The Fountain Pens Famous Writers Use!

Let's share some inspiration and speak about Famous Authors & Their Fountain Pens!

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[crouserm]

My writer is an elderly man (mid 90s) who needed so initial and sign his advance directives for health care -- power of attorney and living will. I had discussed options with him, in which conversation I got marvelous stories which touched my heart. When I brought him the papers to ink, I deemed that this was a person who would understand fountain pens, so I offered him one of mine. His response: Ah! A real pen! He's my guy..

[thommail]

I’m going through a life-ending illness. Your posts take me out of my circumstance. Thank you.-Thom

[Mr.H-YT]

Love the episode! Someone already mentioned Lovecraft, but I know Arthur Conan Doyle used a Parker Duofold and Agatha Christie was a fan of Conway Stewart. I believe Tolkien used a dip pen!

[Melmoth-the-wanderer]

H.P. Lovecraft used a Waterman's Ideal eyedropper until he lost it at a beach in 1919. He then bought a "raven black" self-filler, also a Waterman's Ideal, which he took back to the Waterman's store so that they could adjust the feed to increase the flow.
Thanks for another fascinating video Hemingway!

[kurtgeisinger]

The inherent beauty of writing with a fountain pen, is that you are more committed to what is being memorialized on paper. It takes much more thought and effort than simply typing.

[nowtacoma]

I seriously hope this will become a series - because the considered approach is lovely. Much better than just a list 😅

[karmesindryade]

That was a very interesting video (as all of yours are). It makes me curious about the pen choices of my favourite writers, like James Joyce, W.B. Yeats, Ursula K Le Guin, Jean Paul Sartre, Philip K. Dick or Italo Calvino. I would be happy to see another episode of "Writer's Choice".

[dm]

Mark Twain, Anne Frank’s, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Albert Einstein, Harper Lee, and Steven King are some other favorite authors. Always love seeing more on the tools authors use when creating. Thank you.

[bankston]

Samuel Clemens used a Conklin crescent filler, and even endorsed it.

[johnnyragadoo]

There's an interesting story about Gaiman's 823. In an interview with Tim Ferriss, Gaiman says he wrote about 1.5 million signatures with he Pilot 823.

"Then, " Gaiman relates, "my three-year-old son found a place behind a cast iron fireplace in our house in Woodstock where if you just insert your father’s Pilot 823 pen, which you have found on the table, just to see if it would go in there, you can actually guarantee that without disassembling the house, we actually have to take the entire house apart to uninstall a cast iron fireplace from 1913 to get at the pen. That pen now has been given as a sacrifice to the house gods, so I need to get a new one."

Great video!

[nope]

Finding out Neil Gaiman also uses a fountain pen to write his drafts like I do is kinda inspiring. The current pen I use mostly is my Jinhao X159 with an XF nib. Often writing reverse with some inks.

[ISOShakespeare]

I'd like to learn about pens women writers used: Virginia Woolf, Agatha Christie, Dorothy Parker...etc.

[mysteriousman]

Hemingway Jones. I have just discovered your channel recently last week and I have to say that you are one of my favourite people on YouTube. I thoroughly enjoy your videos and I always look forward to what video you will do next. Please keep up the good work.

[Marpa]

Thank you for this insight into the craft of writing from the standpoint of famous writers. It adds depth to the process of writing and appreciation for the beauty and even nobility of the writing instrument.

[cmaster]

I'm a long-time fan since your FL days! Thank you for this video. Also a super Hemingway fan (and Dylan Thomas as well). I've been using 1945 and 1951 dated Parker “51" pens for about 15 years off and on as everyday writers. When you post the cap properly to suit yourself and your hand and get in the proper groove, the 51 writes like a dream. I went back to college to finish my degree with the two Parkers in my armory and did daily battle taking notes with them with no issues. Love them!

[bethcunningham]

What a great video! I love Dr. Who especially the first set of doctors. Also, if you haven’t read “Midnight’s Children” by Salman Rushdie, it is fantastic. For part 2, I would like to know some women authors who used fountain pens for writing their novels. I look forward to the next video!

[mellow-jello]

Lithub put out an extensive list of writers & authors which disclosed their choices of writing instruments: pencils, ballpoints, rollerballs & fountain pens. Gaiman was there, and his fondness of FPs. Thanks for the video.

[viewer]

According to an interview in The Paris Review, Shelby Foote wrote his US Civil War books using a dip pen with Esterbrooke nibs.

[BenJoeMarkland]

My good friend, one of my favorite videos. Here are the reasons. 1. This wasn't just about fountain pens, it was about great writers who had amazing tools to express their art. Love it. 2. I am a MASSIVE Dr. Who fan! I have seen every episode from the old back and white to today. Love it! 3. I too have a Parker 51 from 1949 and struggling to find the edge, I thought it was my pen; but now I realize...it is just the way it is. When I find it, it is amazing.

[Opensidemorpheus]

Neil Gaiman is responsible for my first purchase of a fountain pen! And also why my first two grail pens were the L2k and the 823