Ink Stains v1.0

At left, a Vpen from Pilot: their disposable fountain pen line.

I've written here that I prefer the initial rough and first full text prose draft to be composed in pen longhand. My next step is to type the text - delineated as scenes - into Scrivener.

I've worked this way since before college. I've tried other methods - such as composing directly in Word or Scrivener or even earlier products ( gasp WordStar ). I've tried composing on an ancient electric Royal whose report did not sound like gunshots (queue Greg Kinnear as the Luddite Frank in _You've Got Mail_) but rather like small howitzer rounds impacting the surrounding four walls all at the same time.

For me, the act of composition on white unlined paper provides a degree of satisfaction that provides precisely the re-enforcement I need to keep writing when I don't want to. I know that makes my approach a little "weird" as a daughter would say.

What I have pictured today - available from Jet Pens (jetpens.com) - is a lovely disposable which is great for editing at around $3 each. The ink flows onto the page with a satisfying line, stands out clearly, and is available in some great colors for those of you who see such things.

If you are writing in a dim coffee shop down the street from school before picking up the kids, this helps. The line is bold and clear and shows against even colored paper as a rich wet line.

The ink does not run but on "surfaced" paper. Luckily, such paper is nearly off the market. It was popular in the earlier days of the home printing explosion because it prevented the re-feeds common in ink-jet plastic pick-ups. Those old feeds are a think of the past and so luckily it appears paper takes ink, again.

Try a making a line with something other than the dentist's promotional give-away ballpoint and you might find that for writing you prefer the feel of ink on paper. I say this having discovered how flexible I can be in prose when writing by longhand. When composing on a keyboard, my prose is prone to unimaginative tones.

Try one of these. See how you like it. For edits, it works like a gem (but avoid the edits in red ... not good for the soul).

I've got to go apply pen to paper now myself. So do you.