!
I used to write everything up first, then type, but I find myself doing that much less these days; often only scribbling down ideas in a pad, as opposed to full scenes.
Quote: Griff @ April 12 2011, 11:56 AM BSTPlus you can take a pen and paper anywhere. I'm never going to be one of those people who can be bothered to boot up a laptop on the bus. And notebooks filled with jottings are a wondrous thing for browsing through old ideas, far more than a bunch of Word documents on a hard drive.
Jeremy Dyson said his main source of comedy ideas is his notebook. He carries it wherever he goes and jots stuff down that he finds funny, then tears the pages out and stuffs them in a folder to peruse later. Personally I prefer to use my little dictaphone.
(awaits penis gags)
Quote: Lee Henman @ April 12 2011, 12:03 PM BSTPersonally I prefer to use my little dictaphone.
Lee grabs his dictaphone as inspiration hits:
'Jet from Gladiators to host a millennium barn dance at Yeovil aerodrome. Properly policed. It must not, I repeat not, turn into an all-night rave.'
Quote: evertsen @ April 12 2011, 10:23 AM BSTThere can be a problem when writing due to the editorial side of the brain overwhelming the creative side of the brain, which can stifle the imagination. I think when using a keyboard the temptation to edit and correct mistakes while writing is all too easily achievable and the creative aspect of the exercise is then interrupted. It's as if you want to see perfect text immediately.
Writing in freehand doesn't seem to afford the same facility and allows a more carefree attitude to what is being put down on paper. It can be quite difficult to turn off the internal editor and let ideas flow, unrestricted. Mind maps are a good example, where thoughts and ideas are poured out, to be sorted at a later time.
I totally agree with the above. This is why I begin all my projects longhand. I also don't use a pen, I always use a pencil. This is because the idea of a pencil gives me the freedom to scribble without the output seeming to be permanent, as with ink.
Def.
I just find it easier. In that, it's better for keeping up with my speed of thought. Even though I end up not being able to read half of what I've written.
I always use a laptop / computer or whatever for the same reason as Lee. My handwriting is shite and God help the poor proofreader or editor confronted by reams and reams of my spidery hand.
On the writing with a pen is more organic question, I personally don't buy into that really. Surely the page / screen is the medium to catch the thought process, and to me it seems immaterial either way, so long as there's a tangible result at the end of whichever method an author chooses. The point made that the temptation to instantly edit is valid of course but it can be ignored (the temptation not the point made) with a bit of application.
It's also true a pad and pen can be used anywhere, but really it's horses for courses. Neither method is better or worse, in my opinion, and there are many successful exponents using both methods.
If it weren't for the computer I would never have started writing for although I had always fancied having a stab at it, my aforementioned crap 'fist' was enough to put me off let alone any prospective readers.
EDIT:
These comments are made in the context of writing a specific piece where the writer knows where they are going with it. I would concede that P&P is better for perhaps plotting and storyboarding, and also a notebook full of stuff could be trawled through easier and probably more productively than a load of files on a hard drive.
None of you have mentioned a typewriter, presumably because you either don't even know what they are or have never ever used one.
But they are still the 'icon' of a writer, n'est'pa?
However, this topic is of course biased because all of you have computers and the impecunious writers who still use old typewriters are not present here.
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The later typewriters, before they were driven into oblivion, were quite clever, they had ribbons with ink and ribbons with lift off (or white-out) sticky stuff and were capable of lifting-off letters that had been typed. The especially clever ones could remember the whole line you had typed and if you backspaced over it to correct something, they would lift-off the wrong part and re-type the corrected line.
I bought a nice one for my old Mum so that she could write letters after her handwriting got too shaky. She would never have been able to get on with a computer, but as she had used many typewriters in the past, she really loved the little modern portable typewriter. It even had alternative fonts, having the actual typeface on a 'daisy wheel'.
Hey Bill, isn't time for your Horlicks? 
As a nipper I had one though it may have been a toy, I can't actually remember. I do rememebr the bloody thing was always buggering up. Still It was great fun if perhaps not exactly suitable for me to bash out Lord of the Rings on it.
Don't mention typewriters, Bill! The air in our house was bright blue when I used to type up adoption reports for the Court and as sure as Hell the mistake would happen when I was near the bottom of the page! No use Tippex since I had to hand in an immaculate report. Computers transformed my world and I'd never write longhand now - only make rough notes. Actually I'm expecting to be arrested for fraud one of these days as I've a job signing my name on the rare occasions it's needed in a shop or in the bank.