Which works best when you write?

I'm still working this out. I stuck to a notebook method for a long time and eventually found that it was more and more of a chore to write.

I switched to the computer and have been chugging along. I haven't tried any experimentation with any fonts or anything.

I think I work best when I feel proud of myself or I feel clever. For example, if I think of a good plot twist or subplot (this happened to me yesterday).

I find my best ideas come while actually writing, which helps me push on

Words on paper, words on a computer screen. Does the color of the font or of the background really matter? This may not be the case for you, the OP, but I find fiddling with such things can be, or become, excuse-making. The "I can't write unless I find the best inspiration" thing can become a pathway to distraction. Writers write when they are inspired (which is great). But writers also write when they are not particularly inspired. Some parts of a story can be difficult, and the appropriate way to get through them is to roll up one's sleeves and tough it out. This is where many new and developing writers get stuck, and it usually happens somewhere around the 20K to 40K mark. Fiddling with the font or background color is not going to help get through this tough spot. Putting in the time to work through it is simple. Put words on paper or on a computer screen. Just get to the writing.

If eyestrain is a problem, however, messing with font colors and background may help, but once an optimal situation is found, it's back to putting words on paper/screen.

I have this weird compulsion where I can only write well in a handful of fonts.

For example, I can never bring myself to write in, say, Times New Roman or Arial and its variations, but when I put my story into Paltino Linotype, Plantagenet Cherokee or Malgun Gothic (those are the big 3, currently using Plantagenet Cherokee) I can write a lot better.

Not actually sure why that distinction exists in my mind...

Reservoir Angel said:

Not actually sure why that distinction exists in my mind...

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Because you've told yourself it does.

Don't get me wrong, I prefer to write in a typeface that's better-designed than something like Arial, but I don't have to. I could write in Comic Sans ( ::shudder:: ) if it was the only thing available to me. I've been writing in Google Docs, which is nice, because it limits my font choices to about a dozen (right now I'm writing in Droid Serif, though I also really like Cambria and Calibri—when I'm in the mood for something sans-serify).

It's fine if you want to figure out what combination of fonts/background colors/etc. works best for you. But limit the amount of time you spend doing so. In all likelihood, there will be no measurable gain from the standard black-text-on-a-white-background format.

I write with TNR font, and whatever standard background shows up when I open up Word. Everything else just distracts me.

ChaosTitan said:

I write with TNR font, and whatever standard background shows up when I open up Word. Everything else just distracts me.

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This. I also scribble in notebooks and on note cards. I have note cards all over my house. I've scribbeled on envelopes, work papers, my checkbook--anything is fair game when I get an idea.

On my computer I just open up a document and write with my defaults set.

I used to write in the defaults, which I believe were Arial 11 font. I've now begun switching it to New Courier 12 font since that is standard submission settings.

As long as the font is legible, I will write in it. Most of the time I write in Courier because I'm totally old-school and that's how I was taught proper manuscript format. But it doesn't really matter.

Without getting into the debate about whether such things really matter, I prefer to write in plain Times Roman, with two pages showing at one time, with the rest of the desktop blacked out (just hit command-option U on a Mac) so I can avoid looking at the e-mail or Safari icons....

I like black text on a white screen, single-spaced on a rough draft, in Times New Roman preferably though I'm not picky on font.

I just need something that isn't distracting.

I do sort of miss my typewriter, though (yes, I'm only 27, but I started writing as a kid on a typewriter). Writing on a typewriter feels So Serious.

I write in single-spaced Book Antiqua. TNR is difficult for me to read long-term, and Book Antiqua is just a little bigger and rounder and easier on my eyes. I also write in notebooks sometimes, though. I'm more apt to play with font and color and things like that in my notes, but that's mostly just playing. Not really necessary or anything.

I can't think of anything that matters less when it comes to writing.

Writing isn't about the perfect font or background or music or angle of your chair or doing things that apparently make you feel like a writer.

