Well folks, it's that time of year again. The great platen of the universe has come full circle once more.
For those of you who are just discovering us, this is the home of the Typewriter Brigade. We are those mechanical misfits who dare to type our Nanovels on good old fashioned typewriters, in whole or in part. Welcome to the madness. For those of you who are returning members, welcome back!
Heh, I would have thought the thread would have started already. I mean, the site has been back up for, what, an hour already? Duffy, you slacker. :)
I'm sure the more established members will be dropping in any time now to say hello and get things rolling again for another glorious month. If you're new to the Brigade, please feel free to introduce yourself and your trusty typer(s). Anyone who is planning to type even a tiny bit of their novel on a typewriter this year is fully welcome to join us. I, for one, will be writing my as of yet undetermined Nanovel on my Royal Quiet Deluxe and my trusty old Underwood 5, just like last year.
There, I think that about covers everything. Or if I left something out, I'm sure our glorious founder Duffy or someone else will chime in.
Good luck, and happy typing to all!
----------
Deploy the rocket boat!
50,583 / 50,000
Oct 1, 2009 - 23 50
Hello!
I introduced myself in the last thread, but I suspect I didn't make quite enough of an ass of myself as I can, so here I am again.
Reaching my full potential.
I'm Sarah and I'm 18 and I have two lovely typewriters! One Underwood from l-like 1928? Don't quote me on that, but that's the only date I see on it. And it weighs about forty pounds. Andd a Smith-Corona that's only about thirty years old.
You guys let's reach for the stars.
----------(even if we miss we'll get the space-bends and die or something, wait is that the saying)Having been called in here very many times over the past few months to answer for this or that misdemeanor, Oliver was well acquainted with the room's nuances and eccentricities – most of them fungal.
91,395 / 50,000
Oct 2, 2009 - 02 07
I might be bashing out a few pages on my silver reeds. The first chapters of the first nanonovel I did were thumped out on one of them. though it does slow me down slightly, I like the fact that I have hard copy first. I have to have two out, so that my toddler can play on one. I love that they are virtually indestructible, but I hate tippex. What are people's thoughts on the possibility that their writing style might be different depending on the technology you use?
----------Good luck folks.
I'm all in favor of keeping dangerous weapons out of the hands of fools. Let's start with typewriters.
Frank Lloyd Wright
Banish the Guilt Monkeys
30,180 / 50,000
Oct 2, 2009 - 04 02
Wow! Y'all are quick!
I can't believe how little downtime there was (was there *any*?) and how quick the forums are back up.
Chris and company do an amazing, bang-up job, and I'm glad to be back for another year of Typewriterly Noveling Madness.
Check in, tell us about yourselves and the machine(s) you love. Don't be bashful.
I'll eventually get around to deciding which machine I'm going to use. There's of course no way I'll settle on just *one*. I'm in the beginning stages of a grueling series of head-to-head match-ups among my twenty-some machines. Only the best will be called on for NaNo glory!
Welcome back, Brigade.
33,800 / 50,000
Oct 2, 2009 - 04 09
Howdy All,
While I know that I will be typing some of my nano, I'm sure it will be a group effort between several typewriters. Right now, I have two setup in strategically sound writing places. My favorite is my 1946 Royal QDL. Downstairs I have a 70s SC Galaxie Deluxe. There are a few more floating around at my house, so if I need to channel some different thoughts onto paper, they may get a good workout as well.
Glad to be new to the Brigade!
deek
----------The man who in his work finds silence, and who sees that silence is work, this man in truth sees the light and in all his works finds peace.
--The Bhagavad Gita
Find me at:
http://typeclack.blogspot.com
http://www.deeksworld.com
63,912 / 50,000
Oct 2, 2009 - 05 03
Woo!
I like the new digs, now let's see if Amazon's web hosting can keep up with the collective insanity of a bunch of typists. Hi again, everyone, looking forward to year #3 and typed novel #2. I'll probably try to recreate last year's win, which means early-morning typing on The Beast, my Royal standard typewriter, with follow-up typing on my lunch break and the occasional write-in on a Skyriter. And I've got an Olympia SM3 ("Gomez") at home that handled some other odd-times noveling as well. Ah, it's a sweet, sweet thing.
