How do you like to write your stories?
I used to like the old pen and paper, scribbling away in long hand. But these days I prefer the computer. I love the scope of a word processor and the fact you can cut and paste bits around to make them flow better. (I also LOVE the spell checker!!! :))
It seems much easier to manage a big story on the PC. Although I must admit I do prefer printing out my stories to read them. I find more mistakes that way, than reading off the screen.

Definitely pen and paper,though computers come in handy!

I do like to write poetry in long hand...maybe because it is a more 'hands on' and personal touch. Otherwise I like to tap away on the ol' keyboard!

Well im a computer fan, but its not exactly portable...so a pen and note book come in real handy when im on the go!
Mainly i use a computer because you can cut and paste, spell check etc, and then change just the littlest thing to the biggest, but i also type faster than i write, so that means i can talk the story through in my mind.... kind of like what im doing now.
One thing i hate though is any one can read my stories...i cant exactly put it under the bed these days.....:) You pick up so much more if you print it out for editing...i do that too. Also it helps if you leave the story alone for a while and come back to it (i mean in days not hours) keeps you on the ball, and it seems you are the reader for the first time.

I know what you mean Timna, I think a story is pretty good and then if I leave it alone and come back to it in a few weeks I can see the OH SO obvious mistakes and continuity errors and things. Also printing it out does make it easier to read and pick them up too.

Like you, Deb, I write poetry longhand, and I also do a lot of thinking through the plot in notebooks, but for everything else it goes straight into the computer. I write in draft as far as I can (usually to the end) then print that out. If I have time I set it aside for a while (which is called putting it "in the freezer") then come back to it and edit the double spaced hard copy with a red pen, writing lots of stuff like "as if Pagan would do that" and "what's she wearing" or "what does the cave look like" etc. On the first edit I don't bother with little mistakes of grammar. That comes later. It's the structure, characterisation and description. Later when I've got that straight I'll go over it looking for line-edit stuff.

I have a few friends who I trust to look at my work and offer honest comments. I would suggest that this is a VERY good thing, to have people you trust to look at your work - not family or friends who feel obliged to tell you it's great, or people you don't know who might tell you it sucks just because that will make them feel superior. You need people you can trust. Maybe you guys will be able to do this for each other. But before we get into that, we'll talk about critiquing and what's involved in that for the person offering their work and the person who's doing the critiquing. And you can learn a lot about writing from critiquing someone else's manuscript. Trust me on that. The moment you see something they've done wrong you'll rush to your own manuscript to make sure you haven't done the same thing. It's very instructive.