Writing 101 - How to Use a Typewriter

Threads: createx3_damondimarco

Are you a writer who's thought about using a typewriter as part of your process? Are you from a generation where these machines are somewhat known but also somewhat foreign to you? Would you like a quick primer on how to use a typewriter? If you answered yes to any of these questions, this video is for you.

Typewriters can help our process by slowing us down, helping us focus, and, moving through obstacles by realizing that not every draft has to be perfect.

But don't take my word for it. See for yourself.

With hopes that this video helps you wherever you're at in your process.

Stay happy, stay healthy, and stay creative.

Here's a link to my ONLINE WRITING COURSE, Break Your Story, for #writers #writing a #novel, #screenplay, #theater piece or #TV #pilot:

Have you got an idea for a novel, screenplay, TV pilot, or stage play ... but you don't know where to begin?

Have you already started ... but now you find yourself stalled?

Have you written yourself into a corner and now you're thinking of calling it quits?

Or are you wondering how professional writers crank out quality projects time and again?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, Break Your Story is for you!

Learn the techniques I've used to help Pulitzer Prize & National Book Award winners tell their best stories.

The course features four hours of video instruction.

You'll be led step-by-step through six assignments that build your story from the ground up so it's practically bulletproof.

A brief video explaining the Break Your Story process is posted on the site.

Check it out.

And please let me know if you have any questions!

Happy writing!

[mashashaban]

Knowledge is power.i have learnt what i never knew.i wish now i could get my own typewriter

[andrebartels]

I like the fact, that typewriters are without autocorrection. I don't regard it as raw. I see a challenge to become a better writer. On a computer, i don't care how to end the sentence when i begin it, because I can correct it. On a computer I don't care about spelling. When I started typing three months ago, this fell on my feet. My writing was rubbish. Since then, i wrote about 150 pages of my diary and a few letters on my SG1, and I'm improving significantly. I'm getting faster, I'm more focused on what I want to write, my spelling is way better. It's how people in the gym don't endure lifting heavy things. They do this in order to improve on themselves.

[carriageofnoreturn.]

What a lovely, informative and yet gentle, introduction to typewriting- marvellous. My only problem is that now I am regretting all over again the sale of my Olivetti Lettera machine - a great workhorse that was truly portable. Thank you for your video!

[PublicEnemyMinusOne]

Hi Damon! Long(ish) time subscriber, first time commenter.
I'm a student in my 20's currently studying English Literature with Creative Writing at University. I came across your video on how to Digitise your Typewriter work and that is actually what led me on to getting a manual in the first place.

For me, I crave *physical* interaction and *ritualistic* engagement with certain things - Vinyl for instance! I love physically holding my records and touching my turntable and all the rest etc.

So thats why I quickly fell in love with using a Typewriter. Now, I use it for all my stories and even my Essays! Lol!!

Anyway, I guess what I'm getting at is Thank you for your consistent uploads and especially your Typewriter profiles. They're so much fun! But also, I love your videos on Creativity- The whole idea of 'no thinking, just type type type' resonates with me strongly. Morning writing prompts for example are a real game changer! - And that fun is only amplified with a Typewriter! I have found I have been able to stick to my desired daily word count for my stories with much more enthusiasm since getting a Typewriter.

So yeah! Thanks again and keep up the great work! And for potential curiosity - I currently have a Hermes 2000, model 1955 and its such a dream! (I know you did 3000, but if you come across a 2000 and could do a Profile, that would be awesome!). However, a Smith Corona Silent Super is definitely on the wishlist this Christmas.

Take Care!
Chris,

[Mrradio-]

Excellent video! I recently acquired a Smith Corona Silent Super from my grandmother who has since passed. She gave me a brief how to when I got curious about her typewriter. That was over ten years ago. Now the typewriter is a little piece of her I have to remember her by. Thanks for answering my questions about operating it properly and giving me a refresher. Happy typing!

[bwhog]

I did my first book report on my dad's Royal HHE! I did the next on the C-64 that we bought about a year later. Primitive, but it did the job. Went to use a typewriter a bit ago and I had forgotten about the "correction" position for the ribbon selector and it took me two hours to figure out why the ribbon wasn't lifting up when I typed! (I was fiddling with things and didn't realize what the white dot meant and left the ribbon selector there.) Also, don't forget that typewriters don't have a "1" key. Instead, they used a lower case "L". Kind of confusing to the newbies out there. :)

Better Way to line up the paper: Slide it up against the paper guide, pull it up until the ends are about an inch apart and line the edges of the paper up with each other. Make sure it's at the paper guide, then flick down the lever and wind the roller back to where you want to start typing. Then adjust the roller if it's a form you're completing so you get it on the line.

