: Re: How many writers use fountain pens/dip pens today? How often are fountain pens and dip pens are used today by writers, and why do they use them? Or, if applicable, why not?

@Holmes449

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When speaking with Neil Gaiman about using fountain pens (of which I've supplied him with enough [including his first vintage and flex-nibbed pens] that he's called me his "pen pusher") the reason for the switch from computer keyboard to fountain pen for the first draft, in his case, is because of the change in thinking time. Other reasons might include no easy access to the internet to distract you while writing, privacy concerns, cost (vs. a computer/tablet), or simply the romance of writing longhand as a dying art.

If you can type quickly, then using a keyboard is much like doing a Jackson Pollack spatter, instead of a Vermeer brush stroke. :) It's not better or worse, but what comes out is different given how you have more thinking time per sentence and how you can be forced to craft your wordsmithing a bit more.

On the other hand, you could also change your writing with a dip or fountain pen the way J.M. Barrie did when writer's cramp forced him to switch from writing with his right hand to his left (he was ambidextrous), and finding that what you write comes out "altogether eerier." :) Not something that happens with keyboarding and RSI.

As to why most folks don't use a dip or fountain pen, the impracticality of carrying liquid ink (especially while traveling) is one. The speed, obviously, can be a detriment as well as a benefit. And editing handwritten hardcopy is much more of a PITA. Gaiman still transcribes his handwritten first draft onto his computer for later rounds of drafts/editing.

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