Back during NaNoWriMo last year, I came across a post while I was Pincrastinating that said that writing in Comic Sans makes it easier for you to write when you have writer’s block.
Oh ho ho, how convenient for me. I was, at the time, experiencing a huge writer’s block. I was desperate, so I tried it!
Hate to say it, guys, but it works. It works great. I blew my NaNo goal out of the water by hitting 50,000 words on November 25th while trying it. My favorite part of the post was a screenshot of a guy who said that writing in Comic Sans makes words fly out of you like a rocket, and boy was he right. I’m currently writing this post in Comic Sans on Google Docs as suggested and the words really are flying out of my fingers like tiny cartoon rockets. And I’ve been blocked for a week!
But why on Earth does this work??
Personally, I think this gif image sums it up quite nicely:
Comic Sans makes writing less intimidating.
Most of the time when we are asked to write essays, dissertations, reports, or anything that we have to turn in to someone else for judging of some kind, the font requirement is something much more refined and professional than this cartoon lion’s roar, like Times New Roman. But draft it first in Comic Sans and it makes the assignment so much less intimidating. It makes writing a book easier, for crying out loud!
Each time I sat down to do a writing set during NaNo, I made sure the previous day’s work was in Times New Roman so that I could keep track of my word count. But I found I was easier to usher my inner editor out the door as soon as the kooky font appeared on the page. I honestly think because the font is less refined and more crazy, it allows the brain to eject more creativity more quickly. It is definitely a lot easier to get words on the page when you have permission to let them be terrible, wrong, and messy words.
I could also see huge benefit from drafting in this font, and then changing it to something more refined and finished looking, like Times New Roman, when it is time to edit. After you’ve looked at a section of text for so long, it becomes hard to self-edit and see your errors. If you have your creativity splatter in Comic Sans and then do your more organized edits in Times New Roman, it will first, signal the brain that, oh hey, it is time to edit, and second, the change in font will help you see the text differently and allow you to catch errors you couldn’t see before.
So that leads me to a question: it works for me, but does it work for you? Maybe you should give it a try! The next thing you have to write, essay, manuscript, letter to your grandma, whatever, try it in Comic Sans first and see if it changes your ability to get the job done. Does it help YOU cut loose and just write the dang thing? Do you find your creative fount opening and spewing out words in this very unprofessional, unrefined font? Let me know in the comments below. I would love to hear about your experience with this “writing hack.”
The Plotter's Apprentice 