Fountain pens completely changed how I write. I've always gripped ballpoints like my life depended on it and gotten hand cramps from how hard I press them down. I don't want to, and can temporarily stop doing that when I consciously notice, but then I forget and go back to trying to stab the desktop through the paper.
A Lamy Safari's triangular shape makes it physically hard to hold the "wrong" way. It nudges me to write with my fingertips, not my wrist. The effect on my hand pain, and my ability to hand-write long bits of test, was immediate and huge.
I wouldn't have thought that simply switching pens would make such an enormous difference in my ability to put ink on paper. It sure did, though.
It's worth investigating the effect of ballpoint pen technology on society. Beyond cleanliness and general convenience, the ballpoint pen has stood as an example of technological innovation that makes the rounds in one form or another as the central figure of progress, yet there is a dark side to its past. The Fisher Space Pen did its part to promote the American space program of the 1960s and Xi used the lowly ballpoint as a sticking point to drive innovation into the 2020s, but you don't hear about the poor ergonomics, handwriting atrophy, or lack of cursive being taught in elementary school. We need to consider the analog along with the digital if we're going to elevate ourselves out of the mess we're wallowing in. The education system needs all the help it can get, but in addition to one laptop per child, it would be a good idea to give them analog clocks so they can tell time and fountain pens so they can learn the why and how to read cursive.
I care inasmuch as each of my kids had perfectly readable handwriting up until the moment their school wasted weeks teaching them cursive at which point their writing became a mess, which in turn caused them a fair bit of anxiety over the years. I would have rather they spent the time on literally anything else.
You’d never know it without asking me but my sloppy handwriting is the product of trying to add cursive concepts to my print writing style because everyone said cursive was good therefore it must only be able to enhance print writing. What a phenomenally useless skill. I could have spent those hours reading books.
The person I replied to seemed to imply it was bad that kids aren’t taught cursive. I’ve heard that opinion before, as if cursive were intrinsically valuable. I think it’s like any other hobby skill: if you like using it because of your own enjoyment, awesome! But that doesn’t mean it’s inherently worthwhile for anyone else.
If you write a bunch by hand it is worth it to invest a bit of time into developing a good cursive skill.
But I have to admit I agree with you, I have a very hard time reading cursive(mainly because I don't have to do it much) and I never did have the interest in developing a neat hand. so for what little hand writing I do block characters serve me well enough. hell, most of the time I drop the lowercase letters as well.
If you want speed, there are better options, not the least of which is a keyboard (or steno etc). I haven’t had a use case for cursive since it was required in elementary school. For most purposes that don’t care about speed it is inferior to the block writing styles I learned for engineering.
There are faster versions, but probably not so much the ones that are commonly taught. Also, most of the time one writes plenty fast enough. The only case I can think of where more speed is essential is steno and that is not cursive.
I swear, many years ago, there were papers published that showed print-style handwriting was quicker. Up until then I would have agreed with you; now I'm not so sure, and the sources have drifted into the mists of memory.
The difference with France is that kids (at least mine) learn cursive from a very young age - in the UK where I'm from we learnt cursive when I was around 9 or 10 by which time the bad habits have already been formed.
Yes, when I said "we learn to write in cursive" I should have said, this is the first and only way we learn to write :) .
We actually have the opposite issue. My script handwriting is awful because I never had to learn/use it. For paperwork we sometime have to write letter separately, but it is different than real script writing.
I similarly fell in love with fountain pens. My writing was finally legible.
That said, I just don't use pens often enough for it to be viable. Ink's dried, tip needs cleaning, etc. So I went back to my trusty old ball points I so hate.
I've had the same experience as you, and it turned out that I needed a pen that doesn't dry out. They exist for sure -- here's one that (100% of the time) will stay ready-to-write months after being used:
Platinum pens also have a mechanism to completely seal the nib when capped. I have a Preppy, it's less than $10 and starts fine after weeks without any use.
This. About a decade ago I switched to writing exclusively with fountain pens because of wrist and arm pain. I couldn’t get beyond maybe a paragraph until I’d be shaking out my hand from cramping. I tried different pens, grips, etc. but would always fall back to writing with my wrist. Switching to fountain pens stumbling through re-learning cursive has made a tremendous difference.
Sorry I don’t check comments often — here’s my go to pens:
- pocket pen: Kaweco brass sport <F>. It’s built like a tank, and develops a unique patina.
- daily workhorse: Pilot VP <F>. Great solid pen. The retractable nib is so darn convenient that it’s my go to for anything where I may be intermittently taking notes (e.g. meetings)
- fancy pen for home: Pilot 823 <M>. I got a quite good deal on it, as it’s more than I’m comfortable spending, but it’s one of the best writing pens out there and the vac filler is fun. But it doesn’t leave my desk.
- recent pen: Moonman A1 <EF>. This is a “knockoff” of the Pilot VP, which had its patents expire. Quality is maybe 90% of the Pilot, but I paid <$25 shipped on AliExpress. Trying it out as a note taking pen since I’m a little over protective of my VP.
I also have a TWSBI Eco and a Lamy Safari. I use the eco for basically callouts (circling/adding comments in red) when I review meeting notes. The Safari isn’t really for me… maybe the nib never meshed with my handwriting but I’ve always had issues; however, a lot of folks give it a ton of praise.
Not the person you replied to, but I mentioned earlier that I love my LAMY Safari. It's inexpensive as far as nice fountain pens go, but the quality-per-dollar value is immense. I'd recommend it to anyone who's considering trying fountain pens, doesn't want to break the bank on an experiment, and still wants to have a nice experience.
Your comment opened my eyes on the matter a little bit.
As some others in this page, I loathe the act of writing, but it's also a negative feedback loop where I use disposable ballpoint pen. I remember I used to prefer foutain pen in high school.
Still, for my case I see two potential downsides with foutain pen:
- mobility (train trips and bike commuting). I remember instances of leaks.
- Infrequent use. I'll keep being a keyboard-first note-taker. :)
I guess I need to shop for shake-proof, non-drying pen and cartridges.
I have a Fisher Space Pen in my bag for when I really need to write something on the go. It's just that I wouldn't want to write a whole novel with it. By analogy, I think the Apple Smart Keyboard Folio is an excellent portable keyboard. When I'm out and about, it does the job. But when I sit down at my desk, I much prefer my full-size mechanical keyboard.
Commenting with the others: I'm a left-handed writer and an avid fountain pen user. It isn't so bad.
The best thing I can say is: try to learn to write under the line (under-hand) as opposed to hookwriting or sidewriting. Those make things pretty tough. If not, there are things you can try: Prefer extra-fine (EF) or fine (F) nibbed pens. Private Reserve and Noodler's make some fast-drying ink. This combo will often allow the ink to dry faster than your hand can get to it.
I'm a leftie fountain pen user. It definitely can be done, but might need some adjustments to how you hold a pen / what inks you use. I've using a lamy safari with waterman ink for about 10 years with no trouble.
As others have said, fast-drying ink. In fact, if I understand correctly, there are "left handed pens" that are mechanically identical to right-handed; the difference is fast-drying ink.
my recent forays into fountain pens (daily driver for 3+ years) haven't resulted in the smearing or tearing that riddled my fountain pen experiences of my youth.
A Lamy Safari's triangular shape makes it physically hard to hold the "wrong" way. It nudges me to write with my fingertips, not my wrist. The effect on my hand pain, and my ability to hand-write long bits of test, was immediate and huge.
I wouldn't have thought that simply switching pens would make such an enormous difference in my ability to put ink on paper. It sure did, though.