/lit/ - Literature

I have a Pilot Vanishing Point and it's based. I'd never buy a pen costing ten times as much.

>>15907218
Fountain pens are great. Mont-blancs or whatever are just showy. The difference in feel as you write between an average nib and a palladium-plated gold italic honed by your resident nibmeister is minimal. A twsbi eco’ll do you fine, and you’ll never throw away another pen.

>>15907605
What I really appreciate about the Vanishing Point is how it made me write smaller for some reason. Conversely, the Lamy 2K makes me write a bit bigger due to its thicker nib. I've also got a Conklin Nighthawk with a titanium body that I love very much. Possibly my favorite in my collection.

theyre just a weird little hobby people get in to. theyre not actually very much better for writing, and more than a rolex actually tells time better than a casio.
if nice wood pens is something that floats your boat, by all means
the fastest way to write things is obviously to type them, and it can be pretty expressive if you do it right

>>15907605
>>15908105
I'll look into getting one then - I'm a student so I'm going to need to write a lot soon. Should I go for the vanishing point?

>>15908120
>>15907881

Interesting, thanks for the knowledge - I was also wondering about just high end pens in general and how much better the experience is

>>15907218
Meme, get a bic. Unless you want to show off or something.

>>15907218
meme. but getting a nice pen(s) under 20 is most definitely worth it

I have a montblanc pen and pencil. for a few hundred bucks each they make nice upscale gifts for the person who has almost everything. I always feel too self-conscious writing with them in person.
I also had a caran d'ache rollerball pen that I literally found on the floor of a restaurant in Chicago, but I also lost it somehow a few years ago. No idea where I lost it. The cycle repeats, maybe?

>>15907218
I've been into fountain pens for about 6 years now and I could never go back. Theoretically, if you buy a lower end fountain pen and use cheaper bottled ink you could save money over a long time but it's not realistic. It's more about making the whole experience of writing more enjoyable and adding personality to it as well.

COONSUUMER meme just like mechanical keyboards.

Been collecting for a few years and ... well, their importance to your writing is as much as you personally would like to give them. Nobody knows which exact typewriter or computer model their favorite novel was written on unless the author was a nerd but even then different drafts saw different writing instruments. It doesn’t improve the quality of my writing or how frequently I get writing done. I just like them, and because I like them, they make the long painful task of writing a little bit nicer and smoother. The same feeling can be got by playing the right music... or font on your computer.
>>15908916 An EF vanishing point or decimo with some waterproof ink is the perfect upgrade for note-taking, yes. Avoid Lamy pens unless someone you know has one and you play with it and love it. Same goes Noodler’s ink.

they're not really high end, they're just expensive, like most status items all marketing. if you're consoomer enough, you'll rewire your brain to get around the disparity.

>>15909871
Are you into calligraphy, anon? A friend from college had those things and he did some neat stuff.

>>15907218
>are they worth it for writing
Do you have a script worth reading? Or people worth sending nice snail mail? It's the difference between smoking a cob vs a briar or meerschaum -- the former is perfectly adequate, but the latter will dissapate enough heat to offer more flavour as a result.

>>15909875
Not really, I try to have nice handwriting but that’s not calligraphy. The vast majority of fountain pens right now are stiff stainless steel or slightly soft gold and not really meant for it either. That’s more dip pen territory since the different metals are easier to flex.

>>15909675
Whilst unnecessary, mechanical keyboards are the shit, man. Typing becomes a joyful experience, the tactile equivalent of removing your training wheels, fingers gliding majestically across the keys like an open road. It’s freeing.

>>15909318
Agreed. I've been into them for a couple of years and I use them every day and won't go back. Tbh, you don't even need to spend much to enjoy fountain pens. Most cheap, Chink fountain pens will give you a good writing experience that's much better than a ballpoint.

>>15907605
Try 10000 times as much. And yes. You would never buy one because you are and forever will be a pleb.

>>15907218
Yes

>>15909907
>mechanical keyboards are the shit, man

>>15910152
yuck, what is this...

