Mitch Wagner sez, “I talked with legendary science fiction author Joe Haldeman for the Copper Robot Podcast about why he writes with a fountain pen in bound books in a room lit by oil lamps, to create stories that explore advanced, future technology. Joe is a Hugo- and Nebula-award winner, author of ‘The Forever War’ and the recent ‘Marsbound’ and ‘Starbound.'”
“There’s something special about writing by hand, writing with a fountain pen, and there’s something special about writing into a book, to take a blank book and turn it into an actual book. I guess there’s a sort of superstitious or mystical aspect to it,” Haldeman said. “I like the physical action of writing down by hand, and I don’t just use it for writing my fiction. I carry a notebook and write down things to do, and I write out thoughts and stuff like that.”
He added, “I think it goes way back to when I was a teenager, and I guess it’s just a habit of thought that you either have or don’t have. If I had had a thing like an iPad when I was a kid, then I never would have gotten into the habit of writing things down by hand.”
Science fiction writer Joe Haldeman discusses unplugging to create