Hard copy

[Lin]

Hi there everyone,

So there you are with your novel completed and on the computer ready to roll.   I have this urge to print it all out in old fashioned manuscript form, pin it together and spend time in the corner of a room, curled up, reading my own novel, and checking for how it feels when its finally being read by someone else.

In this way I feel I can write in the margin all the things I want to finalise and check,  before it goes to whoever wants to have it!!  I think I can see it better in this format and feel how the reader feels.

Does anyone else do this?  Please share your thoughts on this one.

Lin

[Nick]

I think this is a very good idea. I usually print out a hard copy of anything I write before submitting it to the client/publisher. I find that often I will see things on the hard copy that I may have missed on screen. Also, if I've gone over my word limit (and I usually do!), it's much better for spotting things that can be cut.

Nick 

[SuzieHarris]

Same here, Nick.

I always print it off in hard copy, then go through it away from the PC. It means your more relaxed, and threfore, more likely to spot those last minute corrections, or facts that need checking.


Suzie

[Lin]

Nice to see us Moderators stick together!!  United we stand etc

Lin

[Symphony]

Absolutely! Me, too! Anything that needs careful scrutiny has to be printed off - I just can't see the things on the screen that clearly and it's so much easier to make big swirly pencil marks and lavish exclamations on paper. Clicking on the appropriate buttons to type WHAT THE HELL WAS I THINKING and insert it as a 'Comment' in the margin, all neat and beautiful, just doesn't give the same satisfaction 

Happy reading, Lin,

Symph

[Lin]

GIGGLE GIGGLE, i HAD WONDERFUL VISIONS!!

LIN

[Nick]

Anybody who's NOT a moderator like to comment on this one?

Nick 

[Foxy]

Ok, I'm up for it. I always print off a hard copy of my work for editing purposes. I heavily scrutinise the work, looking for missing words and missing punctuation marks on the screen, and make sure that I've tracked down every last one of them before I print it out. And then something mysterious must happen during the printing process, because when I look at the hard copy, it is full of typos that have appeared as if out of nowhere.

I do my editing at the computer reading the hard copy and making the corrections on screen, because pens are the devil's tools. My handwriting looks like it is the work of a three year old who is writing in a buggy that is being pushed down a cobbled street.

[Symphony]

Clicking on the appropriate buttons to type WHAT THE HELL WAS I THINKING and insert it as a 'Comment' in the margin, all neat and beautiful, just doesn't give the same satisfaction 

   Killing myself laughing here, Lin. You DO realise that I was talking about my own writing and not yours, don't you? 

[Jayel]

I always print the final manuscript out. and then I read it aloud, since this helps me seeing glaring errors or 'hear' bits of dialogue that don't quite work.  I mark the errors on the hardcopy and then head back to the keyboard for the clean-up.  I normally go through this process several times before it is ready for the editor's eyes.

[robert1704]

Better make two copies in that phase and send one to the copyright-office (without even looking at it) as this may take several months before you get the necessary document

[Symphony]

No point wasting money on copyright until your work has been edited and is ready for publishing 

[Lin]

Many thanks for all your comments, I am not alone!

Lin

[Caroline]

Gosh...I can't imagine anyone *not* printing out a hard copy of the manuscript, no matter how long or short the piece of work! 

[ChipTee]

Yes, I always print hard copy for major edit (often forgetting to number the pages with dire consequence when the cat or a wind gets there before the stapler) and celebrate the myth of the paperless office/study.

Another useful gadget is the shredder, otherwise the place gets stacked high with discarded drafts - which leads one on to papier mache. I thought I would make a few nest boxes with the shreddings this spring.

Chip