Increasing Your Typing Speed

[Ed.Spain]

Some authors might be wondering if they can increase their writing speed. Not only is it helpful in writing stories, but also in writing correspondences. Well, I'm here to give tips on how to do it.

But before we proceed, let me give a background of myself. You know me as Hans, the SHF Lore-Keeper and an educator. But, if you think my college course is education, then you're wrong, for I only took units in that (and passed my licensure exams in 2011). My original college course is in Office Administration: a fancy title, but actually, its skill set is perfect for an office employee/secretary.

What do I mean by this? Well, aside from my skill in reading and writing Gregg Shorthand for office, medical and court, I was also taught power-typing. I can type up to 150-200 wpm on a typewriter/keyboard before, with zero to few mistakes, though it considerably slowed down since I only use that skill whenever I write.

So with that, I'll give you tips on how to increase your typing speed, while maintaining accuracy.

So what do you need to do first?

1) You need to know what keyboard layout you're going to use. For this, I'll be using the standard QWERTY keyboard in the US/UK/International English setting.

2) Before you increase your typing speed, you need to know what letters each of your fingers will end up typing. For example:

Left Hand
Pinky: left shift/Q/A/Z
Ring: W/S/X
Middle: E/D/C
Index: R/F/V/T/G/B

Right Hand
Index: Y/H/N/U/J/M
Middle: I/K/, (comma key)
Ring: O/L/>
Pinky: P/; (semi-colon)/? (question mark)/right shift/enter key

Thumbs
Space bar

Well, this is the hard part because it can get confusing. Our professor taught us by having us memorize each letter for each finger every single day. For example, for Monday, she would have us study Q, A, Z (for Left Pinky finger), then the next day will be W, S, X (for Left Ring finger) and so on. The next week, she would jumble the arrangement of the letters, so we can memorize where to hit the keys. (Also, pardon my English, I'm not really a native English speaker.)

If you wish to capitalize letters under the left hand, use right shift key. Vice versa, you'll use left shift key.

Also, if you can't practice all the time in your computer, you can make a 'dummy' keyboard using an illustration board, just to memorize the keys.

3) You need to remember the 'home keys' of the keyboard. These are simply the ASDF (on left hand) buttons, and the JKL; on the right hand. Some keyboards are helpful enough to have embossed 'markers' on F and J keys, so your index finger will be guided on the home keys.

And remember, proper hand posture, as seen on this illustration. It is important not to allow your palms to touch any part of the keyboard, as it can hit other buttons and lead you to misstype a word. It can take time, but with practice, you'll eventually get used to it.

4) When you already know and have memorized the keys, you can now improve your typing speed by copying letters, paragraphs or articles you can find in the net, or in your books. Make sure to copy them as they appear, and DON'T LOOK AT YOUR KEYBOARD while typing.

Note: Yes, there are apps in the net that you can download to help you practice too.

You may use an old worn-out keyboard, if you don't like the illustration board one. You can also use a typewriter, though as someone who practiced on it, I advise against doing that because typing on typewriters has different strokes (heavier) than on a PC keyboard. I broke many keyboards before because of my typewriter background.

Also, don't be so hard on yourself. Perfection takes time, and you won't attain it. But what you'll gain is the second best, which is excellence. It's okay to make mistakes.

Hope this helps!

Edit: I made this with @Mortrexo 's concerns in mind. I made a few mistakes in my earlier thread reply, and also decided to make a thread about it for future references.

 

[TaciturnHuman]

10fastfingers.com

 

[SailusGebel]

Great guide!

 

[greyliliy]

Awesome guide.

https://typingclub.com/ is a great place to put it all into practice.

Took the placement test for fun and I have brushing up to do. My 90wpm isn't what it used to be. T-T

 

[ConansWitchBaby]

typing.com

It has a slow progression but helps with all the "extra" parts of typing. Like capital letters and punctuation, numbers, etc. I can go through a solid 80wpm as a regular. Have too much "extra" stuff in-between? Tanks to 22~30wpm.

 

[melchi]

Typewriter = crash free word processor.

 

[CarburetorThompson]

I can type really fast but it hardly helps me write faster, since it takes a bit for me to think about what to write

 

[BetterNickPending]

another side to train writing...

Write for me!

writeforme.org

but be ware you get punished for every mistake...

 

[Kenjona]

Typewriter = crash free word processor.

MUAHAHAHA! Sorry, but this comment reminded me of all the "crashes" I had using typewriters.
There is a reason for hundreds of dollars worth of a word processor, became ubiquitous in every office over the much cheaper 20-50 dollar type writers.
What you type, until you copy it or type another copy, you have no back up. Dogs, cats, gerbils, coffee, tea, soda, wind, water, dirt, forgetfulness and so on are your banes. Most word processers at least, if you remember to save file it enough times, you should have enough left to start over with, rather then nothing.
Biggest thing Microsoft did for Excel and Word was adding the auto save and crash recovery functions.

