Pens I Have Known
Margaret Atwood Reminds You That Pen Is Envy
To hold a pen is to be at war.
—Voltaire
You wouldn’t go to war without your trusty sword—or your trusty M41A pulse rifle (a personal friend of mine), depending on what type of story we’re in at the moment.
The mighty pen is my weapon of choice for handwriting. Do you prefer pencil? I’m not a fan. As a leftie, I smudge graphite all over the page and it ruins my life. Not that ink smudging isn’t a threat at all times, but I have mitigation strategies. Don’t get me wrong. You need at least three different pencils in your life. I’ll share my thoughts on pencils another time. But pens! Pens are life.
How much time do you spend thinking about pens? Among my fellow editors the answer is: plenty. I made a social post about pens and editors chimed in from around the country. Writers may or may not have thoughts on pens. Journaling enthusiasts have even more thoughts about pens than editors do. If you’re not any of the above, you might spend no time at all thinking about pens.
I attended college before the laptop became ubiquitous. They existed, some of my well-off friends had them, but it was not the kind of thing you would take to class with you. At my university, we took notes by hand. Every section had one or two overachievers (not me) with tape recorders. The entire campus probably boasted one rich kid with a laptop. So during that phase of life I developed some thoughts on pens.
After college, I spent the next mumble mumble years capturing my thoughts exclusively through typing. It was bad before smartphones, but the advent of the notetaking smartphone app made it worse. Now even the stray thoughts I have in the middle of the night get recorded with a keyboard. I forgot most of my pen preferences.
Then—a reversal of fortune. I started to lose track of my thoughts. Did I jot it down in Google Keep? OneNote? Google Docs? New Text Document (7).txt? I use all of these for different things, and then some things fall into more than one category—it grew difficult to know what I was keeping where. Now I use a hybrid organization system: a handwritten journal with an overview of everything I have going on (and where those things are stored).
In short, pens are back in my life. And not just a few pens. A lot of pens. All the pens. Read on for more than you could ever possibly want to know about pens.
Pen Types
There are three main types of pen you want to know about, but really only one that you want to be using.
First, a caveat. There is some controversy about the terms “gel pen”; “rolling ball”; and “rollerball.” As far as I am able to tell, from exhaustive Internet research and from squinting at the tips of my pens until my eyes bled, a rollerball pen and a gel pen use the same tip mechanism. The difference is the ink.
Rollerball
The rollerball pen is your friend. It’s one of the newest advances in handwriting, rocking up to the writing scene in the mid-20th century. Rollerball pens write more evenly and clearly than ballpoint pens. You can get a finer point (< 1mm) than you can with a ballpoint pen (≥ 1mm). The inkflow system is better. They use liquid or gel inks as opposed to oil-based. They have some drawbacks—the aforementioned smudging issue, bleeding through your paper, leaking in your purse or pocket. Overall, though, the benefits outweigh the pitfalls. And hey—all my lefties out there—don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t use a rollerball pen. Source: Am leftie, use rollerball.
Ballpoint
Why would you ever? Well, it’s easier and more reliable than a fountain pen. More convenient than a quill. The world’s most popular pen, the utilitarian and disposable Bic Cristal, is a ballpoint. Has some applications for art. I dislike it for writing. You have to apply more pressure to use a ballpoint than a rollerball, which is less comfortable over time. You can’t make as attractive a line with a ballpoint. You’ll leave a slight indentation in your paper. I only use a ballpoint pen on shiny surfaces that can’t absorb liquid or gel ink. This pen has been voted Most Likely to Be Handed to You at the Olive Garden thirty years running.
Fountain
A great pen for signing the Declaration of Independence but that’s about it. Just kidding! The Declaration of Independence was signed with quills. Fountain pens are neat but you have to refill them, which no one has time for. They blot. Nibs are scratchy. The whole prospect is expensive. They require flushing; is this a toilet or a pen? On the pro side: Nib and blot are fun to say.
There are other types of pen out there but these are the main ones you will encounter in the 21st century.
