|
|
|
Like many of you, perhaps, I've always been interested in not only the instruments of writing, but in those who use those instruments as tools of their trade -- professional writers. This page is devoted to a number of my customers who are novelists and non-fiction writers, and who share the love of fountain pens that most likely drew you to this website in the first place. I've found that many readers have a fascination with the tools and habits of those who actually earn their living through the creative process of imagination and writing (most of us harbor the conceit that we too could pen that next great science fiction or mystery book, or that the Great American novel lies buried deep within, if only we had the time to sit down and write it). Well, here are some very talented people who are actually doing it, and I've asked them to share some of their thoughts and feelings about the allure of writing instruments in general, fountain pens in particular, and perhaps a secret or two about their own creative process as writers.
Mike Toot Mike Toot has written or edited fourteen books about computer software, performed Shakespeare, argued cases in front of state Supreme Court judges, and competed in offshore sailing events. He currently resides in Seattle with his wife and Maine Coon cat in a fully-renovated 1908 Craftsman house. He loves to do absolutely nothing on weekends. There's something about computer technology that just doesn't lend
itself to love. I write about computers and software for a living, and I never
come home and croon a sonnet to my keyboard or wax poetic about a
Karen Traviss Karen Traviss is a New York Times bestselling novelist who's been collecting pens since childhood. She lives in Wiltshire, England, and has a weakness for Sheaffer Tuckaways, superflex nibs, and Yard-O-Led pencils. Pens - real pens, that is, with proper nibs and honest, messy ink - are the antidote to a high-tech writers' life. I'll be the first to admit that the PC and word processing software make life much easier for writers: whoever developed the cut-and-paste function deserves a Nobel prize for their contribution to writers' sanity. And have you ever had to check through 600 pages of typed copy to find and replace every use of a certain word? When you're knocking out 150,000 words, electronics wins every time. I have writer friends who swear by doing drafts in longhand because it stops them hammering out a stream of consciousness. They feel the keyboard is just to fast to allow the self-editing process that's inherent in manual writing to take place. I'm not sure I could work that way: I'd never keep up with my schedule, for a start, and I need to see words on a screen in an impersonal typeface. That helps me dissociate from the intensely personal act of writing and see the work as a book, as the reader will see it. But the more I use computers, the more comfort (in every sense of the word) I find in pens, especially vintage ones. I do all my outlining, planning and revision on paper. After a brief flirtation with three-by-five cards, fiction planning software and scraping pointed sticks in the dirt, I now use Clairefontaine plain A5 notebooks and a real pen. Now, that might sound as if I have just the one instrument. I lied. I'm too embarrassed to reveal just how many fountain pens I have, but I can honestly say the collection hasn't topped three figures - yet. Right now, I'm using a 90 year old Waterman eyedropper, a Doric with an adjustable nib, a tiny 1920s gold-filled Eversharp ladies' pen, a Mottishawed Namiki VP, and one of His Nibs' extra-fine nibbed Hero pens for line-editing and marking proofs. No, you're right - nobody needs to carry five fountain pens around with them, but this isn't about need. It's about ritual. Applying a beautiful ink to fine paper with a flexible nib changes you and the way you think. It slows you down. It eases those neck twinges you get from hours at a keyboard. It makes you think of the form of words and ideas, how they look as well as how they sound. And when you handle a very old pen, you can't avoid wondering what it wrote before it came into your possession. Let's face it - lugging a laptop into your favourite coffee shop just isn't the same as sitting down to a steaming latte and taking out pen and paper to indulge in some thinking time. Fountain pens are civilized. In fifty, maybe a hundred years' time, someone else will be making use of my pens and finding as much pleasure in them as I did: but the software will be long gone.
Karen Traviss' website and her Novels page
Maya North
I got hooked on fountain pens when my daughter
gave me the incredible gift of a granddaughter, the magnificent Sophia
(picture above). I decided that there was nothing for it but to write
journals for her--one for her as a little girl, another one (maybe two) for
when she was old enough to hear family history as I remember it. That's what
is lost to us--who our people were. Our grandparents are so often nothing
more than ciphers to us and as for great-grands and more--ephemeral bits of
smoke and drift. And of course, since I am writing them in these magnificent
Italian leather-bound journals, nothing would do but to write them using
fountain pens. So far, my favorite is an inexpensive Sheaffer recommended by
His Nibs himself--writes as smooth as butter and I have that great copper
color in it right now.