Writing a 10 page report on the viability of using Lifting Check gates for the outfall of a water effluent channel? Then having to explain to your project manager why you do not have the report finished just yet, at the next meeting that it was due for, because you told your project manager you were ready, all due to your dog shatting on it, which you only discover the next morning. No back up to print out, because your work was done on a typewriter. Makes you LOVE word processors when you finally got one, just for the friggen save function.

No keys deciding that you typed the sequence wrong and lock up on you, as both keys you know you hit in sequence decided to hit at the same time (you accidently timed hitting them to close together) so lock up and throw your work flow off. No messy white tape, no ribbon ink on your hands and then on the paper, because you did not notice the ink smear on the outside of your hand from when you changed the ribbon. Correcting a typo is not a simple backspace and retype a key unless you had a fancy digital one, but if you went to far even a digital typewriter had that issue, nothin like asking for "safety assesers two asses the ongoing project for possible issues", that one has stuck in my mind for DECADES. Yeah I got two asses laughing at me, as they inspected the project, and when I brought up some issues with the way they assessed the job site; they pointed out you did ask for two asses, so they sent us. Taught me a lesson on checking my work though.

 

[Ed.Spain]

MUAHAHAHA! Sorry, but this comment reminded me of all the "crashes" I had using typewriters.
There is a reason for hundreds of dollars worth of a word processor, became ubiquitous in every office over the much cheaper 20-50 dollar type writers.
What you type, until you copy it or type another copy, you have no back up. Dogs, cats, gerbils, coffee, tea, soda, wind, water, dirt, forgetfulness and so on are your banes. Most word processers at least, if you remember to save file it enough times, you should have enough left to start over with, rather then nothing.
Biggest thing Microsoft did for Excel and Word was adding the auto save and crash recovery functions.

Writing a 10 page report on the viability of using Lifting Check gates for the outfall of a water effluent channel? Then having to explain to your project manager why you do not have the report finished just yet, at the next meeting that it was due for, because you told your project manager you were ready, all due to your dog shatting on it, which you only discover the next morning. No back up to print out, because your work was done on a typewriter. Makes you LOVE word processors when you finally got one, just for the friggen save function.

No keys deciding that you typed the sequence wrong and lock up on you, as both keys you know you hit in sequence decided to hit at the same time (you accidently timed hitting them to close together) so lock up and throw your work flow off. No messy white tape, no ribbon ink on your hands and then on the paper, because you did not notice the ink smear on the outside of your hand from when you changed the ribbon. Correcting a typo is not a simple backspace and retype a key unless you had a fancy digital one, but if you went to far even a digital typewriter had that issue, nothin like asking for "safety assesers two asses the ongoing project for possible issues", that one has stuck in my mind for DECADES. Yeah I got two asses laughing at me, as they inspected the project, and when I brought up some issues with the way they assessed the job site; they pointed out you did ask for two asses, so they sent us. Taught me a lesson on checking my work though.

Yeah, it's part of the risks in using typewriters. Your thread reply also reminded me when I was in college, and living/studying in a 3rd World shithole like the Philippines. More than risk our typewritten documents being destroyed by pets, we also have to contend using typewriters without typewriting ribbons, lol.

Yep, it's possible. All you need is carbon paper. Downside is, you'll have to rely on your training, as you can't really see if what you've typed is correct or not.

(Aside from power-typing and Gregg Shorthand, my college course also taught me and my fellow course-mates how to 'steal' typewriter ribbons from other typing rooms because of lack of funding. Using carbon paper is the last resort. lol)

 

[Kenjona]

I loved living in the Phillipines. But then again I was not even 6 when we left so it was all a magical land to me. Lots of fond memories, but some scary one's too.

Yeah, it's part of the risks in using typewriters. Your thread reply also reminded me when I was in college, and living/studying in a 3rd World shithole like the Philippines. More than risk our typewritten documents being destroyed by pets, we also have to contend using typewriters without typewriting ribbons, lol.

Yep, it's possible. All you need is carbon paper. Downside is, you'll have to rely on your training, as you can't really see if what you've typed is correct or not.

(Aside from power-typing and Gregg Shorthand, my college course also taught me and my fellow course-mates how to 'steal' typewriter ribbons from other typing rooms because of lack of funding. Using carbon paper is the last resort. lol)

Yeah, running out of ribbon was annoying. Even in first world countries you needed to learn how to borrow from other offices supplies.

 

[DaisukeHanashi]

Another good guide not just as a writer, but also a programmer

 

[HungrySheep]

I usually prefer typeracer since you have to actually deal with punctuation as you would normally (unlike sites like monkeytype where it's super easy to get a high WPM).

Awesome guide.

https://typingclub.com/ is a great place to put it all into practice.

Took the placement test for fun and I have brushing up to do. My 90wpm isn't what it used to be. T-T

Just cleared the typing jungle thing. It was actually pretty fun.

