Did The Fountain Pen Change Your Writing Style

[Liamtyr]

Hi Writers,

 

A few simple questions,

 

Has the Fountain Pen changed your writing style?

 

Has the use of the fountain pen changed your narrative voice or influenced your language choices?

 

Has the Fountain Pen helped with the economy of words?

 

Now do you write just to see the pretty letters?

[Charles Skinner]

Have my fountains pens changed my "handwriting?" Don't know for sure since I have used fountain pens so long, but I do know that when I HAVE to use a hated ballpoint, my penmanship is much worse! And at times, when I write a line or two with one of my fountain pens using my best penmanship, I DO stop and "admire" what I have just written! Am I sick? ( --- like the rest of the fountain pen lovers of the world! ----)

 

C. S.

[Paddler]

Hi Writers,

 

A few simple questions,

 

Has the Fountain Pen changed your writing style?

 

Has the use of the fountain pen changed your narrative voice or influenced your language choices?

 

Has the Fountain Pen helped with the economy of words?

 

Now do you write just to see the pretty letters?

Answer 1. I assume you don't mean my writing style as business cursive. I actually learned that with a fountain pen in my hand. No, my writing style is influenced by what I read. I don't think the writing medium has anything to do with it after the editing is over.

 

Answer 2. No. I think my narrative voice and language choices would be the same whether I wrote with a fountain pen, a dip pen, pencil, or computer. They may begin differently, but when the editing is over, all modes would probably turn out the same. My first draft is written as my inner voice dictates it. The second draft is edited for clarity. This sometimes requires the rewrite of a sentence here or there. Sometimes it requires the massaging of whole paragraphs. The third draft tweaks words and meanings until they are just right. This is all done in my head; the writng medium is the last step in the process.

 

Answer 3. No.

 

Answer 4. No. My writing is not pretty. I don't practice to make it so. I try to make it legible enough not to annoy a reader.

[GabrielleDuVent]

Hi Writers,

 

A few simple questions,

 

Has the Fountain Pen changed your writing style?

 

Has the use of the fountain pen changed your narrative voice or influenced your language choices?

 

Has the Fountain Pen helped with the economy of words?

 

Now do you write just to see the pretty letters?

 

1. Writing style, as in how my sentences are formed? No. Reading prose sometimes do that (some know right away if I've been on a Waugh spree).

 

2. Not really.

 

3. No. I tend to "talk to myself" in the head to see how the sentence sounds before I actually write anything (even on PCs), so my tones don't change that much, pen or no.

 

4. No. I write when I need to say something.

[Vendome]

I specifically returned to using a writing instrument to improve my penmanship which had sadly declined due to years of neglect from mainly using a keyboard in work. I now use one in all my business and personal correspondence.

[Synthy Pelikan]

No. No. No. Yes: I've a notebook or two filled with nonsense. I love the aesthetics of writing - the tingles when I'm absorbed!

[Mr. JW]

Using a FP has changed my handwriting a little bit. It is a little more flowing than it was, but that may be due to my conscious effort to improve my script as much as the FP.

 

It hasn't changed my writing style. I think that was pretty well established before I started using FPs.

 

No. I still use the same number of words to cover a given topic, but I do write about more things because writing is more enjoyable.

 

No. Even with the improvements, no one would call my handwriting "pretty." "Fairly legible" is about as good as it gets.

[inkstainedruth]

Hi Writers,

 

A few simple questions,

 

Has the Fountain Pen changed your writing style?

 

Has the use of the fountain pen changed your narrative voice or influenced your language choices?

 

Has the Fountain Pen helped with the economy of words?

 

Now do you write just to see the pretty letters?

If by #1 you mean handwriting then probably, since I have begun to try writing in cursive for the first time since high school (maybe even middle school). If you mean by content style, then maybe/yes, because I never really tried my hand at fiction much before (wrote poetry in college and actually had a couple of thing published in little magazines i.e., where you are lucky to get a copy for your files and for ego-boosting purposes).

For #2, dunno. Maybe. I've been sort of writing/visualizing stories in my head for a number of years, and trying to type/keyboard somehow didn't ever seem to gel. I find that when writing by hand it seems to flow better, even if I am not completely in satisfied with the result.

Not sure exactly what you mean by #3. If you're talking in terms of the whole idea of finding just the *right* word (I'm thinking Hemingway here, and his ideal of spare -- as opposed to overly verbose -- prose), then likely not; in fact, quite possibly the opposite, because when I get on a roll, I can write for several hours at a stretch (sometimes as much as six or eight pages of moderately small handwriting, single space, on unlined cheap copy paper).

As for #4, don't think so. While I want to improve my handwriting, I am more interested in getting the thoughts down on paper in some sort of coherent fashion to further the narrative content, possibly in a linear (or at least a semi-linear) way -- unlike in poetry where the narrative or emotion is often more oblique.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[KrazyIvan]

For as long as I can remember I had the "death grip". It made writing a painful process. I kept my writing to mainly task lists and in block lettering because my cursive was horrid. It is still not that great but it has improved. I attribute losing my death grip to fountain pens and more specifically to a Lamy Safari. It took 6 months but I finally conquered that beast. I journal, take notes and write letters without pain and for much longer periods than I ever thought possible. Not exactly the answers you were looking for but I thought I would share.

[Runnin_Ute]

My handwriting has improved, but mostly because I write more - especially in terms of my cursive which is more legible now. I still fall into my hybrid print/cursive occasionally or even full block print. But that is the exception not the rule. And all of it is more legible now than it was a year ago.

 

Voice - no; choice of words I use - perhaps some.