I've been writing for years, mostly on computers
because I can type as fast as I think. The first completed opus was a sci-fantasy
work begun at age 20 which will probably never see the light of day.
Currently I'm working on two things at once (it's that attention-span thing).
One is a supermarket romance I intend to publish under a pseudonym. I have it
being reviewed by two friends who are not great fans of romances and they have
told me that if I leave them hanging they will hunt me down and make me finish
it. This is a good sign. The other I have just begun is a memoir about my
brother who died of AIDS at age 35--some of his life, some of mine. Not sure
where it's going, but I'm pretty sure it's going under a pseudonym also with
lots of details changed as my father is still living and we've finally
achieved peace.
Here is an preliminary, unedited excerpt from
that, with some of the details changed because, well, you know...
Continued here click here if you'd like to email Maya
S. L. Viehl
I have been in love with
fountain pens since my grandmother gave me my first Parker back in high school
(about the same time the wheel was invented.) The flow of the ink and the feel
of the nib against paper made me feel like my hand was dancing as I wrote. All
the writers I admired had written their stories with quills they dipped in ink,
so I felt an immediate connection to the past as well. Only I didn't have to go
catch a goose and pluck it first if I wanted to write a story.
Chandler McGrew
Like most authors today
(excluding Grisham who may be some kind of mutant
from a writer's planet) I write using a PC. When you're what editors call an
'organic writer' like myself, however, and too lazy to do outlines, you have
to slog through numerous drafts. I accomplish that with paper and pen,
and a fountain pen is my preferred weapon. Unlike ballpoints, fountain pens are as individualistic as their owners. I have pens as ancient as something just over one hundred years (an eyedrop fill Waterman) to modern marvels from HisNibs.com like my new Monteverde (which is swiftly becoming my favorite) and each of them has it's own feel and writing characteristics. They are a joy to use and a joy to own for all their temperament. Fountain pen ownership is almost like pet ownership. Mistreat a ballpoint and throw it away. Mistreat a fountain pen and it will bite.
Bill Rogers I'm a would-be writer. My biography is easy to tell, since I haven't
done much that would be of any interest except to myself. I'm a
State environmental enforcement guy working in a rural area, checking
out what industry we have. Continued here
|
Ordering Procedures & Returns International customers, please note, we will not falsify shipping documents Credit cards, for the quickest fulfillment of your order, are accepted through PayPal, a secure site allowing you to use your credit card without us even seeing the information. If you'd like to make use of this credit card service, please let us know when you email your order and address, and we'll email you the appropriate Request for Payment, and instructions for the simple payment procedure (you don't need to join PayPal to use it).
If you would like us process your credit card directly instead, then please email us: 1. Card # (dividing this number in two, between two emails, will
ensure security) If you'd rather pay by money order or check, kindly make payable to: His
Nibs.com We
ship via insured Priority Mail
Please send your order and shipping address (along with any questions) to: orders@hisnibs.com We will email you back with your order total (PA residents please add 6% sales tax)
Warranties and returns If an item proves to be defective, in most cases the manufacturer's warranty will apply. However, please email us first so that we can determine the easiest way to resolve the problem to your satisfaction. In the case of fountain pens -- which are a bit more individualistic than other writing instruments -- what may at first appear to be a defect (hard starting or poor flow for example), can in almost all cases be resolved with a few simple 'tweaks' to the nib, which we'll be happy to guide you through or perhaps suggest returning to us for adjustment. Should you wish to return a
non-defective item within 3 days of receipt because it doesn't suit
you for some reason, again please email us and we'll arrange an
exchange, credit or refund (minus any shipping/insurance charges),
if the item is returned in an 'as new' condition. If you've dipped a
fountain pen to try its writing characteristics, kindly clean off
any ink residue prior to shipping -- to save us both a nasty
surprise We want you to be happy with your purchase from His Nibs.com and hope to have you join the ranks of our many long-term, repeat customers!
Revised: July 21st, 2008
|
.