When you need to edit your story, how do you go about it? Do you print the story out or glance at the screen and edit as you go?
What do you do when you have to print out a story with too many pages that needs to be edited?
So, tell me do you have your own printer or not? Would you ever get one or not at all?
You can show pictures if you want to. It is totally optional.
bump.
It really depends on what stage of editing I’m at. If I write it digitally I’m more likely to also edit it that way until I feel like there’s nothing left to edit. Then I’ll leave it for a few weeks or months and will edit it physically. If I write it by hand then I edit it on that paper until I run out of room and can’t put more sticky notes down for extra space without getting confused on where their supposed to go. And then I’ll move it to digitally and continue editing.
I definitely try to avoid printing out my books until I’m at least 80% happy with it to not waste paper. But if I’m having trouble with editing it digitally or think I’m going to lose Wi-Fi/ power or overheat my computer I’ll definitely consider printing it out. To be honest I’ve never had to worry about my computer overheating but I’m moving somewhere that’s it’s normal to get up to 110 in the summer. So I might have issues next year.
I do have one but the only reason I have my own is because a family member had to buy a new printer because they couldn’t get to their old printer at the time. It was in a storage unit four hours away.
Yeah, I’m from the pre-fax generation. I’ve had a printer most my adult life. Yes I would print out my own stories.
Aww, what a cute cat!
Nope, I have to use my mom’s printer. But I wouldn’t do that because it uses tons of ink and those cartridges cost a fortune! So I just convert my document into an ebook in Calibre and put it on my Kindle. I read it on there, and make edits on the computer simultaneously. Somehow reading hundreds of paper pages would feel like it was taking forever. (*・_・)ノ⌒*
Which printer brand does your mom have?
This is it, an HP 4650 all-in-one. It’s a printer/scanner/fax/etc. I like it, but it costs a fortune in ink. (ง︡’-'︠)ง
Even with Instant Ink, where you pay a little just to get ink delivered to your home when you are running low?
Yup! We’re dirt poor, so those ink cartridges are expensive no matter what we do. We used to get the generic version from local print shops, but they didn’t work that well, so we use the HP brand again. ¯\_(ﭢ)_/¯
Oh wow…
So, your mom’s printer is used sparingly? Like when you really need for certain stuff?
Nah, my mom and dad use it as much as they want. But I don’t use it at all since it makes me feel bad to use up all the ink. I never need anything printed anyhow, so it’s not a problem. I use the scanner all the time, though, to scan my drawings into my computer. ٩(˘◡˘)۶
Ah, alright!
I used to own a printer, but not anymore. 
Back when I was in high school—all the way back in the year 2015, so way before COVID—I was enrolled in an online school through K-12. They gave me multiple things for school such as a computer (monitor and tower), a Kindle, textbooks and other books, and a printer. At the end of the year, I actually got to keep the Kindle and the printer permanently. Unfortunately, my brother lost my Kindle (he used to take it to work with him and watch Netflix on it) and my parents used the printer as they needed it more than I did (used it for work related stuff) but it eventually broke during our travels. So… I no longer have one. Haha.
I’ve actually wanted to buy one so I could print it out and have a physical copy of my book, but printers (and most especially the ink) is so expensive that I’d rather not pay for it. Heck, I might as well print it at the library I work at for ten cents a page, with the first ten pages being free. My manuscript currently sits at 174 pages, so it’s nearly seventeen dollars. With the price of a printer and ink, that’s a good deal.
Personally, though, I don’t need to print anything out to edit it. I find it so much easier to revise on the same manuscript and software I wrote it on. I think that printing it would be a better option as you get closer to its final stages of revision (from how far you can go as a writer) because once you’ve revised everything on the main document, you can print it out and see how well it looks and find any other errors on a printed format.
I have a printer because I need it for my academic stuff. It’s an Epson ink printer. I used to have a Canon laser printer until it started steaming. The ink printers these days are so much faster than what they used to be. Impressed, honestly.
I don’t print stories unless I’m doing a near-final self-edit before sending it to betas or something. Going back and forth between paper and screen makes me dizzy, so I rather do it as little as possible.
Print? Like all 300++ pages of my word doc?? Aww heck nah, I’m too stingy on my paper and ink to do that XD I just edit on screen. Much easier and quicker that way. (ETA: AND CHEAPER! Forgot to add the most important part, lol)
My mom bought me a printer because I moved to another city a day away and it’d be easier to have a printer/scanner for myself. But because schools usually have Xerox shops and stalls that cost like ₱5/$0.089 per print and there’s also a price for photocopy. I usually just go there cause I can’t bring my printer to school and if you have research papers then that needed corrections and reprints in the afternoon then… I never had to be the one to wait in line for those though, usually had the least helpful team mate do it.
As for printing for edits? Sounds like a waste of paper and ink which is very expensive even if the thought of writing corrections on paper would be better visually.
Hell no. lol those things are so expensive.
I had one in university - for free. As I’m diabetic I’m considered disabled under the law, and the uni helped me with costs. They gave me a free scanner/printer worth like £150, and paid for all my ink and paper. I’d just bought a laptop before going to uni, which was a pain otherwise they would’ve given me one for free lol.
Anyway, not even then did I print off books to edit. Seemed like a waste of paper when I can do it on my laptop for free. I dont particularly find it helpful as my eyes have to read it whatever I do.
We bought a printer a while ago, like just before the pandemic, and we used it for stuff like printing CVs etc when my husband was looking for a job. It broke just before we needed ink, and we looked it up. Buying a printer here is cheap enough (£30 will get you an okay model) but the ink is expensive as hell.
Now we just dont have one. I can walk down to the library and print off like a 5 page document for 50p. 10p a black and white sheet, which is good for me.
But no, I dont find editing helpful that way anyway and even if I did I just honestly find it a waste of money.
Well, it appears I am the only one who will use a printer for my stories and waste money too.
Interesting…didn’t know how wasteful I was.
