I do think I write in a completely different way to the way I did before computers became commonplace. I was a latecomer to computing, not really seeing the point of them until the first Apple Mac SE's arrived in the UK, the black and white ones with screens the size of letterboxes. Before then I did everything in longhand in that meticulously angular italic writing that seems to be issued to graphic designers at birth. Sentences and paragraphs came out fully formed with the words and the thoughts in the right order, because if you had any amendments to make the only option was to start afresh and write it all out again.
Now I find myself writing words at random and then them order the right shuffling into. It's all a bit lazy really.
Rest assured, Smith the cartoon strip itself remains lovingly hand crafted from the moment the first notes go into my note book up to the moment the finished black and white art is scanned for colouring.
*Truman Capote on Jack Kerouac (or possibly Jack Kerouac on Truman Capote - the Google results for this quote are a bit ambiguous.
Well-put, sir, about the change computers have made to the process of writing. When I wrote longhand, I wrote from beginning to end; now, I tend to write scenes--or even sentences--as they occur to me, and they may or may not be strung together later in a coherent fashion.
ReplyDeleteI've been enjoying "Smith" for a few months, now, and today's strip resonated with me (perhaps because I'm a teacher?) Thank you!
Glad to be of service, sir.
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