Point Size
.38mm | .5mm | .7mm
These are your rollerball points. The best for writing words and drawing lines. I use the .38mm tip (ultra fine) almost exclusively for writing normal words, and for drawing layouts when I’m being lazy. I use the .5mm (extra fine) and .7mm (fine) more for drawing layouts when I want to vary the line width for more attractive pages, and for doing large lettering where I want a bolder line. Legend tells of a .28mm pen from Uni-Ball. Haven’t tried it yet.
1mm | 1.4mm
These are your ballpoints. I know there’s an entire ballpoint art movement, but I don’t know anything about it. I’m sure those folks would have thoughts on when to use the 1mm (medium) versus 1.4mm (bold). For my purposes, having a single ballpoint pen of any tip size meets my need (I only use this when I can’t use a rollerball). I would not actually purchase a ballpoint pen. Just steal one from somebody, you’ll be doing them a favor.
Ink Types
So there are more types of ink out there than just the two I’ll mention below. Ballpoint pens use an oil-based ink but there’s not really an ink-related decision to make when choosing a ballpoint pen. They’re all the same. You’ll mainly have to decide between liquid and gel inks for rollerball pens.
Liquid
Liquid ink, also called rollerball ink, is made with dye dissolved in water. This ink requires the lightest pressure to write with and also gives you the most tactile sensation of the paper you’re writing on. Liquid ink is much less likely to skip than oil, and somewhat less than gel. It has drawbacks, though, compared to gel (or oil): the liquid ink can bleed through paper more easily than other ink types or blot onto a facing page if you close your journal before it dries.
Gel
Gel ink is made from pigments (not dye) suspended in a water-based gel. It’s thicker than liquid ink, so you can create lovely lines. It also works with vanishingly fine tips—you can get down to a .28mm tip with gel pens. Gel inks resist forensic analysis via thin-layer chromatography. So if you want to commit writing-related crimes, choose gel. (I mean like forging checks, not like authoring Fifty Shades of Grey.)
Colors
If you want to write a rainbow, gel is your pal. The gel medium can sustain a denser concentration of pigment, so the colors will be more vibrant. Gel is also less likely to bleed through your paper than liquid, so if you’re coloring in a shape gel is a little better (if you apply enough of any kind of ink, it will bleed).
Final Considerations
Retractable v Capped
This is down to personal preference, if you even have a preference on this. I lose the cap 2 seconds after I uncap the pen. Hopeless. A retractable pen has no loose component to lose.
Blue v Black
I prefer black for writing. If you’re writing notes on a printed document, blue (or red for editors and teachers) stands out more. Blue ink can make documents look less like the signature was printed on (as if color printers don’t exist). Sometimes legal documents have to be signed in black.
Erasable
I don’t love erasable pens—and I’m a lady who makes a lot of mistakes (in writing as in life). When I was a kid, erasable pens were terrible and I’ve never given them another chance. Maybe they’re better now. I still prefer a non-erasable pen. Be bold. Commit to what you’re writing. You can always cross something off. The permanence of a pen, the indelible record you make with it, is part of the appeal.
Pen Organization Strategy
I sort my pens into four categories:
.38mm tip (all colors)
.5 mm tip (all colors)
Other utilitarian pens for specific purposes (.7mm, ballpoint, etc)
Sentimental
That last category includes branded pens from several employers, the pen I used to sign my mortgage, and a handful of Big Boyz Bail Bonds pens (the Official State Pen of Maryland).
I keep a variety of tip sizes and colors right on my desk for rapid access. Can one have too many pens? I say—no. H says—one absolutely has too many pens, please get rid of some of these pens, did one seriously just order more pens?
One Pen to Rule Them All
That’s a lot of things to consider when choosing a pen. I took a quick census and I have 16 pens in the cup on my desk (the pens I want to have right at hand) and then another 28 pens in the spinny organizer elsewhere in my office. There are a few duplicates of my favorites, but mostly they’re unique in terms of ink color/point size combination. Some of these pens never get used; some are used infrequently; some regularly; and one all the time. That pen is the Pilot G-2 .38mm gel in black. I owe my friends Sarah and Jenn a drink for introducing me to this wonderful pen. If you’re only going to keep one pen on your desk, this is the one.
What about pencils, brush pens, felt tips, Sharpies, highlighters, specialty pens, and all the other writing implements out there? More on these topics to come in the days ahead.
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