Unleashing Creativity: The Impact of Word Processors on Modern Literature

[Loren Booda]

How has the invention of the word processor changed literature and creative writing in general?

For instance, it enables uncoordinated me to write an essay where I was unable before. It allows those with disabilities to express themselves further. Can you recall writing a thesis paper (creative or not) without a word processor?

How far have we outdone the ancients copying religious tomes letter-by-letter? Is the amount of copyrighted material increasing exponentially?

I ask you for the more outstanding examples of this revolution.

 

[WhoWee]

How has the invention of the word processor changed literature and creative writing in general?

For instance, it enables uncoordinated me to write an essay where I was unable before. It allows those with disabilities to express themselves further. Can you recall writing a thesis paper (creative or not) without a word processor?

How far have we outdone the ancients copying religious tomes letter-by-letter? Is the amount of copyrighted material increasing exponentially?

I ask you for the more outstanding examples of this revolution.

Just as important (perhaps) is the speed and portability of documents now.

 

[WhoWee]

The paper savings is also extraordinary. I was recently involved in a filing project. There was a need for 3,850 documents with an average of 80 pages and roughly 500 copies of each document. These documents were supplied by 11 different companies.

As we worked through the logistics, we found that each of the 11 companies had an additional 350 supplemental documents of roughly 50 pages each, again 500 copies of each.

A secure storeroom was required for these documents and the only space identified as adequate was a room of 80 square feet with shelves on the exterior walls floor to ceiling (9').

Ordering logistics were my decision and recommendations were made by the team. The best suggestion, given the space, was to remove the shelves and stock the cases of documents wall to wall to ceiling.

I guess nobody read the order forms though. Each order form had a little check box near the bottom that gave the option of digital copies. I ordered a double set of everything and set them on the desk we relocated to the space.

If we need a hard copy - we'll print it.

 

[brainstorm]

How has the invention of the word processor changed literature and creative writing in general?

I'm amazed to see so many people texting in public instead of (voice) chatting on the phone. In fact, I'm amazed that I have to qualify the verb, "chat," by specifying voice to avoid the assumption that it would naturally refer to textual communication.

Also, think of how much less bandwidth it takes to send a package of a few hundred ascii characters compared with streaming video/audio or even picture and video files. You could save every word you ever typed and have so much data that no one would ever want to read it all to write your biography, even if you became incredibly famous - yet all that data would still fit in an external hard-drive small enough to fit in your pocket.

 

[WhoWee]

How has the invention of the word processor changed literature and creative writing in general?

Referring again to personal observations, several of my friends and one of my daughters have recently published e-books.

One fellow seems to be putting out a new book every 2 or 3 weeks. The content has been in the works for years and (because he bought himself a laptop) he's taking advantage of travel and down time or breaks. He has complained that he reads less now - too busy writing.