It's about writing. All this sort of stuff is just a distraction.

I write in Courier New or TNR. I usually have music in the background that forms a kind of soundtrack to what I'm working on.

But none of that matters. Write so that you get distracted in the world of what you're writing. I usually don't even see the font I'm writing in, I see the characters and action. And I find that when I finally take notice, the music's cycled through and stopped long, long ago.

It doesn't really matter what you write on or how you write. Immerse yourself in your writing and you'll find the rest superfluous.

I write in the format I'll submit: TNR 12, black on white, 1 inch margins all around, double-spaced, no justification.

However, when I print out reading copies of a draft, I like to make it look like a printed book -- tricking me into thinking I'm not handling that damned MS again. Plus it uses a lot less paper. My latest experiment led me to double columns of text in landscape orientation, justified margins, single spaced and...Georgia 10 for a font, which beat out a dozen contenders for the honor.

Maryn said:

Back when I had WordPerfect--before some of you were born, I bet--I used to change the background color so I would not screw up which was the current version and which was the earlier draft from which I was copying and pasting. It's awfully easy to start going the wrong direction, if you're me.

But then, you aren't, are you?

Maryn, easily confused

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Hah. I wrote my first novel on a TRS-80 with a green screen and printed it in dot matrix. I was thrilled when I finally got WordPerfect.

Black on light gray is supposed to be the easiest on the eyes, and I've found it's true. If you have poor eyes, black on light gray is a blessing.

But I usually use green on black, primarily because that's all we had in college back in '79. I got used to it, and I still like it. Combine this with Q10, and it makes writing a short story or an article much faster for me.

But I also like to use a white background, and a font someone whipped up for me. It's an old typewriter font, and it looks like it was typed on an old manual with out of line, dirty keys. I also match this with a program that makes my keyboard sound like a typewriter.

There's nothing at all wrong with having some fun with font and background. And some combinations are much easier on the eyes, and some make concentrating easier over hours of work. They just do.

I wouldn't spend all day looking for just the right combination, but it sure as hell beats playing computer games, compulsively checking your e-mail, randomly surfing the net, or making who cares posts on Twitter and Facebook.

Double-spaced Garamond. I feel TNR is trying to hit me in the face with its fattyness. All right, so it's not really fat, but it looks too savage for my liking.

And the Word theme must be black. The blue and grey themes are just too light and hurt my eyes.

Music is a must, too. I write in our living room downstairs, as this is the only room people don't constantly walk into and out of. It is, however, just a small door away from my grandparents' living room (yeah, living in an old manor house--I, my sister, my parents and our grandparents), and my grandpa watches TV all day long. I need to block that cursed TV out.

Coffee is nice.

The last two points don't have anything to do with fonts, but hey, they are important.

I prefer to write in Ariel since serifs tend to confuse me when I read.

I switch to New Times Roman when I submit. Fortunately, computers makes it easy to do.

I have trouble writing anything longer than a blog post in any font besides Courier New. I don't like TNR... to squished.

I've never experimented with different colors. Black on white works well enough for me.

PC. Standard black courier on white background with screen brightness lowered and contrast upped a bit.

I agree with Jonathan Dalar about the music in the background.

Whenever I write I have EITHER various classical music (ah Beethoven, you are my muse...) or film/TV show/video game scores playing in the background, with tracks adjusted to correspond with the mood and atmosphere according to what I'm writing.

Writing a light-hearted, airy peace? Rossini's Barber of Seville Overture it is. Dark creepy gothic horror? Well, that's gotta be Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D Minor.

Yes they're generic tracks everyone knows, but they're just examples and they work well.

Like when I need to write comedic moments I listen to the Can Can music or Fucik's "Entry of the Gladiators" (more commonly known as the circus music).

I must have music. I have a soundtrack for every novel.


I used to use Courier New,then switched to TNR and that's about all I require to write.

Black on white. Anything else makes my eyes go buggy.