It’s Messy, and it takes a LOT longer. It can also look sloppy and unclear. And an hour’s worth of spending time on it doesn’t hold nearly the same crispness and efficacy of a double-spaced page of sentences set in Times New Roman.
But still, it is a must for every writer wanting to unleash his creativity.
Technology has become so prevalent in our lives that it is almost impossible to get anything done without the help of a computer. This has caused many different shifts in our day to day life, and has made writing by hand a largely unnecessary act to partake in, seeing as you can just type everything out!
So Far, so good!!! We need to go along with the times to be efficient!!
But if you are in the business of creative writing and aspire to unleash new forms of creativity every single day, WRITING BY HAND is the only way out.
I know I am appearing a bit old fashioned here. But trust me, here are my top three reasons for writing by hand. They’re all important, but honestly, the last one is the kicker.
It is better for processing and understanding information
Putting ink to paper stimulates a part of the brain called the Reticular Activating Center, or the RAS. According to Life hacker, “The RAS acts as a filter for everything your brain needs to process, giving more importance to the stuff that you’re actively focusing on that moment — something that the physical act of writing brings to the forefront.”
Writing by hand is obviously far slower and more cumbersome than typing, and we cannot possibly write down every word we read or hear. Instead, we automatically go into the listen, digest, and summarize mode which helps us to succinctly capture the essence of the information. Thus, writing by hand forces the brain to engage in some heavy “mental lifting,” and these efforts foster comprehension and retention.
It Brutally shows your mistakes
In a 1995 interview with the Paris Review, writer Susan Sontag said that she writes down her first drafts before typing them up for editing later. “I write with a felt-tip pen, or sometimes a pencil, on yellow or white legal pads, that fetish of American writers,” she said. “I like the slowness of writing by hand.”
Novelist Truman Capote insisted on a similar process, although his involved lying down with a coffee and cigarette nearby. “No, I don’t use a typewriter,” he said in an interview. “Not in the beginning. I write my first version in longhand (pencil). Then I do a complete revision, also in longhand.”
Writing by hand creates a map of your explorations. Even if you scratch out a sentence, the vestiges of that sentence are still there on the page; their presence affects the next sentence you write, and the sentences after that. When you are writing the first draft, you need these “talismans” to guide your subconscious and bring out your best work.
They are your errors and mistakes! They remind you again and again about your journey towards your best creation till date.
It keeps your brain sharp as you grow older
Writing longhand is a workout. No, not necessarily for your wrist, but for your brain. According to The Wall Street Journal, some physicians claim that the act of writing — which engages your motor-skills, memory, and more — is a good cognitive exercise for baby boomers who want to keep their minds sharp as they age.
As you write, your letters turn into words and sentences, but the act of putting ink to paper activates the right hemisphere of your brain. This is the part of the brain that sees pictures and images. You experience the peaceful, amazing bloom of creativity as it floods your right hemisphere. You’re not only working with language, but you’re also playing, you’re drawing and you are imagining, all at the same time.
Also, when you’re feeling sad or stressed, sometimes materializing your thoughts by writing them out can be an amazing therapy. Writing by hand, particularly in cursive, is rhythmic, so it helps your erratic thoughts get in a calming flow. And since you connect to words more when you write them out, you can also process a problem more easily when you put it to paper.
Bringing it All Together
Technology has offered us lot of innovative tools that are shaping our lives, often in positive and dynamic ways. However, even though technology allows us to do more in less time, it does not always foster creativity. Creativity involves much more than the receipt and the regurgitation of information.
If we want ourselves to synthesize material, draw inferences, see new connections, evaluate evidence, and apply concepts in novel situations, we need to encourage the deep, effortful cognitive processes that underlie these abilities. When it comes to creative writing, we need fewer gigs, more brain power.
Do you think we should bring back writing by hand? Or do you prefer typing?
Please Do Let me know your thoughts