Question to professional writers?

Question

Do writers use traditional paper pen to write or use keyboard
How much time does it take them on an average scale to write a short story - 2000 words
From where do they learn writing skills ?
Any books they refer ?

Answer 1

My handwriting is atrocious, partly because of my sugar intake that makes me shake too much while writing. I much prefer this computer keyboard to do my writing because I can type well over 85 wpm. So long as the inspiration of the story remains intact in my mind, I can finish the first draft in an hour--perhaps much less.

Years ago a literary agency in Arkansas recommended that I purchase "The Elements of Style" by Strunk and Williams. (My first submission was terrible!) That was excellent advice because the booklet is an invaluable tool in the specifics and nitty-gritty of good writing. I keep my copy near the keyboard.

The craft of writing on my part has been accomplished through careful study, constant critiques of my stories, and a thick skin to continue writing.

The writings of John Grisham stand out for me, but so do the novels written about the Old West, American Indians, and fur trappers, my primary choice of genre to read.

My strongest suggestion for would-be writers is to take a creative writing class at the local community college. Learn the short cuts in the class rather than the hard way by critiques and edits of the manuscript. Concentrate on proper English, punctuation, dialogue, and sentence structure while in school.

Learn to cut and trim away the fat of your prose--even as it hurts to do so.

Answer 2

I think that younger writers always use computer while older tends to use both pens and computer. Its your choise realy.

There are numerous of how to write a book out in the bookshops. Try to google em or ask your local bookstore about one.

About the time its take to write a story that question cant be answered. It realy depends on what kind of story it is or if it is within a a book or a short story. The most writing time goes into thinking the story up and rewriting the drawts after the writing. A good writer could write 2 000 words a day with out problem but a short story of that length is going to take a lot longer time since you have to be brutal short and presice about whats going into your story. Its not just writing 2 000 words but writing down the words that make the story good.

The best way to learn about writing is to write. Atend to courses and just keep writing as much as possible. There are no substitute for writing when it came down how to learn to write. Johan

Answer 3

I'm not a professional writer, but to answer your question they're all individual. I've read interviews with some that write with a paper and pen, some that use a computer: one young writer who's recently brought out his debut novel to great acclaim uses an old typewriter. Lord knows what he'll do when it breaks.

I've no idea how long it takes them to write. Again, I've heard of people banging out a novel in a weekend (Jack Kerouac), and others taking several decades. My last short story (around 2000 words) took three short bursts to write the first draft, then eight revisions - so around a week and a bit of an hour or so a session.

I've no idea where they learn to write. I suspect there are a lot of different answers to this.

There are dozens of books on story structure, or how most/all stories are derivatives of 8 or 36 basic themes and so on. For the technicalities of writing; sentence structure, punctuation, etc., there are a couple of excellent books from penguin. "The writer's manual" is one of them.

Again, I realise this question wasn't addressed to me, but thought I'd reply regardless.

Answer 4

It can be either. Depends on which you like better. If you would rather have a paper and pen to carry around with you anywhere, then that's fine. If you would rather type it, that's fine too. It all depends on the writer.

I think it depends, again, on the writer. =)
If you write/type fast, it shouldn't take long.

Just keep writing and practicing. Look up words in the dictionary, use thesauruses. You just keep writing.

Thesaurus and dictionary are good to keep in handy. You could also try a guide a famous writer wrote. Like Stephen King's On Writing. Or try looking up writing workbooks and workshops.

I hope I helped, kinda. I'm not a professional or anything - just wanted to try. ^_^

Answer 5

training in literature and journalism are great, however the final may be a author's workshop. That way you will possibly be around those with comparable profession objectives who can furnish comments on your artwork. it is going to additionally furnish help to get used to grievance, that's something anybody in the humanities needs to learn. in simple terms don't be intimidated if it gets slightly nasty, via fact writing is somewhat aggressive and stress can mount somewhat rapidly. yet as quickly as you get previous that, the instructions which you learn may be constructive.