Skip to main content

Writers and Their Favourite Fonts.

Depending on the computer I use (I alternate between an iBook and a PC), I write my drafts in New York (the font, not the city) or in Georgia (ditto). Then, before printing, I reformat my manuscript to Courier 12pt so it looks "typewritten".

I guess I'm in good company. Recently in Slate, they asked a selection of writers their favourite fonts. And Jonathan Lethem (writer of Fortress of Solitude) says:
"Before computers, I wrote three novels on a typewriter, and there can never be anything but 12-point Courier (double-spaced) forever..."
It seems that Courier, and its sibling Courier New, remain the font of choice for writers, but other fonts get some loving too. Palatino, Times, Hoefler Text... all good fonts too, but not what I would use to compose my magnum opus.

Comments

  1. I write in Arial 10pt. I don't like serif fonts on the computer screen but I like them on printed paper :P

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ooh! I couldn't write in Arial. Read online in Arial, yes. Write, no.

    My rule has always been:
    - Sans-serif for online reading
    - Serif for offline reading

    ReplyDelete
  3. Times New Roman - always...

    Good entry. I may want to blog about this, later.

    -Nisah Haron-

    ReplyDelete
  4. I thought it's just a personal quirk but Courier definitely rules!
    Likewise, the typewritten feeling of Courier won me over. It shouts take my work seriously... :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Times Roman. Courier appears more 'writerly' though. Editors and agents prefer fonts to be in either Times or Courier, 10 or 12 point.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hey, everyone! Thanks for telling me what font you use. I had a feeling Courier/Times were the fonts of choice.

    I know someone who types in Comic Sans though. Horrors!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Times New Roman for novel manuscripts; arial for emails; Trebuchet MS for my bogs and website; Verdana for almost all other documents.

    Everyone, you must avoid Comic Sans Serif at all costs!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Good choice for your websites.

    Comic Sans is the DEVIL! Although... it is rumoured he prefers Helvetica.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

REVIEW: Confessions of an Old Boy by Kam Raslan

Kam Raslan's right. In the preface for his new book, Confessions of an Old Boy: The Dato' Hamid Adventures he writes that we've known Dato' Hamid all our lives. Seeing as my own dad is an old boy of MCKK, the people I get to meet when he drags me to an Old Boy function and the people he tells me of, reflect the characters found in Kam's book. It really does feel like I've known Dato' Hamid all my life. Dato' Hamid is a civil servant of the Tunku Abdul Rahman generation. He is the sort of person you rarely see nowadays, a fine example of the anachronistic Malay. This generation, groomed in the ways of the colonial British would be out of place not just in 21st century Malaysia, but in Britain too. And yet, Dato' Hamid, in all his snobbishness and patronising ways, is essentially a Malaysian. Without people like him, our country would probably never exist at all. At least not like we know it now. I'm glad that Kam Raslan decided to capture this ...

Lesson: Commemorative Covers are Lame.

Well, I got the first day cover that commemorates the 35th anniversary of the establishment diplomatic relations between China and Malaysia that I mentioned a couple of posts ago. Except that it's not a first day cover, it's a commemorative cover, which is a slightly different beast. I guess I should read the news article properly next time! The difference between the two is that first day covers are specially-designed envelopes stuck on with specially-designed stamps, and marked with a specially-designed postmark. A commemorative cover is a specially-designed envelope... and that's it. All in all, it's an unremarkable affair, especially if you're used to well-designed first day covers (not that Malaysian first day covers are well-designed... but I digress). Oh sure, a commemorative cover has a stamp printed right on to it but that's just like an overglorified aerogramme. Lame. On the whole, what a disappointment. I haven't been collecting first day cover...

REVIEW: Pinball, 1973 by Haruki Murakami.

UPDATE: My Wind/Pinball review can be found here . ISBN: n/a Publisher: n/a Paperback: 160 pages In Murakami fan circles, simply owning a copy of Pinball, 1973 is a mark of hardcore-ness. Like Hear the Wind Sing before it, Haruki Murakami does not allow English translations of Pinball, 1973 to be published outside of Japan. Back in the 80s, Alfred Birnbaum translated it into English and Kodansha published it as a novel for Japanese students who wanted to improve their English. While the English edition of Hear the Wind Sing continues to be reprinted and sold in Japan (and available for a moderate sum via eBay, see my review ), Kodansha stopped its reprint runs of the English edition of Pinball, 1973 and has now become a collector's item, fetching vast amounts of money on auction sites and reseller stores. Last time I checked, the cheapest copy went for USD$2500. Of course, Murakami addicts or the curious can always download a less than legal PDF of the book, painst...