For the writer who scribbles thoughts longhand, size is everything.
I myself prefer A4 notebooks, which allow me to write in a more fluent hand for every line – or two lines per one division – but when I’ve run out of space in them, I have to go down to A5. And that size I’m not so keen on.
I don’t know if it’s many writers or just myself, but the font size and style of a writer’s natural handwriting is prone to changing often, due to the canvas they need to pour onto. We must, to squeeze the next sentence from our infinite minds onto the finite page.
The same page, three different instruments…three different styles of my handwriting.
There must be something marvellous about the human skill to analyse the space one has to write within and then alter the size and shape of the handwriting. I know I do that almost automatically: I make a very small conscious effort to tell myself to fit the word ‘eyes’ into the gap above the r and e of a previously written ‘are’.
It’s just something we must do to carry on as humans. Dramatics aside, font and handwriting are pretty crucial things that set us out as cognitive humans away from animals who cannot themselves write.
As I mentioned above, natural handwriting is also altered by the writing instrument we choose to use. I know of man who refuses to write in Biro because it makes his messy handwriting unreadable (so he wanders around with three inkpens in his jacket inside pocket). For many other writers, the Biro is their weapon of choice as it allows constant script in ink that does not run out so quickly as the replaceable fountain-inks. Personally, if I’m writing with a pencil, it has to be at its sharpest, otherwise I tend to drag my letters. Too, in the long-run of writing longhand, writers should stay away from pencil marking, because that tends to fade, as does some blue inks on some types of paper…as I found out first hand when handing in a couple of faded essays.
As a writer, choice is important in our work, and this does go beyond the plot and the characters…right through to the way we ourselves right when we’re away from the generic system of computer font. Like snowflakes, everybody has their own, unique handwriting.
I find that size of notebook or handwriting can affect the ways I look at writing. Do you?
If handwriting shows personality, as has been suspected, then I clearly have multiple personality disorder because it is so inconsistent! I nearly always write in fountain pen, or with a mechanical pencil, and I prefer green ink to blue and blue to black.
My handwriting is neater in notebooks than on loose-leaf paper, as I don’t like wasting space in notebooks but have no problem with it if it’s going in a folder or something.
Hey, Miriam
Hehe, I think writing has to be inconsistent for all the different parts of a person’s personality. Perhaps we write differently depending on the mood we’re in.
Green ink? We don’t see much of that around her! I prefer blue to black, but we’re told to write in black at school nowadays, so I always have a least one pen with black ink.
That’s an interesting reflection. I definitely won’t waste space in notebooks, but I’m okay on loose leaf, mostly because I very rarely write creative writing there, but school-work. Thus, it doesn’t have to be squished in.
I buy green ink cartridges off the internet to use in my fountain pen
I’m probably the only person in my year group who writes in green, which means it’s fairly easy to identify my work to hand back to me.
Ah, I see. Yeah, that’s definitely a plus. I’ve worked with blue so long that using green would probably take me by surprise!