Saw This In The Guardian

[jameswatts]

"I have a desktop computer and a laptop but I always write the first draft with a fountain pen. I like the feel of the nib on paper, the flow of ink, the sense of being part of a tradition that stretches back to my heroes: Charles Dickens, George Orwell. I have about 10 different pens and choose the one that most suits the character I’m writing about. My favourite is a silver Caran d’Ache which writes incredibly smoothly. I also use Europa notepads. They come in different colours which again suit my mood and the quality is excellent."

 

-- from an interview with novelist and screenwriter Anthony Horowitz.

[PaulS]

We might hope, of course, that he writes joined up cursive, but who knows - maybe not - it has to be admitted that writing volumes of words can be a lot quicker when you don't, although it doesn't have the same look. Regret I've no idea what a Caran d'Ache is, but assume it's a modern pen, although in view of his 'heroes' it might have been expected that he'd be more inclined to mention something from a classic British stable, with a good flexible nib - let's hope his collection does include at least one of those.

[estie1948]

I always write out my first draft (or rough draft) with my fountain pens. I sometimes even do first re-writes with my fountain pens before committing the manuscript to the computer. There is a noticeable difference in the end result from that of Anthony Horowitz. Do you suppose it is the ink?

 

-David (Estie).

[BillH]

It's like being a photographer David... if you buy the "right" camera with the "best" pixels (or "film" if you're an oldguy), you too will be famous. Therefore, if you buy the right pen and fill it with the right ink and apply them to the proper paper... viola!

 

That's the way life works. One of my kids told me, so it must be true ;-)

[Fermata]

It's like being a photographer David... if you buy the "right" camera with the "best" pixels (or "film" if you're an oldguy), you too will be famous. Therefore, if you buy the right pen and fill it with the right ink and apply them to the proper paper... viola!

 

That's the way life works. One of my kids told me, so it must be true ;-)

 

 

I started a thread on this very subject a few weeks ago, the right ink for the purpose, you would not believe the venom that was generated from others on the idea that their could be a right pen and the right ink for what they were writing. This hadn't occurred to many or perhaps they were just too engrossed in their twinkle inks!

Edited October 26, 2016 by Parkette

[marcelo]

"I have a desktop computer and a laptop but I always write the first draft with a fountain pen. I like the feel of the nib on paper, the flow of ink, the sense of being part of a tradition that stretches back to my heroes: Charles Dickens, George Orwell. I have about 10 different pens and choose the one that most suits the character I’m writing about. My favourite is a silver Caran d’Ache which writes incredibly smoothly. I also use Europa notepads. They come in different colours which again suit my mood and the quality is excellent."

 

-- from an interview with novelist and screenwriter Anthony Horowitz.

 

 

We might hope, of course, that he writes joined up cursive, but who knows - maybe not - it has to be admitted that writing volumes of words can be a lot quicker when you don't, although it doesn't have the same look. Regret I've no idea what a Caran d'Ache is, but assume it's a modern pen, although in view of his 'heroes' it might have been expected that he'd be more inclined to mention something from a classic British stable, with a good flexible nib - let's hope his collection does include at least one of those.

 

Dears James and Paul,

 

After reading your posts I tweeted Mr. Horowitz who quickly and so kindly replied. It's a pleasure and honor to show you and our fellows FPNers the famous writer's Caran d'Ache:

 

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii33/mmmcosta/Pens/IMG_20161026_114059_zps90527ykm.jpg

 

Edited October 26, 2016 by marcelo

[PaulS]

thanks Marcelo - and of course Mr. Horowitz - for taking the time to add these interesting pix to this thread - must admit it looks a very robust and professional pen.

[moylek]

"I have a desktop computer and a laptop but I always write the first draft with a fountain pen. I like the feel of the nib on paper, the flow of ink, the sense of being part of a tradition that stretches back to my heroes: Charles Dickens, George Orwell. I have about 10 different pens and choose the one that most suits the character I’m writing about. My favourite is a silver Caran d’Ache which writes incredibly smoothly. I also use Europa notepads. They come in different colours which again suit my mood and the quality is excellent."

 

-- from an interview with novelist and screenwriter Anthony Horowitz.

 

I don't know what Dickens would have made of a fountain pen ... after all, it's a species of that new-fangled thing, the steel pen, and Dickens stuck to a *real* pen, one made of an actual _penna_.

 

Citation? You want a citation? Uhmmm ... would you settle for a photo Dickens writing with a feather pen in 1855?

Edited October 26, 2016 by KennethMoyle

[marcelo]

 

I don't know what Dickens would have made of a fountain pen ... after all, it's a species of that new-fangled thing, the steel pen, and Dickens stuck to a *real* pen, one made of an actual _penna_.

 

Citation? You want a citation? Uhmmm ... would you settle for a photo Dickens writing with a feather pen in 1855?

 

Probably he was not referring to Dickens using fountain, but "old" pens. On purpose, nib in Portguese is called "pena" (feather).

Edited October 26, 2016 by marcelo

[Ernst Bitterman]

Trying to put myself in the head of Dickens regarding FPs, I get two contradictory results:

 

"At last, I am freed from the tedium of constantly recharging the ink, from those deadly pauses to trim the unruly pen into something which makes legible marks when creativity can least afford it! Oh, to have had it at the start of my career!"

