It’s Okay to be a Digital-Native Writer

Just Be Respectful of Other People, Okay?

“Close-up of lines of code on a computer screen” by Ilya Pavlov on Unsplash

Every so often on the different writing forums I frequent, I’ll see a novice writer ask a question, something along these lines:

“What’s the best software for writing a novel?”

And there will usually be a little discussion going, about the benefits of Microsoft Word and Word substitutes versus Scrivener and Scrivener substitutes. But there’s always that one person.

“You don’t need any fancy software. You should write by hand!”

Now, if the person is polite about it. That’s one thing. Thank you for your advice, vaya con Dios.

However, there are a disproportionate number of handwriting writers who are complete assholes about it, who act like anyone who deigns to spend money on a piece of virtual software when they can just pick up a pencil and a sheaf of paper and start writing.

And they’re not just pedaling their wares in a thread where it’s not welcome (i.e. where the person specifically asked for software recommendations), but that they do it in such a haughty, superior way, saying things like:

William Shakespeare (or any author writing…