I bought myself a typewriter this weekend. An Olivetti Lettera 32.

[changeling]

Effusive thanks to whomever paid for a year's worth of Livejournal for me. It was not necessary, but it was very much appreciated.

That's also one of the disadvantages of the Internet, then. It becomes remarkably easy for anybody in the world to become not only a writer, but a publisher, and a salesman...
That's right. When they say "Gee it's an information explosion!", no, it's not an explosion, it's a disgorgement of the bowels is what it is. Every idiotic thing that anybody could possibly write or say or think can get into the body politic now, where before things would have to have some merit to go through the publishing routine, now, ANYTHING.
And all you're getting is an explosion of useless crap, which added to the other useless crap that was being done originally, only makes it that much worse.

Harlen Ellison on writing, technology, & why he uses a typewriter. Well worth a read.

Thomas Caldwell's article on confronting his anti-typewriter prejudice, purchase of a Lettera 32, & interviews with Kim Jong Il

Some Lettera information, for my own reference, with an interesting endnote by Caldwell.

"Why I use a Manual" & "Why I Still Use a Manual Typewriter", by Kevin McGowin.


Running off to Steph's now (am ever so late!), so will have to tell you about my brilliant weekend, including vintage shoes & twenties-style hat later.
(I plan on taking photos of me adorned with hat & shoes typing at typewriter at some stage. Oh, am so retro-chic.)

Comments

[notfudge.livejournal.com]

I love the first two articles (mostly because I haven't the others yet) and the Caldwell one has convinced me to start scouring the op shops around my house for a typewriter. I think I was heavily swayed by Ellison's interveiw (see my user info!) as I absolutely, cannot write poetry on the computer. It's icky and awful.

I love you.

[notfudge.livejournal.com]

Kevin McGowin is me:

"When I first undertook serious creative writing, I wrote mostly poetry, which I usually wrote longhand on yellow legal pads, which (with variations) many poets still do. I then typed the revised poem out on an electric typewriter that had seen better days. When I later bought a word processor, I composed the poems the same way but typed them into the word processor, which of course saved them in its memory--and I found this, coupled with the word processor's monitor and spell-check device very helpful in terms of revisions, which I now did more often, probably to the overall betterment of the poetry. Before long, I even composed a few at the word processor keyboard.

I did the same with the fiction I was beginning to write more and more often. I hadn't written much fiction during the younger, "poetry" years, and I never could get the hang of writing prose longhand--it took too much time, and I lost too much, as I thought faster than I could legibly write."

From - Why I Use a Manual

[spirail.livejournal.com]

humph... LJ in a nutshel

I know what you mean by the flood of rubbish that drowns out anything thats good. But this is mostly due to public damand for said rubbish. Take reality TV for example

To argue a little in the direction of opposition, i just watched a documentry on Nirvana. I dont think it had much to do with typewriters tho.

i have always thought of all writing as a bastardation of pure thought into some sort of lower dimentional convention. For this reason i have stoped careing if it make sence. Who knows, maybe tahts why everyone liked nirvana

[skylark97.livejournal.com]

Harlen Ellison on writing, technology, & why he uses a typewriter.

He sounds a bit like a completely pretenious wanker. I don't care if he wants to write the bible on a typewriter and I'm sorry he can't find ribbon for it. However, it's a bit of a complete pipedream to imagine that authors every where are suddenly going to see the error of their ways and give up their less suffering-for-the-artistic-integrity PCs so that they can go back fifty years in time. It's not that he hates the internet or PCs. It's just that he thinks he's too good for them.

As for the length issues of stories...isn't that where editors come in handy?

(Sorry, he just kind of pissed me off...)

[rincemaj.livejournal.com]

Mind you, the same thing was said when the printing press became cheap enough that people could start self-publishing books and pamphlets. Civilisation didn´t collapse.