I'd be slacking if I failed to mention our flickr group, also set up by Duffy. Here it is:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/typewriter_brigade/
There are a few discussions there worth checking out, and of course, we welcome all members and photos of their typewriters (and I suppose member photos as well.) I'll get to linking up the new topic over there soon.
And on the subject of Tippex (or White-Out): don't use it! Part of the joy of using a typewriter for NaNo is just letting the mistakes come. This is easy for me, since I practically stare at my hands while I type, but even touch-typists could heed this lesson. It's a first draft, and if you draft like I do, spelling is going to be the least of your problems! (See also: plot holes, narrative structure, consistent character names, etc.) Spelling correction is for computers, writing is for typewriters.
// Mike
----------http://clickthing.blogspot.com
15,040 / 50,000
Oct 2, 2009 - 06 13
I'd be slacking if I failed to mention our flickr group, also set up by Duffy. Here it is:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/typewriter_brigade/
Howdy to all the new recruits (and grizzled veterans) !
I'm making this year's attempt with my Olympia SM3.
Good luck to all, and do join the flickr group...all the usual suspects will be there !
----------It was like trying to think about the square root of minus zero---
Harry Stephen Keeler
25,625 / 50,000
Oct 2, 2009 - 07 28
Looks like a nice mix of new and old faces so far. Welcome, and welcome back, all!
I'm Hannah, too young to remember the age before computers and crazy enough to want to. I currently have more machines than I'd care to count, but only a few of them are fully functional. (Though most just need a new ribbon, so I'll be picking a few brains smarter than my own for that!) Here's my favorites:
Marvin the Amazing Royal Portable: my first real love, a beautiful red duotone, a high school graduation gift from my great-aunt.
Grethe: a 1938 Continental standard-size. I did last year's NaNo on this one, though I never had to use the ümlauts.
Big Bertha: my Royal Empress. Lives up to her name. Was nice to type on until I had to replace the ribbon, now I can't seem to get it right. She's sitting disassembled on a desk somewhere.
Dash: another gorgeous portable. Green. Named for Dashiell Hammett. Is in same predicament as Big Bertha.
Anyway, I will probably use Marvin for write-ins (he's the best portable with a case) and either Grethe or Bertha if I can get her ribbon rigged up.
... I don't always name my inanimate belongings.
----------NaNo '09: Fall of the New Empire
Proud member, Typewriter Brigade
30,180 / 50,000
Oct 2, 2009 - 07 34
...
Well, I think a good goal for this year's novel is More Umlauts (not fiddling with the code to actualy *make* an umlaut...). Could your "Fall of the New Empire" include characters with beautifully umlauted names?
Welcome back, Yoshi. Good to see you here again.
37,111 / 50,000
Oct 2, 2009 - 08 25
Hello. Here I am again.
I haven't yet decided on which machine(s) I'll use yet. I'd kind of like to use the Smith-Corona Super-Speed for at home. It's elite, though, which means I'd have to be careful to select a portable of like pitch, lest my word count get messed up.
----------63,912 / 50,000
Oct 2, 2009 - 08 50
Olivander, I can loan you a machine if you need one. :-D
----------http://clickthing.blogspot.com
0 / 50,000
Oct 2, 2009 - 09 08
It's great to be back!! Hello to all the veterans and new faces.
Sarah, A 1950 Underwood standard is my absolute favorite typewriter (all 40-odd pounds of it). I even like it better than the Olympia SG1 and that's saying a lot. You have a gem of a machine there. If you can find a photo of the essayist E.B.White in his office with his dachhund looking on, you will see he is using an Underwood standard from the late 30s or early 40s. If you can find the serial number, I can probably tell you the year yours was made. The serial number on mine is just to the right of the right hand ribbon spool. Move the carriage all the way to the left, look straight down, and it should be visible.
That said, I'm doing NaNo this year on portables only. I have a separate NaNo typing table set up and will rotate machines based on my mood. The current candidates are the Olympia SM4 (which is simply the finest portable typewriter in the history of Earth in my humble, but completely accurate, opinion), a late 50s Sears Tower President (the Sears brand of the SC Silent-Super and maybe better than the SC), a 1950 Royal QDL, and the Olivetti 21 (last of the metal body Studio line). They all have very different action but that's the point and they are sturdy enough to stand up to my less-than-gentle typing style. They are all 10 CPI machines. If I want to type outside (and I will if last year is any indication) I have a cosmetically challenged but mechanically perfect SM3 to haul around.
