Everyone has their own favourite method for getting through that initial draft, and for many of us that means typing it out on a computer. There are a few different programs I use in the writing process, and I’ll write about them in more detail in a future post, but today I want us to stop and think about what happens when we make that intitial foray into a new story idea, and how technology can either help or hinder our progress.

In one minute I can scrawl around 25 words on the page with a pen, or type closer to 100 with a keyboard. In that same minute, my brain might be ripping through a thousand or more words that it wants my hands to record. When the writing is good–and oh how I do love it when the writing is good–I want to translate those thoughts to my screen as quickly as possible so I can keep ploughing forward. This is the idea stage. I’m not aiming for brilliant publishable prose on the first try, but rather working on achieving a creative flow that keeps me moving forwards. This means not reviewing and revising as I write, and almost always moving forward through the writing. The last thing I want to do in this frame of mind is to become distracted by that little dotted red line that indicates a spelling error. Even worse is having my software tell me that it has a grammatical suggestion for what I’ve just put down. When I’m drafting, I don’t care about these little mistakes that can be easily reviewed and repaired at some other time.

I use two pieces of software, depending on which computer I’m working with, but they are both essentially the same thing. On my MacBook, I do most of my drafting in WriteRoom ($24.99). When I’m using my Windows operated netbook, I rely on WriteMonkey (freeware). Both of these programs are barebones word processors that allow for fullscreen editing. The key feature for me is seeing my screen covered in nothing but text. No menus, no sidebars, no icons, and once I’ve disabled the spelling and grammar tools, no distracting error highlighting. The light text on a dark background seems to be easier on the eyes, and better on your computer’s battery life, although the first thing I did was change mine from the default green to a nice light blue.

A typical writing session begins with me turning off my wireless card, and firing up WriteRoom or WriteMonkey in fullscreen mode. Once I’ve finished writing, I’ll load the spell check and do a quick correction of any silly mistakes I’ve made while concentrating on the broader brush strokes of my story. This rarely takes more than three or four minutes unless I’ve had a lot to drink, or have written more than 2,000 words. Once I’m happy with the basic edits, I drop the day’s work into one of my more advanced writing programs where it typically sits as read-only until I’m ready to go back into revisions.

It’s always worth repeating that for every person writing, there’s a different favourite method for getting it done. Do you find you can work with technology to avoid getting bogged down in the technicalities, or does it often feel like your computer is just another barrier between you and the story? Let us know in the comments.