It is true that the majority of the written material on the internet is dreck. However, this is, in essence, what makes it a truly democratic medium. There are no censors (in the form of publishers) to impose arbitrary restrictions - many of which are based on commercial rather than quality concerns.

And really, the vasy majority of internet users only read stuff that does go through a publishing/editing process, if only because most people read the websites of major companies.

All that said, typewriters are just cool. And for your photo, you´ll need some old suspenders and a cheap cheroot! ;)

[delirieuse.livejournal.com]

I already have some suspenders & I don't smoke! :D

[youraugustine.livejournal.com]

I keep finding that Harlen Ellison irritates me. This particular article is no exception. That most of the written word is dreck has absolutely nothing to do with the PC; the amount of penny-dreadfuls and absolutely horrible, sentimental, sappy, terribly stories published before even the typewriter was invented and the manual labour of writing was immense should at least point that out. Yes, it may have had the effect of many things being longer dreck, but there are also longer absolutely wonderful books, both written on PC and longhand.

"A writer would KNOW the story doesn't begin there." I think that line irritates me the most. Considering the anecdotes of the writers I greatly admire centering around suddenly figuring out that no, this story doesn't GO there, or this particular thing actually belongs somewhere ELSE, the arrogance implicit in that statement floors me. And irritates me.

Which is too bad, because I come to gather that the man is held in some esteem by a lot of people I hold in esteem, and I'd just like him to shut up.

[youraugustine.livejournal.com]

::muses:: The McGowan article I prefer, because the arrogance is not present. It's also amusing to me that most of what he says about his state of mind while writing at the typewriter is perfectly applicable to mine sitting down at a word-processor. The only difference is the reference to not-moving-blocks-of-text - which I don't do anyway, because the amount of editing to most of those large blocks of text is so immense that I might as well rewrite them wholesale, which is what I usually do.

[delirieuse.livejournal.com]

*nods* I like writing longhand, using a typewriter & writing on computer. The way one approaches the writing process is different in each, I find. One of the advantages I find for typewriter over PC is that it has no internet or games or email or anything to get distracted with. I can't say I move large amounts of type around, but I do usually add sentences or words & do minor edits like that. I don't think there's anything wrong with that.

[youraugustine.livejournal.com]

it has no internet or games or email or anything to get distracted with

Mmmmtrue, which can sometimes be a problem for me, and which is why I occasionally go to Strange Places to write - so my wireless can't connect.

I do minor edits as well, and that's one of the reasons I find that the word processor is so much better for me to get into a functional writing mood than anything else - I can get into the flow, get into the mental space much better, because I can fix things like typos or mental typos (I typo when thinking and speaking. Seriously. Reverse words, reverse letters . . . ) or sudden strange phrasings from my mind.

In longhand or on typewriters, I can't do that, which clicks on the switch in my brain that says "this must be right the first time AUGH!" combined with the endless frustration of SEEING an error on the page that I cannot fix that'll throw me so far out of a mind-state where I can write things that it isn't funny, sometimes.

Ironically, it'll wind up with me making no edits, no changes and no mistakes on a PC, where I'll have to restart six or eight times on a longhand/typewritten document. ::wrinkles nose:: So. For me it's sort of whatever-works-for-whoever's-working.

[nailer.livejournal.com]

Glad you and Steph are having fun. Someone really should make a USB typewriter keyboard thingy sometime.

When you get a sec, could you add mikem@mobileemal.vodafone.com.au to the Mysterious New Mailing List Which Everyone Else Is On? I keep being asked if I've read emails about stuff people assume they've invited me to.

Thanks muchly.

[delirieuse.livejournal.com]

What, like this?

[cupiscent.livejournal.com]

Stalk stalk stalkity stalk.

Have dug my own typewriter out of its hiding place. It is indeed a Lettera 32. I now have the urge to take it to the park and sit under a tree and write. Not sure I have the strength of character to resist this urge.

[delirieuse.livejournal.com]

Don't resist! Give in! You will be assimilated - with clicky-clack noises. :D