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.
Labels:

Comments

  1. Anonymous28/5/07 2:34 pm

    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. Ted Mahsun28/5/07 2:40 pm

    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. Nisah Haji Haron29/5/07 12:00 am

    Times New Roman - always...

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

    -Nisah Haron-

    ReplyDelete
  4. Theta29/5/07 5:25 am

    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. Lydia Teh29/5/07 2:13 pm

    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. Ted Mahsun29/5/07 3:24 pm

    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. Anonymous31/5/07 8:07 pm

    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. Ted Mahsun31/5/07 9:02 pm

    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

I'm going to Clarion West!

So yeah! I'm going to Clarion West this year! If you didn't know, Clarion West is a really awesome science fiction and fantasy writing workshop that runs for six weeks in summer every year at Seattle and is usually taught by a faculty of award-winning authors and editors. Many students who attend this workshop also go on to have illustrious writing careers of their own too. I've been meaning to attend this workshop (or its sister workshop, Clarion UCSD, which is the original Clarion workshop but runs in San Diego around the same time) for years now but never had the courage to apply. Many reasons as to why: didn't think I'd have money for the most part, didn't think I was good enough, didn't think I could leave work long enough, didn't think I could leave family behind, etc. But something sparked inside of me late last year. I felt I should at least give it a go this time round. So I did. They requested a sample of my best work and an applicatio...
Post a Comment
Read more

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...
18 comments
Read more

Hitting 1000.

Last night Sharon quoted Raman of having said to writers when they bring him their manuscripts for publishing, "How many books have you read? Have you read a thousand books? If not, get out and go read a thousand books, then come back with your manuscript." His point being, you've got to have read a lot if you want to be a writer. And I thought to myself, a thousand books isn't so bad. I've probably read more. Er...Wrong. After some quick calculations, we determined that if a person read a book per week, it would take around 20 years to reach a thousand. I'm a slow reader. I'm only 25. There's no way I've read 1000 books my whole life! When I got home I counted the books in my house. I estimate I own around 300 books, probably another 300 left at my parents's house. That's only around 600 books that I own... and a lot less that I've read! So with that number in mind, I have resolved to start keeping track of my book reading. I need to...
30 comments
Read more