George Lucas has said in many interviews that he prefers to write his scripts in longhand. Indeed, there is a behind-the-scenes feature on the Phantom Menace DVD that shows he writes his first drafts in pencil on line-legal paper which is then given to an assistant to type up in the proper format.
I have a similar quirk - when I'm brainstorming, I prefer to work out ideas in my own handwriting on lined paper. I've tried brainstorming by typing on my laptop and despite the fact that word processing programs allow my work to be intensely more legible than the chicken scratch that passes for my handwriting, it just doesn't work for me. Somehow I think better while writing in one of my binders.
I also habitually get my best ideas in the shower - so I suppose that means I should start taking legal pads into the bath with me.
Even after producing a typed version of my outline, I have another longhand habit. Before I begin a day of writing, I hand-write a beat sheet of the scenes I intend to write that day. Somehow that helps me focus. Then, after I complete a first draft of the script, I always find it more effective to print out a hard copy and edit from that, making notes with a red pen.
So I'm curious to hear how many of you have longhand habits. I suspect that the younger among you might be more prone to working completely on the computer. Are any of you guys like me in that you have to work in long-hand at particular stages of writing?
