News on Relevant Science: 12 Writers Who Still Refuse to Use Computers

Computers are incredible tools: we use them to connect around the world, gather all of the information in the universe, find inspiration, and maybe play a few games now and then. They're also very helpful for writers, offering organization, editing, and writing tools that are more useful than any tools available before. But for so many writers, they're just not the right tool for the job. There's something romantic and creative about setting pen to paper, which for many writers, makes the very act of writing possible. For others, pen and paper are favored for their portability and lack of constant distractions. Others find that they do their best work on a typewriter. Whatever the reason or method, these writers have chosen not to compose their works on computers, preferring instead to put pen to paper or fingertips on the typewriter. And although some do use computers for editing and social connections, their first drafts are never created with the use of digital aids. Read on to learn why and how these 12 famous writers get their best work done without the help of computers.

PJ O'Rourke

Political satirist and author PJ O'Rourke, an early proponent of Gonzo journalism, prefers a typewriter to a computer. O'Rourke uses an IBM Selectric typewriter to create his manuscripts, as he says that focusing on writing while using a computer would be difficult due to his short attention span. In the New York Times, O'Rourke further shared his reasons for avoiding the computer, explaining that "writing on a computer makes saving what's been written too easy," with "mistakes neatly stored in digital memory." He also worries that with a computer, instead of becoming distracted, he simply might "write too much too fast," suffering from the sins of excessive speed and quantity.
Oliver Sacks

Oliver Sacks is commonly known as a neurologist who sometimes writes, but he prefers to be known as an author. After all, he aspired to become a writer as young as age 12, and his compassionate books (all 10 of them) have changed medical writing forever. For a man who has changed so much, it's somewhat surprising that the man himself has not changed with the times. When the New York Times asked him what he's been "following," Dr. Sacks responded, "I don’t know what Facebook and Twitter are since I don’t use a computer. But a friend gave me a hat with a built-in compass, since I have no sense of direction." Sacks prefers to use a pen and paper or electric typewriter, sharing that "I love the physicality of paper." So much so, that his editor and assistant Kate Edgar prints out Sacks' 50+ daily emails.
Lee Rourke

British novelist Lee Rourke believes that creative writing is simply better with a pen, insisting that longhand is a more portable and individual way to write. In a piece for the Guardian, Rourke shares, "Everything I've ever written was composed in notebooks first." He buys notebooks obsessively, with hundreds of filled ones in boxes and just as many empty ones ready and waiting for inspiration to strike. For Rourke, longhand writing allows him to enter a "zone of comfort" he just can't find in a computer, as he finds the sound of typing annoying: it reminds him of the offices he's worked in, signing off on invoices rather than crafting a great literary work. Rather, Rourke takes his pens and notebooks everywhere, writing anywhere and whenever he wants as it comes to him in fits. Rourke does, however, use a computer to transfer his finished works to the typed word, editing as he goes along.
Jon McGregor

Like Rourke, British author Jon McGregor also prefers to write longhand or with a typewriter first, then edit his work on a laptop or netbook. He shares, "An idea or phrase can be grabbed and worked at while it's fresh. Writing on the page stays on the page, with its scribbles and rewrites and long arrows suggesting a sentence or paragraph be moved, and can be looked over and reconsidered. Writing on the screen is far more ephemeral – a sentence deleted can't be reconsidered. Also, you know, the Internet." McGregor's pen of choice is a Muji 5mm, and he types on an Olivetti. The author himself admits that he has a bit of a "fetishisation of process," which for him, is an exercise in procrastination.
Patrick McLean

Patrick McLean loves computers and technology, with books on the Amazon Kindle and a couple Parsec Awards for Podcast Fiction. But when it comes to producing the written word, McLean finds that it's simply easier to put pen to paper. In fact, he was actually surprised to find out that the easiest way for him to write is by "composing with a long, flowing, and delightfully irregular script that fills the page like a river of words." He notes that it often takes him less time than it would to type, and he simply writes better. Like McGregor, McLean's preference for physically writing has a lot to do with focus and avoiding the distractions of technology. McLean's longhand writing speed that rivals his typing production is due in no small part to the fact that "a pen and paper has but one functionality. It captures the marks I make so that they can be referred to at a later time. It doesn't ring, it doesn't bother me with an incoming chat or IM. It never asks me to plug it in so it can get more power. It doesn't crash, it never needs an upgrade, and it is unlikely that someone will snatch my pad and bolt from a coffee shop with it when I turn my back." For at least one technology-loving writer, pen and paper's beautiful simplicity makes all the difference in the world.
Orhan Pamuk