October is when I start making random notes on characters/traits, weird scenarios, plot points and any other odd thing that might be usable once November 1st comes around. NaNo is an exercise in stream of consciousness for me and these scribblings, which are completely unstructured, serve as reminders or jumping off points that might or might not appeal to me. If this process sounds unorganized, that's because it is.
This is going to be fun!
Jeff
27,856 / 50,000
Oct 2, 2009 - 09 26
*slinks in*
Hey ya'll.
I'm theanab, head of the Typewriter Mafia, but this year, I don't know if much of my novel will be done on the typewriter. I haven't had the time or energy to fix either of my machines and am way too lazy to go looking for a new one... I know you are all sick of my excuses, I know. So I'll quit making them. I'm not ready to hand in my Brigade Card, and I won't hand over the reins to the Mafia, but I am going to go find that little bar down the street. So this is my goodbye for a time as well... I'll see ya'll on the flip side, might come and visit once in a while.
And the Mafia is still recruiting. I don't know where the picture went, but we'll type you an offer that you can't resist.
----------You can't study the darkness by flooding it with light.
~Ed Abbey
32,753 / 50,000
Oct 2, 2009 - 09 57
Hey everybody. Mike here, Lettera 32 in tow.
----------http://justwriteblog.blogspot.com/
36,153 / 50,000
Oct 2, 2009 - 13 29
Hello Brigadiers! It's so good to be back, isn't it? I've been working all year on revisions, and yes, I do that on my typewriter too, I'm addicted- so it'll be nice to do some good, messy, rough drafting again. My machine of choice is my still-unnamed SC Silent Super. I have two others, but they aren't in the best working condition. Expanding one's collection is a mite difficult in the far north of Alaska >.< But I'm thankful for my lovely SC, and grateful that after a year of abuse, being carted on planes and back and forth between WriteClub meets, he's still up to snuff.
----------What will be really amusing is if I go with my Science Fiction idea and write my space age story on my old school tech. Heh.
Nano 2008 - Sanctuary (Won!)
Nano 2009 - Majesty
20,825 / 50,000
Oct 2, 2009 - 13 33
You can steal the one from my Author page. It's still there. :)
----------Deploy the rocket boat!
46,789 / 50,000
Oct 2, 2009 - 16 51
Foaly here. With my massively retro Olivetti LINEA 98 I'm sure to pump out a Zillion pages!
50,583 / 50,000
Oct 2, 2009 - 17 12
Hey Jeff, thanks for the tip! The serial number is 11-6278919.
I'm slowly but surely filling a box with typed note cards - character notes, plot notes, etc. Ideas are terribly forthcoming in front of a typewriter.
----------Having been called in here very many times over the past few months to answer for this or that misdemeanor, Oliver was well acquainted with the room's nuances and eccentricities – most of them fungal.
27,856 / 50,000
Oct 2, 2009 - 18 31
To the wire! Thanks! I'd missed that pic. :) You in, man?
----------You can't study the darkness by flooding it with light.
~Ed Abbey
63,912 / 50,000
Oct 2, 2009 - 18 42
Ain't it the truth. Amazing what your brain can churn out when you're not obsessively checking the Brigade topic for new posts.
Like, um, now.
I gotta go type something.
http://clickthing.blogspot.com
----------http://clickthing.blogspot.com
0 / 50,000
Oct 2, 2009 - 19 48
Hi Sarah,
According to the TWDB, your machine was made in 1947. I double checked and mine was made in 1951. However, both our typewriters are based on the 1939 "Worlds Fair" model, which I'm told was one of the finest ever made. The only changes over the years were some minor cosmetics. For instance, mine has round plastic (bakelite?) keys instead of the glass top ones.
There are several reasons why this is my favorite typewriter. The touch is actually quite light, very smooth and even but it can stand up to the pounding I give it when the ideas and words are coming hot and heavy. (The more I get into the story, the harder I hit the keys.) Everything on it moves smoothly. I dig the Art Deco style chrome trim around the sides and back. It's so heavy and solid it would likely stop shrapnel if I'm ever using it during a mortar attack. :-) Finally, there is more space than usual around each key which makes it less likely to hit 2 or 3 keys at the same time, something I do on a regular basis with most keyboards. This last point probably doesn't matter to you but I have very large, thick hands (they've been described as catcher mitts) so any extra spacing is helpful.
