Hot take: Spending $40 on a beat up typewriter from a thrift shop changed how I write prompts

I picked up a rusty 1960s Smith Corona for $40 last weekend and typing out my story ideas on paper instead of a screen has made them way more vivid and weird. Has anyone else tried switching up their writing tool to break out of a creative rut?

3 comments

3 Comments

ray35629d ago

Isn't it funny how adding a little friction to a process can actually make things better? We're so used to everything being instant and smooth on screens that we lose that slower, more deliberate thinking. Seems like a lot of things in life work that way, not just writing.

janah8329d ago

My handwriting is so bad that adding friction just means I'm making illegible scratches slower. I tried writing with a fountain pen once and ended up with ink all over my hand and a note that looked like a spider fell in a puddle. The only deliberate thinking I did was wondering why I thought that was a good idea.

riley_wood8429d ago

Ha! That spider analogy is perfect. I actually read somewhere that fancy fountain pens are designed for a specific type of handwriting pressure. Like, if you press hard, it's a mess. The ink flow gets all wonky. Your spider in a puddle comment makes total sense now.