When I’m writing in fullscreen mode, I’d like to be able to disable backspace. I want to write everything that comes to my mind with no attempt to correct it as a way to develop ideas without the burden of feeling that they have to be perfect. I’ve heard some say that the best way to do this is to turn off the monitor and put a piece of paper over it. I think it would be cool if I could disable the backspace key in scrivener for a while, so that I could force myself to simply concentrate on putting material on screen and not correcting.
Hmmm. I’m trying to decide if you’re serious or joking.
If your problem is OCD-related, I sympathize.
Perfectionism can bother many writers and lead to block.
Possibly just dimming the screen, so you can’t see anything, will help.
Otherwise, maybe put a hunk of duct tape over Delete?
Or, program the key to type out BAD SNOOKUMS
Whenever you touch it.
Now I’m joking. I hope you resolve the problem.
Why not either:
- Get an old USB keyboard, remove the backspace key with brute force, declare it your “inspiration keyboard”. The other one from now on will be called your “editor keyboard”.
Or:
- Just ignore the frakking key and keep typing.
Or you could use a paper clip and take the Delete key off your keyboard for awhile.
remembers pulling a key-swapping prank at one job on a guy that became her boss
That was fun.
I’m not joking. There’s a writer side and an editor side of my brain. When I’m writing, the editor needs to sit back and wait until I’m done to start correcting things, restructuring, et cetera. The problem is that the editor is a sneaky fellow. If you give him an inch, he’ll take a mile. It starts with just going back to correct one typo. The next thing you know, I’m not writing anymore; I’m editing that one paragraph that I managed to get off, before I went into editing mode. I think that disabling the backspace key and forcing myself to write and then edit would be a great way to separate the two tasks.
As for taking the actual key off, I paid a lot for my laptop, and I’m not going to do anything that could potentially mess it up.
By the way, thanks for the link to writeordie.
By the way, I did try to create a custom key layout with Ukelele, but it seems that it doesn’t work with Leopard and up.
I’ve tried remapping Delete with Ukelele too, and it doesn’t seem to work. 
You could try with ControllerMate, that goes deeper in remapping physical keys. Or, use double-sided duct tape, and put a thumbtack on top of the key…
…Um, the keys are DESIGNED to be able to come off so you can clean it.
Some pop off more easily than others—my laptop has extra connections for the shift keys, but that just makes them a mite tricker to pop back in.