>>15907218
High-end pen? What the fuck? Just buy a pilot metro or lamy safari and some rohrer & klinger ink. Cheap, but also great value, and minimal. Please don't spend any more than ~$20 on a fucking pen. I'm sure the more expensive ones are "nice", but you're not some consumerist fucking bugman, are you? You're a writer who has good taste. The end is writing, not collecting collectibles. Pilot metro's are good taste, while also being utilitarian.

>>15909907
What was once a means to some end becomes the end in itself, as is the case with most bugmen "hobbies" — hoarding fountain pens, watches, notebooks, basking in the "experience" offered by high end materials, not the end that they were intended to fulfill. Consumerist pig.

No, but Zebra Sarasa Dry gel pens are amazing. I’m a lefty and they don’t smudge at all. I no longer have to hook my hand over the page to write.

>>15908987
Any reccs?

>>15911310
Yeah I wasn't really saying just fountain pens. I was looking more under 30$~ -- Just felt that a good pen would be a good investment as I write a lot -

>>15907218
My handwriting is garbage -- I think it has something to do with applying too much pressure; I hear fountain pens take far less pressure.

>>15907218
they are better than ballpoint, even jetstream for sure - although it is less versatile (like plane, travelling, rugged outdoor, etc).

for cheap starter, unironically pilot kakuno. if you wanna step up, just get something more expensive from sailor or pilot. sailor progear is probably good enough for most people. japanese FM~M is probably good. twisbi is good too

alternative: chinese wing sung, is actually very good choice. some of wing sung is pilot copy, so you can replace its nib with pilot is nib (like from kakuno) you can get them really cheap at aliexpress,taobo, or even ebay.

next level: gold,platinum, etc, are really better - not really worth it though. personally prefer aurora - peilikan and mont blanc's quality is really shit these days - literally worse tha aurora. also aurora is more aesthetic.

>>15911983
idk i like felt tips from rotring but almost everyone i know says they hate them. if you are like them and need ball tip i like ohto.

>>15912897
sorry i shouldve specified. i like the tikky line from rotring and the graphic liner needle point from ohto. pentel sign pens are also fun.

>>15907218
They are a luxury accessory to show off at business meetings or just pen fetishists (the similar kind to watch fetishists but at least watches are great engineered marvels).
Needless to say, I bought a cheap Parker and it has lasted all these years.

>>15907218
Anyone have a recommendation? Something cheap on amazon. I assume I'll need thicker paper too?

what's based is writing shit instead of worrying about what fucking pen you're using

>>15910152
Your handwriting is fucking atrocious.

>>15911328
>What was once a means to some end becomes the end in itself, as is the case with most bugmen "hobbies" — hoarding fountain pens, watches, notebooks, basking in the "experience" offered by high end materials, not the end that they were intended to fulfill. Consumerist pig.

>>15908120
you can't press hard with a fountain pen. they make you write like a human, not a gorilla.

>>15910958
kek

I wage as a carpet layer so I get free sharpies and those weird flat pencils that the electricians and carpenters leave laying around. They’re pretty fun to use, I suppose. The pencils can’t roll off the tabled which is nice.

>>15907218
>are they worth it for writing
Yeah, they are. They are quite smooth and flow nicely. But so do gel pens and those gel-roller things.

>>15908120
>theyre not actually very much better for writing, and more than a rolex actually tells time better than a casio
This. I am into watches and this is very true. You'd buy a fancy pen/watch because you like the aesthetics or craftsmanship. Nothing wrong with that.

>>15911983
Lamy Safari and Pilot Metropolitan are pretty commonly recommended beginner pens and are at around 20. You can either use the throwaway ink cartridges or buy a converter for a couple bucks and suck up the ink.

I saw this video on youtube about Japanese fountain pens and a guy selling them. The guy said that the fountain pen is not for speedy writing but more leisurely writing, more thoughtful stuff. After getting a fountain pen and using it for a day I did feel that it was so and I thought more before I wrote and the writing experience is pretty cool too.