 

Economy - probably not

 

sometimes.

[MisterBoll]

I write if only to take a ride through the pretty colors.

 

Actually - writing with a fountain pen let's my thoughts flow 'easier' (for lack of a better word) and what I write requires less editing than something originating from the computer.

[EKE]

Fountain pens have absolutely changed the way I write, rather dramatically, actually. As an architect, I was trained to block letter in college, and they stole the cursive handwriting I had been taught in grade school. Rediscovering FPs as an adult inspired me to relearn how to handwrite cursively after 30 years of cramp-inducing block lettering. Oh happy day!

Edited October 11, 2013 by EKE

[WaskiSquirrel]

I started using fountain pens in 4th grade, so I don't know that I can really judge how they affected my writing.

 

But, I'll make a general comment about handwriting vs. typing. I honestly don't think the fountain pen makes a difference versus other types of pens. I just like them.

 

• Writing Style: I'm actually about the same typing or writing. However, I prefer to write because it just feels more portable and spontaneous.
• Narrative Voice/Writing Choices: No real difference.
• Economy of Words: I'm wordy either way. However, if I handwrite first, edit, and then type, I am very good at cutting words in the second draft. Readers of my posts here (all rough drafts) would probably find that hard to believe. If I type first, I'm a lot weaker at editing. It just seems more permanent.
• Pretty Letters: Have you seen my handwriting? There is nothing pretty about it.

[Fabienne]

I am now attempting everyday French cursive writing and I don't think I would have done that without fountain pens

[Rabbit713]

Having a pen I enjoy using has definitely caused me to write down more ideas for blog posts, poetry, short stories, etc. I've found that this "stream of consciousness" note taking has opened up my ability to write, and works well to get a story started. So I'd say that having a FP that I enjoy has definitely helped me with my writing process.

[F104]

Hi Writers,

 

A few simple questions,

 

Has the Fountain Pen changed your writing style?

 

Has the use of the fountain pen changed your narrative voice or influenced your language choices?

 

Has the Fountain Pen helped with the economy of words?

 

Now do you write just to see the pretty letters?

 

1. Some. Because I am more deliberate about the use of fountain pens, whereas with other implements I just tear off at full throttle and hope for long-term legibility. And this might prove controversial: I find that the more a pen costs, the more effect it has on my writing style, because I worry about fouling up the nib if I'm careless, resulting in more carefully executed script. The effect kicks in at about the Safari price point: Using a Preppy or a Varsity, I tend to whip along the line, little if any different from the manner in which I whip along with a pencil, a G-2 or a P-500, with script that looks little different from what I produce with those pens; using a Safari, or a Platinum Cool, or a Vanishing Point, not screwing up the nib is a consideration, sometimes at the back of the mind, sometimes more to the fore.

 

It is yet to be determined whether the handwriting is better or worse due the influence, rather than merely different. (I'm afraid it's only a matter of varieties of scrawl.)

 

2. Not that I can detect.

 

3. Not in the least. J. R. R. Tolkien once said (quoting from memory here, so bear with what is likely more a paraphrase): Brevity is something I can only manage after the fact, and with great difficulty. I might not share his genius, but this affliction we have in common.

 

4. I write because I like writing, in all its aspects. I do enjoy making letters appear just for the sake of making letters appear, even if the signal is missing in the noise, or nonexistent altogether. And I do take a special pleasure in watching the ink line flow and form on the page as I write, and watching the ink-gleam on the freshly penned letters become the stable record of an idea. (Yes, I like to watch ink dry. No, I don't like to watch paint dry.)

[Sailor Kenshin]

 

 

Hi Writers,

 

A few simple questions,

 

Has the Fountain Pen changed your writing style?

 

Maybe?

 

Has the use of the fountain pen changed your narrative voice or influenced your language choices?

 

Prolly not....

 

Has the Fountain Pen helped with the economy of words?

 

No?

 

Now do you write just to see the pretty letters?

 

You got it?

[Avalonia]

Hi Writers,

 

A few simple questions,

 

Has the Fountain Pen changed your writing style?

 

Has the use of the fountain pen changed your narrative voice or influenced your language choices?

 

Has the Fountain Pen helped with the economy of words?

 

Now do you write just to see the pretty letters?

 

1. Not really. My actual script has gotten both more rounded and flowy (due to the fact that I can scribble over the page without hurting my wrist so I write faster now), but the style is pretty much the same it's always been.

 

2. Nope! My narrative voice has stayed the same. If you read something from 2011 (before I started with fountain pens) and now, they'd be close to identical, only with the difference that two extra years of practice make.

 

3. In a way, yes, but that's because I write my rough drafts by hand (or at least try to), so I tend to be pretty brief and expand later in the next draft.

 

4. Not often? I have nice enough handwriting, and I like seeing all of the colours, but that's about it.

[Lyander0012]

Actually, my writing style's changed for the better ever since I converted to fountain pen usage, I thinks. For one thing, I used to ramble on quite badly when I wrote exclusively using word processors (that can still be observed in some of my reviews and replies here on the FPN; old habits are very difficult to break), but I've since learned to pace my wording. I guess the fact that writing, actually writing with pen and paper makes for slower going than typing on a computer does.

 

But some ideas take time to develop, and benefit from maturation, so to speak.

[wesley.mijngheer]

It has changed my way of writing ( putting a lot less pressure on the pen when writing ) and my enjoyment of writing.
I enjoy writing much more than I did before, which in turn has improved my handwriting.
So indirectly, yes, it has changed my writing. As the frequency increased so did the "style" .