Draft in Comic Sans!!! … I can’t believe I just typed that.

Never has there been a more hated font than Comic Sans.
If you dare to ever post an image or a meme with the font, you will immediately draw scorn from people you don’t even know who seem to be on the look out for this typeset which offends them so.

I’ll be honest, I’ve never minded the font. I guess I missed the initial conversation on a yahoo message board or AOL chat room where everyone decided to hate it… but I absolutely will never use Comic Sans in anything after the bullying I received after ignorantly using it a few times.

Well- let me clarify. I will never use Comic Sans in anything that I will show another person.

You see, I’ve learned something in the last few years while drafting books… and it’s one of the most remarkable magic tricks I’ve ever seen.

DRAFT. YOUR. MANUSCRIPT. IN. COMIC SANS.

My buddy Skylar was having an issue earlier this week and posted about how he kept editing previous sentences and that was slowing down his writing. My suggestion, was the Comic Sans trick.
Switch your drafting font to Comic Sans and go to town!

You may be questioning why? It’s a valid question.
There are multiple theories on why Comic Sans increases productivity when writing, and you can spend all day reading articles, blog posts, and actual SCIENTIFIC STUDIES on it.. but I’ll summarize for you:

Some say Comic Sans feels more playful… which means you don’t take your writing as seriously, which is a GOOD THING. It lets you, the writer, be free and just type away, maybe make some mistakes… it doesn’t matter.. you’re typing in a joke font anyway. WHICH IS THE POINT. As a writer, drafting, your goal is to just get words down- clean that stuff up later.Another theory is that Comic Sans isn’t as easily read through your periphery. Your eyes, for one reason or the other, focus more on what you’re actually typing instead of the previous words or previous sentence- while that isn’t always the case with other fonts (science… weird).Some think that it’s simply because it’s a change, and when you have either writer’s block or distractions, making one small, but impactful change can alter your writing. Which, I mean, even if that’s true, that doesn’t make this a bad thing.

I remember being skeptical, and when I tried it, I was floored. That was one of the most productive writing sessions I had in a LONG time. So really, I say everyone should give it a shot. Whether you’re having writing issues or not, just try it- maybe it will be magic for you like it was for me and so many others.

Caution: Don’t make the mistake I did though in getting absolutely comfortable with the font. I got to the point where I didn’t even notice it any more and when it was time to query an agent I sent them three chapters in Comic Sans.

…. they didn’t bother to reply- and I don’t blame them.