 

[Bartun]

Oh, I can type fast, even with my short dino arms. My problem is my mind ends up blank in front of the screen

 

[CharlesEBrown]

Just wish there was a way to type like this on a freaking phone... Heck, I kind of miss the days when all typewriters had a standard size so touch typing was easy. Now you get ones with weird curves, ones with larger or smaller keys, ones with or without keypads, ones you can customize the layout on... It gets overwhelming!

typing.com

It has a slow progression but helps with all the "extra" parts of typing. Like capital letters and punctuation, numbers, etc. I can go through a solid 80wpm as a regular. Have too much "extra" stuff in-between? Tanks to 22~30wpm.

Did not know that place existed until I was required to take tests on it as part of a job application. Very nice site for someone who either needs to test their typing or is at a beginner to intermediate level and wants to improve.

 

[Deleted member 172779]

Easiest way: Don't look at the keyboard, snd gain muscle memory.

 

[corruption]

Typewriter = crash free word processor.

Fun fact: the typewriter did crash a lot originally. Using the old keyboards that were arranged alphabetically, it was not uncommon for two or more of the letter stamps to hit each other on the way to or from the paper.
So someone looked to see the most inefficient layout they find, just to slow it down. The result was the Qwerty keyboard.

PS, when I saw the title I immediately thought "Use both hands"

 

[Fox-Trot-9]

Nice!

 

[HungrySheep]

Fastest I've ever gotten. Shit accuracy, but in my defense, it was a garbage Typeracer captcha with an INSANE amount of wacky symbols. Could probably do this again on Monkeytype raw WPM since it doesn't care about errors.

 

[Deleted member 180663]

Some authors might be wondering if they can increase their writing speed. Not only is it helpful in writing stories, but also in writing correspondences. Well, I'm here to give tips on how to do it.

But before we proceed, let me give a background of myself. You know me as Hans, the SHF Lore-Keeper and an educator. But, if you think my college course is education, then you're wrong, for I only took units in that (and passed my licensure exams in 2011). My original college course is in Office Administration: a fancy title, but actually, its skill set is perfect for an office employee/secretary.

What do I mean by this? Well, aside from my skill in reading and writing Gregg Shorthand for office, medical and court, I was also taught power-typing. I can type up to 150-200 wpm on a typewriter/keyboard before, with zero to few mistakes, though it considerably slowed down since I only use that skill whenever I write.

So with that, I'll give you tips on how to increase your typing speed, while maintaining accuracy.

So what do you need to do first?

1) You need to know what keyboard layout you're going to use. For this, I'll be using the standard QWERTY keyboard in the US/UK/International English setting.

2) Before you increase your typing speed, you need to know what letters each of your fingers will end up typing. For example:

Left Hand
Pinky: left shift/Q/A/Z
Ring: W/S/X
Middle: E/D/C
Index: R/F/V/T/G/B

Right Hand
Index: Y/H/N/U/J/M
Middle: I/K/, (comma key)
Ring: O/L/>
Pinky: P/; (semi-colon)/? (question mark)/right shift/enter key

Thumbs
Space bar

Well, this is the hard part because it can get confusing. Our professor taught us by having us memorize each letter for each finger every single day. For example, for Monday, she would have us study Q, A, Z (for Left Pinky finger), then the next day will be W, S, X (for Left Ring finger) and so on. The next week, she would jumble the arrangement of the letters, so we can memorize where to hit the keys. (Also, pardon my English, I'm not really a native English speaker.)

If you wish to capitalize letters under the left hand, use right shift key. Vice versa, you'll use left shift key.

Also, if you can't practice all the time in your computer, you can make a 'dummy' keyboard using an illustration board, just to memorize the keys.

3) You need to remember the 'home keys' of the keyboard. These are simply the ASDF (on left hand) buttons, and the JKL; on the right hand. Some keyboards are helpful enough to have embossed 'markers' on F and J keys, so your index finger will be guided on the home keys.

And remember, proper hand posture, as seen on this illustration. It is important not to allow your palms to touch any part of the keyboard, as it can hit other buttons and lead you to misstype a word. It can take time, but with practice, you'll eventually get used to it.

View attachment 28615

4) When you already know and have memorized the keys, you can now improve your typing speed by copying letters, paragraphs or articles you can find in the net, or in your books. Make sure to copy them as they appear, and DON'T LOOK AT YOUR KEYBOARD while typing.

Note: Yes, there are apps in the net that you can download to help you practice too.

You may use an old worn-out keyboard, if you don't like the illustration board one. You can also use a typewriter, though as someone who practiced on it, I advise against doing that because typing on typewriters has different strokes (heavier) than on a PC keyboard. I broke many keyboards before because of my typewriter background.

Also, don't be so hard on yourself. Perfection takes time, and you won't attain it. But what you'll gain is the second best, which is excellence. It's okay to make mistakes.

Hope this helps!

Edit: I made this with @Mortrexo 's concerns in mind. I made a few mistakes in my earlier thread reply, and also decided to make a thread about it for future references.

What ami suppose to do if am on mobile.
And jokes on you have a 6 viruses on my PC.