写作方法2022emergencycreative.com
数字打字机与为专注付出的不必要代价
The digital typewriter and the unnecessarily costly pursuit of focus
导读
作者体验并反思了 Freewrite 这类「数字打字机」——为专注写作而设计、却价格不菲且功能别扭的设备。文章值得写作者读，是因为它戳破了一个常见幻觉：用买新工具来解决自律与专注问题，往往只是在推迟真正开始写。评论区进一步给出了更便宜也更有效的替代方案。
可以直接用的写作要点
- 01
把「起草」和「修改」拆成两个明确阶段：初稿阶段禁止回删和回头改，第二遍再整理成连贯的论证。
- 02
不要指望新设备解决专注问题，那本质上是自律问题；先用记事本、纸笔这类最没有「元思考」空间的工具开始敲字。
- 03
动笔前先在纸上列提纲，再对每一节做意识流式的自由写作，最后才进编辑器打磨成型。
- 04
想保留初稿的「不可回头」感，可以给工具加一个模式开关（草稿模式／编辑模式），而不是彻底剥夺修改能力。
HN 评论精选
别用新设备掩盖自律问题；打字机的价值在于逼迫你先写完再改。
我在它还叫 Hemingwrite 上众筹时就买了一代 Freewrite，至今没原谅自己。我为它浪费了太多心思：为什么创始人不兑现开放 API 的承诺，为什么在新款发布前把满是抱怨的官方论坛整个删掉……而我现在又被卷进来公开抱怨。想买的人，我的温和建议是：别买。我能说的最客气的话是，这次浪费教会我一个重要教训——不要被漂亮的营销诱惑，用一个新设备去解决本质上是自律的问题。好的一面是，它把我带进了在真正的打字机上写作这门濒死的艺术：打字机比 Freewrite 有用得多，比如纸面上自带版本管理，我可以用笔修改重写。我是职业编剧，经常用打字机写初稿，或者卡住、拖稿时用它把事情推动起来，之后 OCR 进 emacs 用 fountain-mode 重写。
kworks查看英文原文
I bought a 1st gen Freewrite back when it was the Hemingwrite on Kickstarter, I'm pretty embarrassed to say. I still haven't forgiven myself. I've wasted waaay too much thought on that thing: why won't the founders just release an API like they originally promised, why did they delete the entire Freewrite forum full of many complaints right before a new model was released, why... and here I am... sucked in again, whining... publicly. Jeez. Anyone out there thinking of buying one these things, my gentle suggestion is don't. Really just don't. I'll let you borrow all my wasted time so that you don't have to waste yours. The most gracious thing I can say is that wasting my precious time and hard-earned cash on a Freewrite taught me a very important lesson... do not be seduced by slick marketing and a new device to solve what is at its heart a self-discipline problem. On a positive note, it got me into exploring the dead art of writing on actual typewriters. A typewriter is a good deal more useful than a Freewrite, version control on the page for example. I can edit and rewrite with a pen. Good times. I'm a professional screenwriter and often use a typewriter for first drafts or when I'm super stuck on something or procrastinating on a hard deadline. It's a good way to get things moving. I OCR the pages into emacs and fountain-mode to rewrite until the inevitable time comes when production needs the script in Final Draft... which is a sad moment, but so it goes. I took an unfortunate road filled with regret that led to way of working that I love. So there's that.
先纸笔列提纲、再意识流起草、最后进编辑器整理，是克服边写边改的有效流程。
我是博士生，经常要写东西，一直有个毛病：边写边改，不停回头，给同一句话写好几个版本，非要一遍就写对。现在我越来越多地先在纸本上列提纲（有好用的笔和纸会更有帮助），然后对每一节做意识流式写作，最后才到编辑器里，把之前那堆「词语沙拉」整理成连贯、清晰、分立的观点和论证。所以我很欣赏打字机让人在写的时候很难修改，这正好促成了草稿阶段；用笔写也一样，涂改几下纸就成墨团了。也许这个产品的实现只是太粗糙——它只有「无光标、无退格」这一种模式。一个物理旋钮或许是不错的替代方案：「草稿模式」「编辑模式」。
jszymborski查看英文原文
I'm a PhD student, and as a result often have to write. I've always had the problem of editing as I type, constantly back tracking, writing alternate versions of a sentence, insisting that I get it right the first pass. Increasingly, I've taken to outlining my work (like Xe Iaso recommends[0]) on pad and paper (helps if you have a nice pen and nice paper), and then trying to write a stream of consciousness for each section. Then, I'll go to my text editor of choice and start forming more coherent, cogent, and discrete thoughts and arguments from the previous word salad. All to say, I appreciate that typewriters make it really hard to revise your work while you're writing as it facilitates that draft phase. Same deal with writing in pen, you can only scratch out so much before the page becomes an ink rag. Perhaps this implementation was sloppy in that it _only_ has this no-cursor/no-backspace mode. A physical dial could be a cool alternative ("Draft Mode", "Editing Mode") [0] https://xeiaso.net/blog/doing-a-writing
最朴素、最不被浪漫化的工具反而最省心，能让你直接开始写。
如果想专注，什么都比不过 Windows 的 notepad.exe 或 Ubuntu 的「文本编辑器」这类东西。为什么？因为它足够基础，却又不是刻意装文艺、装极简。notepad.exe 甚至是被大家公开嫌弃的：除了开玩笑，谁说过自己喜欢它？而它功能确实极简，剩下的只有你和你要写的字。你不会有关于编辑器本身的元思考，不会「为了砍柴先规划规划会议、再画甘特图来启动项目」，你就是直接开始敲键盘。我需要随手记点东西、不想有任何摩擦时，就开一个记事本窗口，之后再想「糟糕，得存一下」。同理：一支铅笔和一张略有折痕的廉价 A4 复印纸。
quickthrower2查看英文原文
If you want to focus, you can't beat something like notepad.exe on Windows or "Text Editor" on Ubuntu, or something like that. Why? Because it is basic, but it isn't actively trying to be hipster or minimal or whatever. In the case of notepad.exe it is actively despised: who has said they like notepad.exe other than in jest? And they are pretty minimal on features. All there is is you and the words that YOU will be writing. There is no meta-thinking about the editor. No "planning the planning session to shave the yak to build the gaant chart to start the project". You just start tapping the keys. When I need to make a note and need no friction I often open a notepad window. Later on I decide "shit I better save this!". See also: a pencil and a piece of slightly creased cheap A4 copy paper.
「纯粹写作」的怀旧背后是被隐去的协作劳动，写作从来不是一个人的事。
作者是在抱怨这台非常专用的设备没有完全具备他想要的功能。而在纸上写作的时代，背后是一大群人力：打字员、誊写员、事实核查员、编辑和排版工，一切在付印前要被重新录入好几遍。所以那不是什么对打字机的怀旧，而是对仆人的怀旧。
Animats查看英文原文
The author is grumbling that this very special purpose device doesn't have quite the feature set he wants. The era of writing on paper was backed by a large human staff of typists, rewriters, fact-checkers, editors, and Linotype operators. Everything was re-keyed several times before it reached print. It's not about nostalgia for typewriters. It's about nostalgia for servants.
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