<< Why is it that short story writers are not considered to be 'real writers' by the public at large? >>
I suspect they're not so much dismissing short fiction as unaware that there's a short fiction market still out there. They assume most writers write novels, which - in publication terms - is true.
<< What are the advantages, o ye who are fountain pen mavens? What are the disadvantages? >>
I'm a fountain pen nut on a ludicrously grand scale (by which I mean a collection worth serious money, with pens dating back to the 1890s) but I keep them for making notes. (I never use a ballpoint, rollerball or anything other than a real nib.) I couldn't write 500K words a year longhand, and I certainly wouldn't have the patience or time to revise in longhand, and then type the final version out from scratch. I'm the queen of cut and paste. Plus I need to see the words in neutral type and not in my own handwriting in order to take them seriously.
In the other camp, I have chums who avoid the keyboard because they feel it encourages verbal diarrhoea. They believe the slower process of handwriting helps you edit as you go.
I still love my pens and I have eight in use on my desk at the moment. A 1910 eyedropper with a flexible nib to die for, a Mottishawed (custom nib) Omas Paragon, a dinky MB with an oblique nib, an italic Parker 51...ahhhh. I promise to stop now before I get on to the topic of ink. Ferro-gallate or modern formula? Sigh...neep...neep...
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I suspect they're not so much dismissing short fiction as unaware that there's a short fiction market still out there. They assume most writers write novels, which - in publication terms - is true.
<< What are the advantages, o ye who are fountain pen mavens? What are the disadvantages? >>
I'm a fountain pen nut on a ludicrously grand scale (by which I mean a collection worth serious money, with pens dating back to the 1890s) but I keep them for making notes. (I never use a ballpoint, rollerball or anything other than a real nib.) I couldn't write 500K words a year longhand, and I certainly wouldn't have the patience or time to revise in longhand, and then type the final version out from scratch. I'm the queen of cut and paste. Plus I need to see the words in neutral type and not in my own handwriting in order to take them seriously.
In the other camp, I have chums who avoid the keyboard because they feel it encourages verbal diarrhoea. They believe the slower process of handwriting helps you edit as you go.
I still love my pens and I have eight in use on my desk at the moment. A 1910 eyedropper with a flexible nib to die for, a Mottishawed (custom nib) Omas Paragon, a dinky MB with an oblique nib, an italic Parker 51...ahhhh. I promise to stop now before I get on to the topic of ink. Ferro-gallate or modern formula? Sigh...neep...neep...