how the FUCK did people write before word processors?

"Here I'll just write this entire passage with ZERO mistakes. I won't restructure it either."

Do schools not make kids handwrite rough drafts anymore?

>>24553624 (OP)
zoomer moment

>>24553624 (OP)
Longhand drafts that they sent to typists that wrote them up professionally. Alternatively some authors would revise and type it up themselves though this required considerable skill.
Of course that’s not the end as the books would have to be edited and finally typeset and errors would hopefully be ironed out in the process (including proofs of the typesetting) but sometimes new errors were introduced instead.

It’s worst for anyone writing for magazines or similar print as the editors could be ruthless both in trimming stories and outright changing them. This is why you get some scholarly insights from comparing versions along the way. Some early edits are actually in print for this purpose.
https://www.spbooks.com/150-1984-9791095457114.html

The hand-cramping must have been so bad.

>>24553624 (OP)
Now think about how they did italics before that.
Or green text posts.

>>24553670
>>24553958
>>24553632
I mean even typewriters

I'm constantly shifting shit around

>>24553624 (OP)
Balzac’s proofs/margin notes.

kek

>>24553958
They wrote in cursive without moving the wrist. This was the standard way to write, and doesn't cramp the hand.

>>24553624 (OP)
Erasers

>>24553624 (OP)
>>24554177
And everything you write is still worthless. Because it being hard forces you to really think about it before you do it.

>>24553624 (OP)
use pencil and eraser. simple enough for everyone

>>24553624 (OP)
I write by hand anywhere from a couple to a few dozen pages per day usually, and I only make mistakes maybe once every 50 pages. Used to be less frequent.
>>24553958
I’ve never had a hand cramp or tendon pain. Write with proper form so you don’t injure yourself?

>>24557076
Pencil sucks, I exclusively use archival quality ink, why waste your time writing anything that won’t last? Be bold!

>>24553624 (OP)
Kek
I read Hume's dialogue on religion or whatever the fuck it's called a while back, and half the footnotes were just
>The word X was written, but crossed out and replaced with Y

>>24553958
Ballpoints are bad for this
Fountain pens are good for this because you don’t have to push on the paper hardly at all
t. Lefthander who got a fancy fountain pen for graduation but doesn’t use it because pushing it across a page sucks and learning Hebrew is useless

>>24557204
>The word OP was written, but crossed out and replaced with fag