Novelist Orhan Pamuk is Turkey's best-selling writer, and with his Nobel Prize in Literature, the first Turkish citizen to be awarded a Nobel. His prize-winning works are not composed on a computer, but in a graph paper notebook. He likes to write one full page, and then leave the next one open for revisions. Using his notebooks, Pamuk relishes in the absence of a backspace button, and the opportunity to capture inspiration when it strikes.
Kazuo Ishiguro

Kazuo Ishiguro is a Japanese-British novelist, one of The Times' 50 Greatest British Writers Since 1945, in fact, as well as a Man Booker Prize Winner. Certainly some part of his success has to do with Ishiguro's extreme organization and planning, all done with pen and paper through flow charts, folders of narratives and plot, and carefully auditioned narrators. This process takes two years to complete, including research, and after that, Ishiguro writes his first drafts by hand, editing by hand in pencil as well. Once completed, Ishiguro finally types his own pages.
Niven Govinden

English novelist Niven Govinden certainly uses a computer: he has a Twitter account, after all. But the author of We Are the New Romantics and Graffiti My Soul insists that "a blank computer screen makes me want to throw up." With the "physicality" of longhand, Govinden is able to revise as he works, taking advantage of the "greater sense of space" afforded by a pen. Govinden finds that "a lined notebook is less judgmental," and he is able to write in a more economical way, thinking harder about the sentences that follow each other.
John Le Carre

David John Moore Cornwell, pen name John Le Carre, once worked for MI5 and MI6, but he left it all behind as an international bestseller, known for The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, and The Constant Gardener. Le Carre much prefers to write his novels in longhand: he has stated that he's actually allergic to computers. Each day, he wakes up at 4 a.m. to write furiously until lunch, and once complete, his wife, Jane Cornwell types up the day's work. Editing is done in a drafting and redrafting method, with edits and rewrites typed and stapled on top of the original. Le Carre's entire beautiful mess of work was once kept in a barn, but he famously donated his 85 boxes of manuscripts to the Bodleian Library at Oxford. The Guardian points out that with these paper manuscripts, fans and academics alike can learn more about Le Carre's working methods, methods that would not easily be revealed on a computer. The Bodleian does, however, plan to make the archive available online.
Tess Gerritsen

For bestselling author Tess Gerritsen, her blogging is best done on the computer, but for novels, only pen and paper will do. She doesn't use a computer or even a typewriter, instead using a Bic pen and sheets of unlined paper. Gerritsen is quite comfortable composing articles and other pieces at the keyboard, but for her, fiction is a completely different matter. She struggles to make things work while writing novels on the computer, finding that she hardly finishes a thing at the end of the day because she's spent too much time "perfecting them." But beyond that, Gerritsen values pen and paper for its physical properties: "I like knowing that once the ink’s on the page, it can’t magically disappear when the power goes out. I like being able to write notes to myself in the margins, to have an inserted sentence curl up the side of the page." Additionally, she likes that no one can read her handwriting, as she believes that her first drafts are terrible and unreadable.
JK Rowling

World-renowned author JK Rowling, the creator of Harry Potter, still prefers to write by hand, although she is known to tweet occasionally. In an interview with Amazon.co.uk, Rowling shared that she does her first drafts on pen and paper, then, like other authors, edits as she types her work onto her computer. Interestingly, Rowling prefers to write with a black pen instead of blue, and likes to use "narrow feint" writing paper, but in a pinch, she'll write on anything. In fact, she used an (empty) airplane sick bag to write down the name of the Hogwarts houses. By writing longhand, Rowling has actually created very valuable pieces: a handwritten and illustrated copy of Rowling's The Tales of Beetle the Bard was auctioned off for $4 million, benefiting a children's charity.
Michael Ondaatje

Michael Ondaatje, the award-winning novelist behind The English Patient, prefers Muji brand notebooks over computers when it comes to writing his works. But interestingly enough, Muji notebooks actually come with a lot of the same functionalities as MS Word, allowing Ondaatje to cut and paste his novels as he goes along. Unlike other pen and paper authors who ultimately transfer their works into type, Ondaatje has been known to compose up to three drafts by hand on his notebooks.