Yes, I’m old enough to have used a typewriter. But I mostly remember frustration. No nostalgia.
Perhaps one loss with the widespread adoption of electronic devices for all forms of composition is the paper trail that earlier technologies left behind. And while that’s probably of interest chiefly to scholars and collectors (and requires a packrat author), those intermediate drafts can be fun to look at and speculate about.
For example, Bob Dylan, who apparently was a packrat, sometimes wrote by hand, sometimes with a typewriter. Look at the marginalia and doodles in this early draft of one of his songs:
And even though this is in pencil, he didn’t attempt to erase anything, just crossed things out like you would with ink. There must be something comforting, almost tactile, about those cross-outs, a visual sign that progress is being made. And the choice of paper, here simply hotel stationary.
When he used the typewriter, the same thing is evident: just X out and retype above or below:
And while edits can be preserved in a word processor document (via track changes), and even doodles can be embedded on devices like the iPad, I don’t get the sense that writers use those in the same way.
So maybe with word processors it’s two or three steps forward, while one step back, as we’ve lost the physical connection to the page, although for a lot of writing there is no page, just the screen.
I always love seeing archives like that. Some of the writer interviews in the Paris Review have great examples of typewritten or marked-up copies of the authors' rough drafts or notes.
I admit I don't know anyone who grew up using a typewriter who misses it!!
Yes, I’m old enough to have used a typewriter. But I mostly remember frustration. No nostalgia.
Perhaps one loss with the widespread adoption of electronic devices for all forms of composition is the paper trail that earlier technologies left behind. And while that’s probably of interest chiefly to scholars and collectors (and requires a packrat author), those intermediate drafts can be fun to look at and speculate about.
For example, Bob Dylan, who apparently was a packrat, sometimes wrote by hand, sometimes with a typewriter. Look at the marginalia and doodles in this early draft of one of his songs:
https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2014/06/24/325219536/draft-of-bob-dylans-like-a-rolling-stone-sells-for-2-million
And even though this is in pencil, he didn’t attempt to erase anything, just crossed things out like you would with ink. There must be something comforting, almost tactile, about those cross-outs, a visual sign that progress is being made. And the choice of paper, here simply hotel stationary.
When he used the typewriter, the same thing is evident: just X out and retype above or below:
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/exclusive-a-look-inside-bob-dylans-secret-archives-199434/
And while edits can be preserved in a word processor document (via track changes), and even doodles can be embedded on devices like the iPad, I don’t get the sense that writers use those in the same way.
So maybe with word processors it’s two or three steps forward, while one step back, as we’ve lost the physical connection to the page, although for a lot of writing there is no page, just the screen.
I always love seeing archives like that. Some of the writer interviews in the Paris Review have great examples of typewritten or marked-up copies of the authors' rough drafts or notes.
I admit I don't know anyone who grew up using a typewriter who misses it!!