The Fountain of Writing
GO WITH THE FLOW
what’s old is new again
Fountain pens are making a comeback. You can find websites devoted to reviewing fountain pens, Facebook groups devoted to fountain pens, and fountain pen Youtube channels with 50,000 subscribers. I first started using a fountain pen years ago, when a good friend gave me one as a gift. I had never even considered using something so primitive (or so I thought). While beautiful to look at, I assumed there was a reason the modern world had developed ball point and felt tip pens. No muss, no fuss, no ink-stained wretch I.
But since I had been given one as a gift, I tried it, and I found I really liked it. There was something about holding the larger barrel in my hand, the way it balanced, the way the ink flowed, the sound of the nib scratching the paper. Somehow, the pen forced me to write just a bit slower, made me think more carefully of what I was writing. Putting words and thoughts on paper using a gold-tipped fountain pen just seemed somehow more serious, more important. I believe that subtle psychological shift made me a better writer.
At first, I only used my pen for writing in my journal at home. It still seemed too slow and archaic for the fast, modern pace of a magazine’s editorial offices. But I discovered I missed my onyx black Waterman fountain pen with its gold bands, and soon found myself buying another pen to keep on my desk at the office. Two pens led to three, then three pens led to four, and soon I had an entire collection, with black ink in some for writing and red ink in others for editing. People seemed to accord me a new-found respect when they walked into my office and saw me actually writing at my desk instead of staring at a computer screen tapping away at the keys: “You’re using a fountain pen? How cool!”
Other editors (and myself before I started using the fountain pen) were using cheap plastic throwaway Bic or Papermate pens. How plebeian! How gauche! I had ascended to the firmament of famous editors such as Maxwell Perkins (who edited Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Thomas Wolfe) and Robert Gottlieb (who edited Joseph Heller, John Le Carré, John Cheever and Toni Morrison). I had especially separated myself from the dubious hygiene of editors and writers who chewed on the ends of their plastic pens. One does not chew on a gold-topped pen.
Fountain pens do have their downsides. Modern pens rarely leak, but they can, especially in a briefcase or purse on an airplane because of the pressure differential (the same thing that pops your ears). They can dry up if you don’t use them. The more pens I bought, the more I found I had to rotate using them so they wouldn’t dry out. The pre-filled ink cartridges make changing ink easy, however, although some purists still like using refillable cartridges. I’ve never had a pen stolen, although I suppose it could happen, especially if you had a very expensive model. If someone takes your $.99 Bic you’re not going to be too upset (unless you’re a total Scrooge-like miser). Even that problem can be mitigated by using cheap disposable fountain pens. Yup, they really have them, about $12 for a pack of six.
I suppose the biggest problem is that eventually your hand-written prose has to make it into a computer (unless you are penning a love letter or a sonnet, or writing in your journal), so you are injecting an extra layer of work as opposed to writing directly in your computer. I’m a speed typist, so I don’t mind, and I edit and rewrite as I enter my hand-written work into the computer. You can also use dictation software (covered in another blog post).
Perhaps the best reason to use a fountain pen is how it changes your brain, thought process and writing. While I’m not aware of research specifically aimed at fountain pens, there is plenty of research that shows writing by hand develops parts of your brain similar to areas strengthened by meditation. Writing by hand can make you more mindful, activating large regions of the brain responsible for thinking, language and memory. And if you’re going to write by hand, might as well use a fountain pen, the king (and queen) of handwriting implements.