 

...or...

 

"Dear heavens, what an abomination! To lose those vital lacunae while dipping or trimming, those oases in which the mind, momentarily diverted from the act of stringing out a paragraph, may settle on the best word for the purpose, would be the end of my writing. I'll have none of that!"

 

I'll leave it to those with the correct spatiotemporal displacement equipment to find out which is closer to accurate.

[Old_Inkyhand]

 

Probably he was not referring to Dickens using fountain, but "old" pens. On purpose, nib in Portguese is called "pena" (feather).

In Polish a fountain pen is called "pióro wieczne", what means "eternal feather", while the word "stalówka" (something little and made of steel) is our name for a nib.

[moylek]

Trying to put myself in the head of Dickens regarding FPs, I get two contradictory results:

 

"At last, I am freed from the tedium of constantly recharging the ink, from those deadly pauses to trim the unruly pen into something which makes legible marks when creativity can least afford it! Oh, to have had it at the start of my career!"

 

...or...

 

"Dear heavens, what an abomination! To lose those vital lacunae while dipping or trimming, those oases in which the mind, momentarily diverted from the act of stringing out a paragraph, may settle on the best word for the purpose, would be the end of my writing. I'll have none of that!"

 

I'll leave it to those with the correct spatiotemporal displacement equipment to find out which is closer to accurate.

 

I am reminded of what Walter Hooper wrote in the introduction to The Collected Letters of C S Lewis:

 

Lewis learned to write with a nib pen, dipped into an inkwell every four or five words. When he was an undergraduate at Oxford he began using fountain pens, but he gave them up after several years and resumed writing with a nib pen, a practice he carried on for the rest of his life.

When Lewis dictated letters to me, he always had me read them aloud afterwards. He told me that in writing letters, as well as books, he always “whispered the words aloud.” Pausing to dip the pen in an inkwell provided exactly the rhythm needed.

Quoted here.

[Pickwick]

What is my mast? A pen

What are my sails? ten crescent moons

What is my sea? A bottle of ink...

 

From: "The Voyage" by Vachel Lindsay

[estie1948]

It's like being a photographer David... if you buy the "right" camera with the "best" pixels (or "film" if you're an oldguy), you too will be famous. Therefore, if you buy the right pen and fill it with the right ink and apply them to the proper paper... viola!

 

That's the way life works. One of my kids told me, so it must be true ;-)

I knew it! I did! I knew it! Somewhere in the back of my mind, or in my right hand I knew it. I've spent so much time using the wrong ink, or the wrong pen, or the wrong paper, or, maybe, all three. Somehow I was certain that it wasn't that I lacked the talent!

 

And I agree with you; if the kids said it, it must be true.

 

-David (Estie).

[marcelo]

In Polish a fountain pen is called "pióro wieczne", what means "eternal feather", while the word "stalówka" (something little and made of steel) is our name for a nib.

Eternal feather. I like it! :-)

[jameswatts]

 

 

 

Dears James and Paul,

 

After reading your posts I tweeted Mr. Horowitz who quickly and so kindly replied. It's a pleasure and honor to show you and our fellows FPNers the famous writer's Caran d'Ache:

 

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii33/mmmcosta/Pens/IMG_20161026_114059_zps90527ykm.jpg

 

Wonderful! Thanks! Caran d'Ache is one of the few brand I don't own. I believe the playwright Tom Stoppard is also a fan and user of this brand.

[marcelo]

Wonderful! Thanks! Caran d'Ache is one of the few brand I don't own. I believe the playwright Tom Stoppard is also a fan and user of this brand.

 

 

My pleasure, James!

[bizhe]

Trying to put myself in the head of Dickens regarding FPs, I get two contradictory results:

 

"At last, I am freed from the tedium of constantly recharging the ink, from those deadly pauses to trim the unruly pen into something which makes legible marks when creativity can least afford it! Oh, to have had it at the start of my career!"

 

...or...

 

"Dear heavens, what an abomination! To lose those vital lacunae while dipping or trimming, those oases in which the mind, momentarily diverted from the act of stringing out a paragraph, may settle on the best word for the purpose, would be the end of my writing. I'll have none of that!"

 

I'll leave it to those with the correct spatiotemporal displacement equipment to find out which is closer to accurate.

 

Fantastic pair of quotes!

[PaulS]

of course the pen is simply the means to an end............... the genius of CD would doubtless have shone through no matter what he'd used as a writing implement, and looking back at history some of the best work has been done with the most basic of tools. It's a good job that we cannot see the future and visualize what goodies and life changing kit is just around the corner - if we could then no doubt some of us would stop in our tracks and await the coming of these labour saving devices, and thus perhaps lose the momentum of our thoughts and activity.

CD's private life became complex - leaving his wife and umpteen children and departing with his actress mistress - but suppose it does show the brilliance of his literary mind that he wrote what he did amidst all of that................. and found time to visit the other side of the pond:)

[bobje]

This is a fascinating thread, and I am a great fan of Horowitz's 'Foyle's War.'