Does anyone actually use a pen to write a novel?
you got that from squats, mike
I finished writing my first novel on Saturday.
Or, at least, a draft that is ready to go to an editor. I had the concept for the book about two years back, but I didn’t start actually writing it in earnest until this summer. I’m hoping to get it out in spring 2025 depending on how editing goes—it’s all very early, but it’s the longest thing I’ve written by far and I’m jazzed that it’s done.
Now, as part of this: when I hear that some famous author drafts their novels with a fountain pen, or when I see that in film or TV as a visual trope, my immediate instinct is to absolutely believe that they are lying. This claim has the same energy as an infomercial where a super jacked guy promotes the Jiggleflex9000—a fitness device where you get an amazing burn by holding a bowl of Jell-O—and you are expected to believe that he became a beast by using the Jiggleflex9000.
No. I do not believe this. You got that from squats, Mike.
I like handwriting and pens so much that I spend time writing this blog about handwriting and pens, and here’s the thing: HANDWRITING IS SLOW. When I have a particularly good idea for a bit of dialog or a joke, I truly can’t write it down fast enough to remember it. I can type that fast, definitely, but my handwriting is almost always two or three sentences behind my brain and I inevitably end up frustrated.
I did use pens—and used them heavily—to plan, organize, and manage the work. I used them for creating characters, connecting plot points, doing research, laying out timelines, making to-do lists for revisions and edits, sketching cover designs, and so on. I have pages and pages and pages of this stuff; some days this was all I did. Literally everything related to the book except actually writing it was done by hand, because that was heavy-duty, nonlinear thinking work that benefited from slowing down.
Actually drafting the book, though? I like the idea of doing this by hand a lot, but I gave up after a couple days of trying. It was tiring enough to do on a computer, and the computer has the benefit of a “find” feature for when you decide a character’s name is not dumb enough and change it in the middle of revisions.
But that’s me. Maybe I’m not the best example! Let’s talk about you!
Because according to the latest data from Substack, 104% of the people reading a blog on Substack about pens are authors or want to be authors.
Do any of you actually do this?
Like, do you sit down with an unlined, blank piece of paper and start writing the first line of a novel, longhand, perhaps at an ornate desk in front of a fireplace? Do you crumple it up and throw it out when you don’t like what you’ve written and start over with a fresh sheet, because you have an endless supply of both time and paper?
If so, could you please comment below so we can all KNOW YOU ARE A LIAR learn from how you do it? I am genuinely curious HOW MANY OF YOU ARE LIARS how you make it work, because the idea of sitting at a large desk in a wood-paneled office, flipping over an hourglass that was salvaged from a lost ship, and then drafting longhand while I narrate my own writing for no reason is very appealing to me—I’m just not sure how to pull it off.
I write by hand. It's the only way for me to sort through all the thoughts I have and clarify my mind to the task at hand. But, to each theor own. Whatever works for you.
I recently bought a wonderful fountain pen from Kara's Pen Co. for just this. I LOVE IT!
I write a long hand page every morning then type it up, so I get the benefit of slowing down to think while writing but still have the ability to edit on the computer. I’ve written almost half a million words (over several stories) this way over the past four years!