Here is a link to a site that has a series of essays on why people prefer manual typewriters. It has some great humor.
http://site.xavier.edu/polt/typewriters/tributes.html
Jeff
31,000 / 50,000
Oct 2, 2009 - 22 12
I really wanted to typewrite my novel this year, but I was unable to find a typewriter. Oh, well. I wish you guys lots of luck!
50,583 / 50,000
Oct 2, 2009 - 22 42
Thanks terribly, Jeff! It's lovely knowing more about my darling. : D
Shen, don't be silly! There's still time!
----------Having been called in here very many times over the past few months to answer for this or that misdemeanor, Oliver was well acquainted with the room's nuances and eccentricities – most of them fungal.
25,625 / 50,000
Oct 2, 2009 - 23 30
Alas, the opportunities for ümlauts this year are about the same as last year's. I have no German or Turkish characters to abuse the privilege with.
And I have to say, it's a lot like coming home. :)
----------NaNo '09: Fall of the New Empire
Proud member, Typewriter Brigade
37,174 / 50,000
Oct 3, 2009 - 04 36
Well, there we go! Didn't bring my computer at all, so no Internet for me except in the public library. Now there's a challenge.
Most of this year's WriMo* will be written on my flashing orange Silver Seiko (branded Privileg 260 T) with a little additional help from the vintage Amstrad notepad when I'm in the library (where a loud mechanical typer might be a little inconvenient).
Doing a bit of pre-work writing up etc and everything' looking great so far.
patar
____
* Yes, I'm a first timer!
36,153 / 50,000
Oct 3, 2009 - 10 51
Most of this year's WriMo* will be written on my flashing orange Silver Seiko (branded Privileg 260 T) with a little additional help from the vintage Amstrad notepad when I'm in the library (where a loud mechanical typer might be a little inconvenient).
Just FYI, I type in the library all the time - just pull up a chair in the Children's section! No one notices noise there ;-)
----------Nano 2008 - Sanctuary (Won!)
Nano 2009 - Majesty
30,180 / 50,000
Oct 3, 2009 - 11 20
Man, it's good to see all of you again. I really do look forward to November every year. As a member of a local writing group, I've been 'writing' all year, but November is when I really get to blow the carbon out, forget the editing and re-writing, and just do all the messy, crazy fun parts.
Anyone have any idea what they plan to write this year?
14,541 / 50,000
Oct 3, 2009 - 11 49
Oh, what I'd do to have a typewriter... -sigh-
But wait, how do you guys do the thing at the end where you have to put up your whole nano so they can make sure you're not cheating?
----------20,825 / 50,000
Oct 3, 2009 - 12 23
But wait, how do you guys do the thing at the end where you have to put up your whole nano so they can make sure you're not cheating?
Ahhh, but you CAN have a typewriter! Yard sales and thrift stores abound with them! And usually for fairly cheap. Antique stores too, but the prices tend to be higher than other places. :P
What most of us do is add up the words on a handful of pages, and divide that by the number of pages to get a fairly accurate word count per page. Then just add up the pages at the end. As far as having something to submit to the word counter on the site, you can just use a lorem ipsum generator to make a word document of gibberish that is the correct number of words. The word counter on the site doesn't care what the document you submit actually IS, it just counts words.
Edit: Or Ebay! Tons of them on Ebay. This little Olympia is currently selling for only 99 cents! http://cgi.ebay.com/VINTAGE-OLYMPIA-DE-LUXE-TYPEWRITER-1960_W0QQitemZ270...
----------Deploy the rocket boat!
20,825 / 50,000
Oct 3, 2009 - 12 41
*sigh*
Now I've been looking at ebay typewriters again. It's depressing how many glass key typewriters, including ones in near mint condition, are up for sale with the seller proudly proclaming their willingness to cut off the keys for jewelry. I've already rescued two of them in the past, I can't afford them all! Gahhhh!
----------Deploy the rocket boat!
21,443 / 50,000
Oct 3, 2009 - 13 15
Hello there!
This is my second year of NaNo, I've recently gotten my hands on a (free!) Corona standard typewriter, and plan on typing my whole novel on it this year. The computer is just too distracting, and a typewriter is actually more portable than my laptop anyway (as the battery dies after a mere ten minutes if not plugged in), not to mention more comfortable!