Have you seen this post floating around the Internet?
This Comic Sans font post has gotten a visceral, knee-jerk reaction with writerly folks, both for and against its use. Change your font to Comic Sans and supposedly you’ll “magically” increase your word count.
I think most writers are perfectionists at heart, hence the strong reactions of equal parts love and hate for this hack. Writers want a “magic feather,” an easier way to get the words out of our jumbled brains and onto a blank document page.
Writing is hard WORK!
Sure, there are days when the writing muse smiles down upon your document and every paragraph streams from your fingers like liquid gold. But FAR more often, it’s as if the words are coated in treacle, and every craptastic sentence makes you cringe with unworthiness. (Or maybe that’s just me?)
Anyway, I decided to give this hack a try. After all, Comic Sans is just one font among many. I can EASILY change the document to a more “respectable font” when I hand over the next chapter to my Beta Readers.
Did the hack work? So far…YES! Surprisingly, yes. I’m not really sure WHY it worked, but I suspect it’s because it’s a seldom used font. It’s another way of seeing your document with fresh eyes. Also, it’s hard to take yourself too seriously when you’re staring at childish looking sentences.
What are your thoughts? Have you tried this hack? Let me know in the comments below.
xo Juli
JULI HOFFMAN 
Haven’t tried it but maybe now I will.
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It’s supposed to be a good font for dyslexics, which is why you sometimes see it used in children’s books. Something about the shape of the letters makes it easier to identify them.
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Okay, I’m giving it a try.
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Let me know how it works out for you! If nothing else, it’s a fun experiment. 😀
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This made me chuckle. 😀 My husband hates Comic Sans with a purple passion, lol.
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With a “purple passion.” Now THAT made made me giggle!!! I’ve been playing around with fonts on my Google Docs account, then converting the text over to New York Times or Garamond. It’s simple enough to do.
I think it works because Comic Sans is “different.” It’s not a magic wand fix. In reality, this hack would probably work with almost any font that’s legible and different from what you’re use to working with.
Happy Writing!!!
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I haven’t tried it but back in the day, when I wrote longhand (yeah, I’m that old; I was born before writing was invented), I wrote on the backs of used paper to remind myself that it was junk when I started and if it was junk when I finished all I’d wasted was my time and some ink. It did seem to help.
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Neil Gaiman writes most of his first drafts by hand because they are portable. He wrote Coraline and Ocean and the End of the Lane all in longhand. You are in good company!
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It is portable. It’s also a question of what your brain and body get used to. When I moved to Cornwall, I moved myself out of range of any coffee shop where I could park myself to write and went through an extended writing crisis, which ended with me getting used to working on a computer–and without a baked somethingorother being involved. It wasn’t an easy transition, though.
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I flip from one form to another depending on where I am in my life, both physically and emotionally. I like writing on a computer using Google Docs because the thesarus is RIGHT THERE! I can look up stuff instantly. But…sometimes the keyboard is hard on my wrists, or I’m taking a break from the Internet, so I’m back to longhand. I have stacks of notebooks filled with a sorts of things. (Mostly REALLY poor writing! LOL)
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