I imagine a word processor's equivalent for a painter would be the easel, or maybe the brush handle, not necessarily the paint, the brush bristles, or the canva

I imagine a word processor's equivalent for a painter would be the easel, or maybe the brush handle, not necessarily the paint, the brush bristles, or the canvas. It affects how the creator works, which indirectly affects the resulting work. However, it doesn't directly affect the actual output. The novel, when printed, could be laid out and paginated differently, printed using different fonts, with no trace of the word processor used to create it. A painter mixing paints could be to achieve a specific color or texture. The equivalent of that for a novelist could be studying word origins or creating a new language or new words (Tolkien?).