Getting Started
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Ink Odyssey Transcript Welcome to Ink Odyssey, a podcast for creative writers. My name is Stephen McCumber, and I am a fiction writer. I’m here to share my experiences and thoughts with you. Being creative people who endeavor to imagine and dream, let’s get started with a little practice, shall we? First, imagine some music, calm and low. Can’t hear it? Try again. [Cue music] Timbers shudder as our galley bumps against the dock. The great barge market floats in the middle of a bay encircled in the arms of a long dead volcano. Merchants fill every space they can buy and shelf items in every nook and cranny they can make. One merchant sells nothing but abacus’s from cheap painted scrap wood for teaching children to ones of exotic woods and spider silk and polished stone. Across the way, a merchant sells talismans and wards against evil from simple writing on paper to carvings in fossilized bone. Everywhere you look there are items of every quality for every trade. Pens and paper, swords and shields, saws and chisels, pots and pans, needle and thread, on and on and on the stalls go with ever more to show. Can you see it? Are you with me? Good. Get comfortable and let’s talk. Today I would like to talk to you about the tools of writing. When I say tools of writing, I don’t mean technique or method; I mean the physical tools we use to write. Pen and paper are essentially what we’ll be talking about. In today’s world, however, we have far more options than that. Not that you need more than pen and paper, if that’s what you enjoy then by all means, keep doing it. Before we dive in too deep, I want to talk about costs. Writing is one of the least monetarily 1 Before we dive in too deep, I want to talk about costs. Writing is one oIfn tkh eO ldeyassste my oTnraentasrcirlyipt expensive pursuits there is. Trust me on this. If you write on the computer odds are good, you didn’t buy that machine for writing and writing only; it serves other functions that are probably more important in keeping your life running smoothly day to day. As a woodworker, I can tell you a good hand tool costs more than most writing software, and a power tool costs more still. A variety of power tools are easily more expensive than a computer. Painting either digitally or physically is far more expensive, paint and canvas aren’t cheap, a good artist’s tablet for digital work isn’t either. Music is the same, I’m not even seriously into music and the instruments I’ve bought add up to a higher monetary figure than all of my writing expenses. Where writing isn’t cheap, is in the cost of time. Writing will eat up every moment of your life if you let it. I’m saying this from personal experience, there’s so much to do and we can only do it step by step, and it will devour every moment you offer it. My point is this; if you are serious about writing, spend some money on it, even with fancy things it won’t be expensive. If those fancy things make your day to day writing experience easier or more pleasurable, then it is money well spent. If money is tight, I understand, but if you can save up here and there, it’ll be worth it. So where do we begin? Let’s start with hardware. As I’ve said before you need little, just pen and paper, and somewhere to write with them I suppose. The beauty of a notebook is you can use it anywhere, it just depends on your comfort level. I can’t point to any studies I’m afraid, but I’ve read that when writing by pen and writing by computer, our brains behave differently. I only say this to tell you that if you find writing by hand is key to your creative process, there is probably a valid scientific reason for it and let no one tell you it’s outdated and that you should use a computer. Do what works for you, even in how you write. That being said, if you haven’t tried to write on a computer and you have one, give it a go. Digital information is much easier to duplicate, copy, edit, and manage than handwritten papers, plus you can print them off to write on. Better yet, there’s new software and hardware coming out now that nullifies the modern day problems of writing by hand. Scanners exist that scan a sheet of paper and turn the words into a digital format. I’ve never used one of these tools and haven’t researched them much, so I can’t tell you how accurate they are. Another option is some new tablets coming out that you can write on that feel more natural. One such is the ReMarkable tablet, I’ve looked into it and it looks interesting. I’m not endorsing it mind you, I have no hands on experience with it and cannot vouch for it, but it is something that would be fun to try out. These tablets will cost, but the newest ReMarkable tablet is four hundred dollars at the time of this recording, a good table saw is over a thousand, and a Wacom tablet for a digital artist can be two or three thousand, so you’re still coming out ahead of other creative fields. For the rest of us who don’t write by hand, that leaves typewriters and computers. Unless you really love a typewriter and the nostalgic value of one, just use a computer. As far as computers go there are smart phones, tablets, laptops, and desktops. I really don’t want to get into details on these, they all have pros and cons which have more or less weight for each of us. I’m going to assume you’re familiar with these devices and don’t want to go over things you probably already have figured out. If you need to buy something, computers are powerful enough nowadays that even the base models should be able to run writing software with no problems. Anyway, that’s enough on that. I’ll tell you about my setup in terms of hardware and 2 Anyway, that’s enough on that. I’ll tell you about my setup in terms ofI hnakr Odwdyasrsee ayn Tdranscript software, why I have it the way I do, and then I’ll wrap up with other software that’s out there. All right, my setup. Having a desk job and writing has led to me sitting down far too much throughout the day, because of this I bought a standing desk with a hydraulic system and motor with a digital keypad that has saved settings, I can raise it to my desired standing height and lower it to my desired sitting height at the touch of a button. This takes up space and cost a few hundred dollars, but paired with the standing mat I bought it has made a noticeable difference for me. Standing desks can range from a few hundred dollars to a few thousand, so you may have to do some hunting to find what works best for you. I have a desktop computer with two large monitors, a split keyboard, headphones, and a monochrome printer. I have two monitors because I like to have everything I need visible instead of swapping between windows. When writing my prose I’ll have half of one screen for the scene, the other half for my plan, and the other monitor will my other reference material if it’s needed. Listening to music through my headphones makes it easier for me to focus on my work and get lost in it. If you’re unfamiliar with a split keyboard, think of a keyboard that's been cut in half with a cord connecting the two pieces. I’ve got broad shoulders and having my arms pinched in front of me for hours day after day was causing constant pain. Having the keyboard parted and wider made a tremendous difference for me. That’s one reason I hate laptops, I find them uncomfortable to use. That being said, I bought a split keyboard for my laptop and my wife got me a lap desk for Christmas, so it’s far better than it used to be. I would highly encourage anyone to look into a split keyboard, it’s strange at first, but I love them and they have helped cut down on joint pain. I have three pieces of software I use for my writing, though I probably must get another one or two, which we’ll get into later. I have Scrivener, Aeon Timeline, and Pro Writing Aid. Scrivener and Aeon Timeline are what I use when building and writing my story. Pro Writing Aid is what I use when it comes time to do my line-by-line edits to polish my words for publication. Both Aeon Timeline and Pro Writing Aid can work with Scrivener, it’s not a seamless integration, but it’s not too complicated and for me they add enough benefit to outweigh any inconvenience. Scrivener is about fifty dollars and has a version for Mac, PC, and IOS. Their Mac version is more updated than their windows version, so if you’re Mac user you are in luck.