I need a notebook for a novel.

I do both notebooks and three ring binders. Love the Mead 5 Star mainly for the paper. Binders I usually use for things that are being written either on the typewriter or computer. I have a weird obsession with having hardcopies of everything so the few computer written stories get printed out. (I find it easier to edit them that way too.)

I actually cannot type for very long on the computer so transcribing from longhand or typewriter to computer is difficult... but then again I almost never finish anything so I don't have to worry about that.

Spiral notebook, pen, bed and cup of tea. This is how my first drafts get written. Computers are for second drafts and editing. Sure, notebooks take up space, but they also don't crash and wipe out three months' worth of work, and the pages don't mysteriously corrupt so you can't look at them. I'm one of those paranoid people who has to have hard copy backup. Notebooks serve the purpose, at least until I can make a printout.

I still get excited in August, when the school supplies go on sale.

Pterofan said:

I still get excited in August, when the school supplies go on sale.

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So do I, even though I have no need for supplies. XD

((I'm starting to think longhand might be better because of less distractions, but I dunno.))

I like comp books for brainstorming and taking notes. I hate spiral notebooks because I'm left handed, and those bound school notebooks fall apart, but I can't imagine writing the whole book out longhand.

I think my hand would fall off.

I still write most of my first drafts longhand, and I think I have at least one of every notebook out there. For novels, I usually use a three ring binder, but I buy better paper than the cheap stuff kids use at school.

I really enjoy writing fiction in journals, rather than notebooks, but a journal large enough to hold a novel is too expensive for most people. Some go as high as $2,000 I am not willing to pay that much. and I learned the hard way that even a much cheaper one has problem.

I've had one like this for almost three years. http://www.epica.com/The-World-s-Thickest-Italian-Leather-Journal.html It was a Christmas gift, and a great one, but as I said, there is a huge drawback.

I can't write in it. Each time I think I will, I chicken out. Whatever I write in this needs to stand as is, needs to not be rewritten, needs to be as error free as possible, or I'l just be ruining pages that cost too darned much. I can't make myself write fiction in it.

even as a journal, it stand out so much from the ones I regularly use that it feels out of place. And I can't, or I refuse, to start buying one of these things every year just to make my journals match.

So stick to three ring binders, no matter how temping something else might look.

I love Moleskine. That is all.

One word: Moleskine. All different sizes, all different covers, all different colors, all totally cool. For the retro Hemingway-in-Paris feel, go with the classic Kraft brown variety.

Myrealana said:

I like comp books for brainstorming and taking notes. I hate spiral notebooks because I'm left handed, and those bound school notebooks fall apart, but I can't imagine writing the whole book out longhand.

I think my hand would fall off.

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I'm not left handed but yeah spirals are such a pain. They get smashed up and won't open right. I only tolerate spirals for sketchbooks because I need to be able to flip the pages all the way around.

What's annoying though is that all the really cute composition books are always wide ruled. Like even when you find patterned composition books in college rule, they're always more subdued than what you find in wide rule. Almost like they're assuming if you use college rule paper, you must be some kind of mature adult. Puhleeeeeeease.

Alexandra Little said:

I love Moleskine. That is all.

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My idea repository is a Moleskine. I love them too. The only complaint about them is that if you have a particularly wet pen (such as felt tips or fountain pens) they tend to feather a bit. Since I've been thinking about giving fountain pens another try, I've been pondering Rhodia notebooks, specifically the Webnotebooks with a dot grid that are very similar to Moleskines. I'm told that their paper is greatly favored by people who enjoy fountain pens. But, man, are they expensive, even more so than Moleskines.

I asked for a bunch of double spiral bound notebooks for Christmas.

1. I can fold them, which means I don't have to balance it on my tiny lap like I do a composition notebook or journal. (Writing on desks or tables is very uncomfortable for me.)

2. Double spirals don't eat my paper and get all lopsided like single spirals.

I like longhand for getting the bones of the scene down, and it gives me something to do on my break at work. Most of my at-home writing sessions begin with me transcribing, because that's a less daunting than starting with a cold, blank screen. As I transcribe, I see what needs to be done to flesh it out. An action tag there, an internal thought here, tweak this, tweak that, and eventually I'm on a roll and can just write.

It's like training wheels, except I have to take them off and put them back on every freaking day.

Hapax Legomenon said:

What's annoying though is that all the really cute composition books are always wide ruled.

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You just reminded me, I also write on every second line, which leaves the line between free for scribbling notes and changes.

(I'm one of the edit-as-you-go people.)

I have small handwriting. Generally fiction goes straight on the computer, but I do keep field journals and if nobody else has to read those, I'll write two lines to every line on the page. Or, I buy sketch journals (unlined pages) and fill those. Edits and sketches go in the margins.

The other advantage to notebooks is that you can doodle in the margins when you get stuck. I suppose you could do that on a computer, but then the screen gets messy.