
George R.R. Martin Writes Everything In WordStar 4.0 On A DOS Machine - promocha
http://techcrunch.com/2014/05/14/george-r-r-martin-writes-everything-in-wordstar-4-0-on-a-dos-machine/?ncid=rss&source=gravity&cps=gravity
======
pfg

      > He’s actually quite active on Twitter

Oh, okay. Never mind the fact that the first thing you'd read if you open the
linked Twitter profile (@GeorgeRRMartin_) is

    
    
      > Not affiliated with GRRM
    

Let's not mention that Googling his Social Media habits would reveal a blog
post mentioning he doesn't use Twitter or Facebook[1]. Heck, you can even read
that on his Wikipedia article.

Is it just me, or is the amount of _basic_ fact-checking being done by
TechCrunch (and others) basically nil?

[1]:
[http://grrm.livejournal.com/197075.html](http://grrm.livejournal.com/197075.html)

------
kayfox
Having written quite a bit of text using both word processors and just plain
text editors, I can see the value of this.

When your creatively writing or drawing its critical that your tools stay out
of the way. Good writing and drawing programs do this, poor ones bog you down
in administrivia, formatting, correcting, and the like.

This does mean things like having control, and many word processors these days
dont allow the control needed. I also see this trend in many programs these
days where the program seems to think that it has a better idea of how you
want something done than you. When you get into a fight with one of these
programs it can really burn up the idea you had in your head and then your
stuck trying to find it again.

So, yeah, artists and writers sometimes use older things because they are
better in that way.

~~~
Jtsummers
And my colleagues wonder why I use emacs. I like IDEs, I use VS for work a
fair amount. But when I just want to dig into the act of writing a program or
text, I like editors that just stay out of the way.

------
kryptiskt
John McPhee uses Kedit with a bunch of macros[1] which is pretty hardcore.

[1]
[http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2013/01/14/130114fa_fact_...](http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2013/01/14/130114fa_fact_mcphee?currentPage=all)

~~~
DanBC
Hardcore would be Edlin or ed. At least KEdit gives you a window.

(Apparently Edlin is still available in Windows8, though requires 16 bit
support).

------
davycro
Cormac McCarthy writes everything on a typewriter that cost him $50 in 1964
[1]. The novel, A Confederacy of Dunces was written by hand [2]. So I guess
this means that when it comes to writing, especially writing fiction, the man
and his mind are what matters.

[1] [http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/04/cormac-
mccarthy...](http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/04/cormac-mccarthys-
typewriter-brings-254500-at-auction/)

[2] [http://www.broadwayworld.com/article/John-Kennedy-Tooles-
A-C...](http://www.broadwayworld.com/article/John-Kennedy-Tooles-A-
CONFEDERACY-OF-DUNCES-to-Get-NYC-Reading-This-Spring-20140311)

~~~
pjbrunet
Pen or pencil, it forces you to slow down and consider each word. If you read
"On Writing Well" there's a lot of emphasis on not falling into boring
patterns. It's like taking the longer, scenic route vs. the turnpike. The
reader is right there with you for the journey. Some of us relish life at a
slower pace.

------
mncolinlee
That's funny. I held onto my DOS 286 laptop for many, many years so I could
write on a single-function device with no access to modern software.

I used Norton Commander editor or vim to write documents and found it easier
to be creative with a text editor instead of a word processor. If editing what
I wrote on the first draft forces me to rearrange line endings, I find that I
tend to edit my words less often while creativity is flowing.

~~~
DanBC
The modern equivalent would be an RPI with nice keyboard, monitor, software of
choice and no networking.

------
waterlesscloud
"At least, he doesn’t have to worry about viruses or hackers messing with his
work."

Cause there aren't any DOS viruses? Heh. Kids today.

~~~
Dirlewanger
We're dealing with mostly clueless millenial "journalists" here, so cut them
some slack.

~~~
mncolinlee
He writes for TechCrunch. That normally means he also believes there are no
Mac viruses (or flaws).

------
lomnakkus
Sometimes when coding I find it useful to make a conscious choice to go back
to "inferior" technology.

For example, if I'm undertaking a huge refactor which will require a lot of
reworking of tests, I'll usually drop down to Emacs (or keep using an IDE, but
turn auto-compilation _off_ ) just to avoid the extreme amount of mental noise
coming from all those compilation errors just _sitting there_ and increasing
over time. Sometimes it's better to just willfully ignore all that irrelevant
detail for an hour or two, get into the flow and power through while you have
the inspiration. Those test errors (compilation or otherwise) can always be
fixed later.

------
mullingitover
That's practically cheating--Neal Stephenson wrote the entire Baroque Cycle
trilogy in _longhand_ [1].

[1]
[http://www.nealstephenson.com/photos.htm](http://www.nealstephenson.com/photos.htm)

------
nine_k
I was looking for a joke along the lines of _" that's why the world he depicts
is so cruel, and that's why he kills characters so often"_, haven't found it,
and by this comment am adding it.

On a serious note, whatever tool does not distract you while writing fiction
is best. Usually you don't need an IDE for that.

OTOH a saga of that size might benefit from cross-referencing, timeline, etc
IDE-like tools. Stephen King is known to employ a special person who checks
his works for consistency with previous works in the same universe.

~~~
hyborg787
Brandon Sanderson has some videos up on youtube that show how he writes his
stories, including writing notes and referring to them:

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxFySrqdi8E](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxFySrqdi8E)

------
netcan
I enjoy my kobo. The single purpose (novels only, constant airplane mode)
aspect is a big part of it. E-ink and 3 week battery life helps make it feel
like a non device. It doesnt trigger my 10 second attention span mode.

It might be nice to have a nice light clamshell e-ink writing machine. All it
does is write novels.

Anything that helps. For ggrm, I propose we take away any computer that runs
any software other than wordstar. Get winds of wi ter written already! I need
to know what happens. :)

------
quaffapint
The question is how long it will take for a new saas offering "wordstar 4.0 in
the cloud".

------
bigdubs
If it isn't broken, don't fix it.

I am tempted to try this for my own writing; the only thing I'd want to figure
out is a sane way to get files off of it without having to resurrect a floppy
drive.

~~~
delucain
You could always emulate it or run it in a virtual machine if you're just
looking for the experience of an old style word processor.

~~~
Jtsummers
Part of the experience is actually being disconnected. You, your mind, your
writing implement (be it pen and paper, typewriter, old DOS box or a more
modern OS with no network connection (see Knuth)).

EDIT: This could be done with a VM or something, but really you need some
software that'll lock down your computer and not let you just alt-tab back to
your normal, internet connected experience.

~~~
bigdubs
This is more what I was getting at, or at least what seems evocative about
writing on vintage hardware; being disconnected.

------
dang
A dupe of
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7732320](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7732320).

