Everyone wants to write faster, but it’s hard to increase the speed of your handwriting without also decreasing the legibility. This lesson covers some simple ways to increase the speed of your writing while maintaining a legible script.
I made a follow-up video to the one above where I actually put these ideas into practice and show the different they make in writing speed.
Lesson Summary
- Smaller writing takes less time to write. It is pretty easy simply write smaller and it can result in major gains in speed. Pro tip: use a finer pen to maintain legibility.
- Write more vertically, or reduce the slant of your writing. An overly slanted script actually has longer forms and you spend more time moving the pen to the left on downstrokes. A vertical hand keeps the pen moving to the right – no unnecessary movements to the left on downstrokes (you’re coming straight down instead). Writing vertically will feel strange if you aren’t used to it, but it becomes comfortable pretty quickly.
- Simplify the letter forms in your script. This requires a little more thought and practice to come up with simpler forms and then put them into practice (old habits die hard). In the video I give a few examples of things you can eliminate from a standard cursive hand that will simplify your script significantly.
- If you put the above into practice, you will automatically start writing faster without any significant loss of legibility. It does take a little bit of practice to implement these ideas, but I can’t think of a more practical and valuable script to add to your handwriting arsenal than a simple, fast hand.
Exercise
- See how small you can write while maintaining legibility. It might help to use an extra fine pen or “ultra” fine pen.
- If you write an overly slanted hand, try reducing the slant of your writing. This changes the angles of your pen strokes, so it will feel a little strange. Changing the angle of your paper might help, but it’s not a magic bullet. You’ll need to spend a little time practicing your vertical hand before it is comfortable.
- Write multiple lines of “the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog” as fast as you can. Then analyze your letter forms. Where can you simplify a form that will make it easier to write without sacrificing legibility? Are there any unnecessary strokes that are taking extra time to write? Can you eliminate loops in your writing? Can you cross your t’s as you go or omit dotting i’s?
Looking for an exemplar for a simplified script? Here’s one published by the Zaner-Bloser company back that is quite nice!
