What Famous Authors Prefer

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22867, 23 October 1937, Page 6 (Supplement)

What Famous Authors Prefer

Pens v. Typewriters

rpHIS is the day of the typewriter, but surprisingly few novelists caro to use one when setting down their stories, though all of them, of course, arrange to have the final drafts typed. Lan Hay uses neither pen nor typewriter, '.preferring a soft pencil. Mary Borden is also a pencil-user; she dislikes dipping pens in ink or filling foun-tain-pens, so she always works with a box of pencils at her hide. Gilbert Frankau cannot use a typewriter, and believes he is too old to learn. Marjorie Bowen writes in longhand, but also has a dictaphone for some types of work. Storm Jameson and A. A. Milne use pens because they find this matches the speed of their thoughts, and they do not like the clatter of a typewriter. Among others who express disdain for the machine are Compton Mackenzie, Sheila KayeSmith, A. E. W. Mason, Dorothy L. Savers', and Rafael Sabatini. There are a few admirers of the typewriter. Ruby Ayres uses one because it is quicker and easier to correct. Agatha Christie expresses herself more easily on the typewriter, and admits that, if she were to write bv hand, her Becretan; would not be able to read a word. J. B. Priestley trained himself years ago to work directly on to a typewriter, because he likes to have a clear picture of what he has written.