Friday, May 25, 2007

Mine is Wingdings

My initial reaction was to laugh at and mock this article about writers and their favorite fonts. But then I thought, wait, that sounds interesting.

Damn it.

What's your favorite font? What do you write in?

19 comments:

Annandale Dream Gazette said...

Favorite: probably Palatino, for aesthetics; good for chapbooks. Write in: Times, since it calls the least attention to itself. For the web: Ariel; seems the most readable.

Annandale Dream Gazette said...

oops I mean Arial, i.e. the typeface, not the angel.

Anonymous said...

Garamond 12! I have a poem somewhere to Garamond 12.

C. Dale said...

I am not sure why, but I have always composed and printed up my poems in Palatino. Always 14 pt for the titles and 12 point for the lines. Epigraphs or other header is always in 10 pt. This will sound weird, but once about a year ago, I drafted a new poem and then had to enter it onto a computer in a lab. The computer did not have Palatino. I spent 41 minutes going through fonts until I could find one as close to Palatino as possible. I realize this is absurd, but it is the truth.

Anonymous said...

Draft poems: Garamond (although i came to Garamond through a friend, who pointed out that loads of poetry books use Garamond. ego-trippingly, i began to use Garamond to "imagine the poems in a book". sigh.). Finished poems: Baskerville Old Face. i have to admit, i've grown tired of both Garamond and BOF, & am intrigued by the curves of Palatino. Draft Reviews: Book Antiqua (so big, makes me feel like i've _done_ something). Finished Reviews: sighly, Baskerville, you old hound.

Metta

Anonymous said...

Used to use Garamond (too shmancy). Then went to Rockwell (purely for the name). When that disappeared, migrated to Georgia (too red-statey). Lately I use Sylfaen (which is punk rock because it seems like I'm the only one in existence who does). 11-point so old curmedgeons can't read it. But Palatino is sexy too.

None of that matters because I do all my drafting by hand. A font which might be called "First-Grade Microscopic Print with Identical U's and V's."

Wonder if I could make money off it like Helvetica.

Ross White said...

I'm currently using 12-point Georgia. I spent about three years using Palatino Linotype before that.

I really like seeing titles in bold Century Gothic.

Steven D. Schroeder said...

Book Antiqua. Poems and resumes both.

Unknown said...

I just did a few poems in Sylfaen, and I really like it, but before that I used Palantino, particularly for chapbooks.

In my little mini-books, I always use arial 8, because old people can read it.

Gary L. McDowell said...

I draft, always, in Garamond 12pt. I submit to journals in Garamond 12pt. I submit my ms, however, in Palatino 12pt. A mentor of mine told me the 'spacier' Palatino was better than Garamond for ms contests.... Time will tell if that works for me.

Good post, good question, Paul!

Leslie said...

Serif faces: Minion. AGaramond--Adobe did a really elegant digital version of the classic. Bell. I also adore a lot of the Goudy versions. Berkeley. and I've set a couple of coffee table books in Bembo. New Century Schoolbook is what I set the newspaper in every week so I am wayyy over it. There is this great very light, pretty titling font called Diotima.
Sans: I'm very faddish with sans fonts. Lately, I've been using a lot of Century Gothic. Old standby Optima is looking a little dated but so pretty. GillSans is okay, but only in the lightest faces. I've never been a fan of helvetica. ack. typography heresy.
Fancy: Minion Titling, Zapfino, Edwardian, Delphi
Decorative: Woodtype Ornaments.

Most overused font in recent years: Copperplate. Lazy designers.

Oops. Asking me about typography is a lot like asking someone about their grandkids or their vacation cruise. Often there are pictures involved.

Unknown said...

12 point Times New Roman, 18 point for titles.

It is helpful--and somehow encouraging--to see how the poem might look in a really nice journal.

John Gallaher said...

Garamond 11 point for text and 18 point for titles. I think it's attractive.

I used to use Baskerville, but when I switched computers, Baskerville wasn't there. Now I'm sold on Garamond.

Oliver de la Paz said...

I now use Palatino 12 for everything, even titles. I mentioned on Cornshake's blog that I used to submit my manuscripts and individual poems in Courier.

Karri Paul said...

Write in Hoefler Text, submit in Times New Roman. In letterpress, love Bembo. For the web, I started using Arial, though I find it ugly. Copperplate Light is preferred, but it doesn't show up correctly in various browsers.

Reminds me of how Hugo starts out in Triggering Town talking about pens, pencils, notepads, etc. I always loved that.

Jorie used to talk about how using a typewriter, especially a manual one, makes the line breaks so dramatic. Ding...cuh-chunk!

Anybody go analog when making their poems anymore?

Nick McRae said...

Garamond or Palatino.

Anonymous said...

Poems I normally write in Times or Palatino, though I've tinkered with Garamond.

However, as you may or may not know, when it comes to screenplays, the choice has already been made for me and anyone else trying to write a screenplay: 12 pt. Courier. The "industry standard," which sounds odd to writers in other genres. But it's carved in stone. Write a screenplay in any other font, and no one will look at it.

Lee Herrick said...

I spent a few years with Times New Roman a la Anne Fadiman, but I now love High Tower Text. I also like Sylfaen.

moksh juneja said...

Favourite is trebuche - very clean on screen as well as on paper

Generally use Times New Roman