I tripped over this one a few weeks ago. Lifehacker, among other respectable sources (here, here and here) and even a Reddit thread, have reported that switching your manuscript to the Comic Sans font makes your words flow unbelievably faster.
The much reviled Comic Sans font is apparently very easy on the eyes, especially for dyslexics, which I was not aware of. But for whatever reason, writing in Comic Sans helps some writers loosen up and their words to flow.
The psychology is muddy, but it sounded like an interesting experiment, so I wrote in Comic Sans for a week.
And I have to say that the results were underwhelming. There was no significant difference in my word count, but more importantly, I grew irritated with the irreverent font.
I have for years written using a straightforward serif font. At the moment that is Book Antiqua, but at various times I’ve used Garamond, Bookman Old Style, and my absolute favourite, Baker Signet.
Why the different fonts? Just to change things up a bit, but not enough to knock me out of flow when I’m writing, as I stare at the screen as I write, not at my fingers.
So perhaps I’m immune to the charms of Comic Sans. For me the experiment was a failure.
But as I urge you, always, do experiment for yourself. It takes seconds to switch the font in your current manuscript, so experimenting costs you nothing, and it might just help your writing as it has (apparently) helped so many others.
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