Vacc Suits

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by Varyon

Now that I've slept on it, I think Writing is sufficiently tangential to the operation of the computer that it probably shouldn't count, just as Research shouldn't. At best, it might allow you to produce a work faster by making the act of creation faster/more comfortable, but the act of actually writing something out usually isn't the Rate Determining Step - it's thinking up what to write.

I think that's definitely the case.

Years and years ago, when I was writing one of my earlier GURPS books, I got ready to send it in—and having been short of sleep, I opened up a file, and erased virtually the entire text, and then realized that that file was my draft of the book! That was before Apple had come out with Time Machine, so I didn't have a backup of my hard disc, and I also hadn't formed the habit of saving earlier versions, so I literally had nothing. So I immediately got in touch with SJ Games to ask for an extension, and started recreating the lost book. I didn't know how long it would take, but as it turned out, it took me only about 20-25% as long as writing the former draft had taken.

So my experience is that about 80% of the work of writing is in the head, and 20% is on the keyboard. And of course while I'm writing it the in-the-head part and the on-the-keyboard part are taking place in parallel, and the latter contributes to the former (as an old epigram puts it, How can I know what I think till I see what I say?). But with the in-the-head part already done, the on-the-keyboard part can go really fast.

Conversely, if the skill were Artist (Calligraphy), having just the right physical equipment might matter. Though I think that low-tech writing tools weren't all that durable, and there isn't really a rule for having a bond with consumables.