"The quick _sly_ fox jumped over the lazy brown dog." :)

One important thing about a typewriter is that typing technique is far more particular than it is on an electronic keyboard. You don't follow through, you get light strikes and faint letters. Fail to fully release one key before you go to the next, you get key jams. Don't finish fully depressing the shift key before you hit your letter, you get a vertically offset character, and so on. HOW you type matters on a typewriter. As you say, it also trains you to be very careful so you make fewer mistakes, since you don't can't actually delete anything without whiteout. (Never liked the white ribbons because whenever I wanted to use them, that section of ribbon had already been used and I had to spool forward to find another spot.)

[Alicangame]

Just recently found my grand father's typewriter and I hope it works. looks like it is in great condition.

[douglasjackson]

Great instructional video, top notch👍really, no fooling 🙂. I give it....an 11🤣

[johnnyragadoo]

High quality typewriters should still be in production. They're wonderful and so many little techniques are lost. Like centering a line. Slide the carriage return to the center mark and "type" your line with the backspace key, using up one character on the downstroke and one on the upstroke. Then type the line, nicely centered.

Or exclamation points crafted from single quote, backspace, period, or using lower case "L" for numeric one and upper case "O" for zero.

But the best is that if you have one of those SHTF situations your voice won't be silenced if you have a typewriter.

[petesime]

One other thing for many novices is that a lot of typewriters don't have the number 1 on their top row. Typists should use a lower case L instead.

[doylerabjohn]

Thanks for the refresher have a Royal model 10 (single glass) that completely needs to be restored ( nothing moves on it). I inherited from my stepdad. I haven't used a typewriter since grade school days when we took typing class. I definitely am looking forward to using it.

[peterwexler]

Great video. Though I know how to use a typewriter, listening to this was a joy.

[strayferal]

Thank you! Great video! When I was a kid everyone used typewriters (even later). But I never used one. And I wondered how the keyboard functions. Now I know.

[ceci]

Thank you for the great video! Just got a Consul 222.2 and loving it so much

[dadtype]

Great instruction, I know how to use a Typewriter, but I am supporting the channel!

I use my paper rollers as markers for my Margins and end of letter line. I align the left side up with the inner edge of the left Cardstock Plate/guide and the right paper roller is lined up with the inner edge of the right cardstock plate/guide.

This way I know where the most outer edge a Letter can start and where, most importantly, a letter will end before the Margin RELEASE lol it's often in caps yelling at you, my typewriter yells at me, your's doesn't? No, some are Mimes....

As we go along we can't see the margins we set up in the back as the paper blocks that view, so by using the two although some have 3, or 4 even mostly two. I place them long the outsides in the margin fields.

Always thought this was their purpose, as they are adjustable, and there really is no need for them to hold the paper down, that's what the paper bail bar does and it's been doing a great job for a really seriously long time just fine without having the need for little rubber or steel rollers out there.

I guess if you have 3, I would put two in the margin fields and one in the middle to help with Centering. If you have 4 which I've only ever seen on a big Remington or it was an Underwood, one or the other, I want to say Remington, the two in the center would REALLY be useful in helping to center your words up.

Hope this helps someone, and maybe gave a new thought to us older Saints of the Typesphere. ❤

I hate spelling it Typo Sphere as it's how I hear it spoken, but it looks like we're wrong by default...lol like right out of the gate we made a big mistake. ❤

[CP-rcsw]

Fun, what a great review! Also, one is a lowercase ell. :-)

[sallyridenwanjoku]

Thanks Damon! I can now get a great grade in business studies tommorow

[badoun]

Thank you so much for this video!
I really enjoyed it!

[kyliegonzalez]

I would never attempt to write a whole damn book on a typewriter. I make too many spelling mistakes. That's what my Alphasmart Neo2 Word Processor is for. However, I have been interested in adding a typewriter to my craft room for scrapebooking purposes, and this tutorial was a very informative introduction!

[ProGamerOne]

Hey there Damon! I’m a new subscriber to your channel and I must say: this channel is a goldmine! This video is a great video, not too short nor too long. I’m getting a very rare typewriter soon (a Seidel & Naumann portable with pre-revolutionary Cyrillic alphabet) that is in perfect working order and probably the last of its kind on the world. This video is a very good introductory to typewriters and explains everything very well and despite having no prior experience I understood everything shown and mentioned in the video.
I have watched some of your other videos about typewriters as well and must also say that they’re all very well made too. I can’t wait to receive my typewriter and type on it, a kind of feeling that brings you back to childhood where you just can’t wait to do something.
Thanks again Damon, once again a very good video and I’d definitely like to see more.