Edit While Transcribing

I write both on a computer and on paper. Both have pros and cons to them, though I generally prefer using a word processor. Writing digitally allows for quicker writing, easier editing, and is more legible than my handwriting. However, writing on paper does have one unexpected positive quality that is worth noting.

Anything I write on paper that I want to keep, I transcribe into a Word document. I am always paranoid about losing my writing, so having a digital version makes me feel much safer. Of course, that means that I will have to go through my entire story, line by line, writing down everything I have already written. This seems like yet another con for writing on paper, but I would disagree.

When I finish writing a draft, I'm too close to it to do anything careful like proofread or edit. I already know what I wrote and what comes next, so I skip over parts, and those are the parts that need the work. There are techniques to help overcome that, and transcribing is one of them.

When I am typing out a story, I have to go one word at a time to make sure I get them all. This brings me back to my normal pace for reading and writing, which is the pace at which I speak. That is the pace when I do my best editing, too. Now, I am forced to read my work slowly and carefully and experience each sentence. I can tell when a word or phrase just isn't fitting right and can change it right there. This allows me to get through my second draft almost instantly after writing my first. If I write my first draft on a computer, I probably won't transcribe it onto paper or into another Word document, so I lose this editing opportunity.

Writing on papers has a list of pros, which is a story for another time, but this is an uncommon one, so I felt it deserved a special recognition. If you need (or just really want) to get through your drafting process faster, try transcribing as a way to force you to slow down and edit as you normally would.