Writing your letters

Write each letter the way you normally write it. Not carefully. Normally.

This is the one thing that decides whether your font feels like you. People instinctively write their best letters for Inkling, and their best letters aren't their real ones — the font comes out looking like a stranger being careful.

The three that matter

Write at your natural size. The writing surface is large so there's room for every hand, but it isn't asking you to fill it. If your writing is small, write small. Inkling measures your letters and sizes the font to match.

Write the letter you're asked for. When the prompt shows A, it wants a capital A — not a lowercase one. Capitals and lowercase are separate letters in a font, and a lowercase 'a' written in the capital's place will show up wherever you type a capital. See Writing the letter we asked for.

Sit the letter on the line. The guide lines mark where the body of your letters sits and how tall they stand. They're a guide, not a box — tails and loops are meant to cross them. See What the guide lines are for.

If a letter comes out wrong

Write it again. There's no penalty and no limit, and it's much easier to fix now than later. You can also rewrite any letter afterwards from the Letters room — Redoing a letter.

When we're not sure

Sometimes a mark is ambiguous and Inkling will say it isn't sure what it read. That's an invitation, not a failure — confirm it or write it again. See When we're not sure about a letter.

Marks and punctuation

Full stops, commas and apostrophes are small and quick, and easy to place carelessly. Write them where they'd fall in a word rather than in the middle of the space — Punctuation and marks.

You can stop any time

Your letters save as you go. A font can be made from what you've written so far, and you can add the rest later.