Neal Stephenson has written by fountain pen for 25 years — Baroque Cycle manuscript stood 42 inches tall
ashishkr9311 · x · 2026-09-09
While researching a blog post on writing code by hand in the age of agents, StoneTao found that Neal Stephenson doesn't type his books: he's composed in fountain pen on paper for 25 years, and the Baroque Cycle manuscript was a 42-inch stack once displayed at Seattle's Museum of Science Fiction. Stephenson explains handwriting recruits more of the brain, and notes AI has pushed educators back to handwritten blue-book exams — stranding students who never learned to write by hand.
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