Do you prefer hand-written or typed?

[JennyTheArtist]

I'm thinking of writing my first perzine. I was wondering anyone's thoughts on whether they prefer perzines to be neatly handwritten (maybe making it more personnel?) or typed...

[Adrian Fynch]

I usually do my zines almost entirely on the typewriter with a little bit of handwriting here and there. Mostly I just like the effect of the type and I'm not sure my handwriting is all that legible sometimes, haha.

[Amazing Sunflower]

I do most of my big writing using my computer. I know, I know, it's high tech and in no way old school. The printing is not as pretty as that from typewriters. But I am sooooooo hooked on the ease of correction a computer gives. I adore cut and paste, cut and copy, moving blocks of text, and oh, how i love the undo function!

A handwritten zine nice to look at, but kind of useless if I can read the handwriting. I think everyone thinks his/her/hir handwriting is perfectly legible, but often folks who aren't used to reading it can't read it. Trying to read messy handwriting is frustrating to me. Folks should realize that just because they can read their own handwriting, that doesn't mean anyone else can.

Bad typing is annoying to read too. Typing might look cool, but if every third letter is x-ed out as a method for correcting mistakes, it's not going to be easy to read.

I think a lot of people just sit down, type or write out a rant or essay or personal story or whatever, and the first thing that goes down on paper is what ends up in the zine. I am a huge fan of revision and wish more people revised. Revision would improve the quality of most people's writing and would probably improve readability too.

[Saling Pusa Distro/closed]

i guess to each their own, eh?

in my case, I revise a lot too, because i know how extremely and bewilderingly disorganized my thoughts usually are... so i know i'll have to phrase, rephrase, simplify, and edit them a lot... but i guess for some of us, the revision already starts in our heads... in my case i think through, collaborate and revise most of my thoughts in my head, when it "gestates" enough and I feel like it's already something worth putting down on paper, i start to freewrite it... when it makes sense, it turnsa into a page of a zine somehow... if it doesnt. it ends up on my "ideas" pile, which is just a shoe box that i open everytime i feel so uninspired...

although sure computers come really handy... autocorrect, grammar suggestions, my personal faforite: the justified option... but personally, i find that it is sometimes limiting... afterall, computer programs are made by people too...

i guess it just depends on the type of zine you want or the message you want to convey... in the end, the choice still lies in the writer--it's a balance between reaching out to readers (legibility, etc.), creativity, and your own personal touch... but that's just me :)

Chantel G. said:

I do most of my big writing using my computer. I know, I know, it's high tech and in no way old school. The printing is not as pretty as that from typewriters. But I am sooooooo hooked on the ease of correction a computer gives. I adore cut and paste, cut and copy, moving blocks of text, and oh, how i love the undo function!

A handwritten zine nice to look at, but kind of useless if I can read the handwriting. I think everyone thinks his/her/hir handwriting is perfectly legible, but often folks who aren't used to reading it can't read it. Trying to read messy handwriting is frustrating to me. Folks should realize that just because they can read their own handwriting, that doesn't mean anyone else can.

Bad typing is annoying to read too. Typing might look cool, but if every third letter is x-ed out as a method for correcting mistakes, it's not going to be easy to read.

I think a lot of people just sit down, type or write out a rant or essay or personal story or whatever, and the first thing that goes down on paper is what ends up in the zine. I am a huge fan of revision and wish more people revised. Revision would improve the quality of most people's writing and would probably improve readability too.

[Giz]

depends of your handrwriting.

sometimes those are very hard to read.

[twilight gecko]

i do my zines with a little bit of both.. i like some handwritten parts, because i think it makes it more personal.. i can connect a little more to the person/story/situation when it's handwritten.. yet i like the creativity of different fonts.. so both for me!!

[APFuchs]

In general, typed, but if there's a feature in the zine that handwriting would lend a cool atmosphere or intent, then I say roll with that.

[Hannah (Not Lonely Zine)]

Oh dear, I'm guilty as charged with the using-lots-of-different-fonts thing! Even before reading this thread I had decided not to do it again in my next issue though.

Personally I prefer a mixture of handwritten and typed, as long as the handwriting isn't huge and/or not very pretty.

Amber / Culture Slut said:

I guess it really depends on the person's printing. What's legible to some isn't to others. And I wouldn't just take the legibility into account, but whether or not it's aesthetically pleasing as well. Some people can print neatly but it just doesn't look good on the page. I'm all for making things personal, but I also don't like feeling like someone just photocopied the pages straight out of their journal and left it at that.

I've been told that I have very neat printing, and I use it in zines occasionally, though usually only if my typewriters are out of commission (somehow three of them malfunctioned on me at the same time recently). I find vintage typewriter script to be very pleasing to the eye, and also fun to do. As far as typing on a computer goes, that's fine too, just don't go nuts with it. It drives me crazy when people insist on using ten different fonts in a zine, I think it somehow cheapens the look. Telegram Ma'am is a good example of a zine that's typed on a computer but still looks wonderful.

[Joey Wilson]

Handwritten, hands down (no pun intended har har).

But type your entries on the computer first then hand copy to your zine so your don't have big black scratch outs for any spelling errors.

Also if you type it on the computer first you can change the font and base your hand writing on differnt fonts to add some variety.

[Hannah (Not Lonely Zine)]

Great ideas, on both counts. The disadvtage of handwritten zines can be that there are a lot of crossings out, but if you type first, as you suggested, that'll solve that problem.

I like the font idea too. Similar to that is that you can get fonts made of your handwriting! I did that and loved the result. I got it done on a site that used to do it for free but now sadly charges. I am tempted to pay to invent another font though.

Joey Wilson said:

Handwritten, hands down (no pun intended har har).

But type your entries on the computer first then hand copy to your zine so your don't have big black scratch outs for any spelling errors.

Also if you type it on the computer first you can change the font and base your hand writing on differnt fonts to add some variety.

[Tee Rex]

I like either. I think there can be fonts that are just as unappealing as bad handwriting. Even then, bad handwriting (although sometimes hard to read) can add personality to the zine (whereas a poor choice of font is just a poor choice of font!). A mix of both is always good. My latest one is all handwriting, I was finding the computer to be stifling my creativity, so I've taken to pen and (carefully-printed) handwriting. Typewritten things always look fab, I'll never tire of it. I'm easy to please, as long as the content is good!

[Lia through the looking-glass]

I don't have access to a printer (except at my local library who charge ridiculous amounts for their print-outs), so all my first issue is going to be hand written/drawn, until june at least, when I plan on getting a printer with birthday funds.

I do love typewritten zines. Where does everyone get their type writer ribbons from? I can't seem to source them for love nor money right now.

[Don-O]

I prefer the type as 1) my hand writing stinks hence the low quality 2) my hand cramps up and 3) it's quicker and it's easy for me to edit and check the spelling. However, there's a dark side to this high tech method as I had a zine reviewed in ZW and the reviewer took me to task about leaning too much on the spell check.

Nothing's perfect, so you just gotta deal with it.

Don-O