writer what do you use most?

If I have an interesting experience I write ti down before I forget it while the conversations and idiosyncrasies of the characters are still fresh in my mind. In the past I used real notebooks and filled them with notes. I used to carry them when I visited places like NYC and take walks and write in the streets if there was a bench or or sit on some steps or stop at a bar or cafe to write things down while they were still fresh. I would describe scenes a lot buildings trees litter in the streets displays in store windows. In bars of restaurants I would write down conversations verbatim trying to capture the dialects. Later in the comfort of my home I would try to put things together into scenes or stories. I used cassette tapes and if I were doing it today I would carry a digital recorder but I once put a cassette tape on the hood of a car in the Bronx and let the local people from the apartment fill up an hour with their colorful Italian Bronx accent and their salty language as one of them Joe from the Bronx took over like he was the MC of the Tonight Show only with a cast of real people on the street. Later some of these characters can fill your stories.

Many of the above (except that I use open office instead of microsoft). I don't collect phrases. I have a few stubs for story ideas in one place. I usually keep general notes about a story I'm writing on the first draft, and after I have written that part I highlight the notes for later removal. When I write an 'I'm getting tired, so here is what comes next' note to self I delete those notes when I've written the next part. Notebooks are usually for working out details, calculations, maps or relationships where I want to be able to write anything anywhere and connect with lines and arrows without putting a lot of thought into using the program.

I use Microsoft Word and back it all up on Dropbox, an online storage site. I keep a notebook next to me when I write for notes, reminders and other things. I also make a habit of carrying a pen and small notebook everywhere for ideas, quotes and anything else.

I use Microsoft Word to type it. But I frequently use a notebook for planning, outlining, or writing down certain scene ideas as well as character personalities. Everything I type I save using a thumb drive, or I copy and paste it into GoogleDocs.

I use open office for writing and planning.

I use a notebook and pen for ideas I come up with when I don't have my lap top handy. Sometimes I colour-code stuff if it's a complicated novel.

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I start with a note book, then I use Microsoft.