It all started when I was looking for a more substantial pen in general. I've always written with a Pilot V hi-tecpoint or some other roller ball like that and found the styling lacking and most of all hated the wasteful nature of plastic pens. The idea of refillable fountain pens was great, and the ones being made today are not like the leaky ones of the past.
So just searching around I landed on a pen store like Goulet Pens, STYLO, Wonderpens, Nibs.com etc and the Reddit community. Theres a ton out there. The big challenge though is that you can get sucked in really fast. The entire experience can become more about the pens than the actual writing and using of the pens. Nathan Tardiff (prolific founder of ink making company Doodlers Inks) is religious about this.
I would recommend studying your writing style a little bit first and understanding your main use cases. Do you need a pen for school? Do you write left handed? Do you want something to show off? Do you lose pens often? Do you travel a lot? How do you currently hold your pens? All of these questions will impact the pen(s) you should purchase and use. I use plural because you might need two pens for different colours, or for inks with different properties like an "eternal" ink that will never fade or a "fancy" colour.
For example if you're a student and write a lot for school you may consider the Lamy Safari line or Pilot Metro. They're not terribly expensive and you can get them in different colours and designs. That being said the Safari has a very specific section (the middle part where you hold a pen) that you may or may not like because it forces your hand into a traditional triangle pattern.
If you're looking for a status symbol you can't go wrong with a Montblanc - now there's a caveat here, most reddit forum types hate on Montblancs because they're expensive for what you seemingly get. However, I'll be honest I have numerous pens spanning all sorts of European, American and Japanese brands and the ones that consistently write all the time without hassle are my Montblancs. Not to mention the lifetime of the pen warranty. If you want different and unique and a piece of art, there's that too. I have a bunch Omas pens that are no longer made (Omas went out of business a couple years ago now) and they're like beautiful inspiring pieces of art between your fingers (now difficult to find and purchase and when you do expensive as heck).
There really is something for everyone but be careful it's easy to blow a budget here. The one thing I don't recommend is starting with cheap brands like Jinhao or HERO. You may have a poor experience the first time if these brands are your first and it will certainly colour your experience.
Sorry for the rambling note. Hope this helps and enjoy the journey!
So just searching around I landed on a pen store like Goulet Pens, STYLO, Wonderpens, Nibs.com etc and the Reddit community. Theres a ton out there. The big challenge though is that you can get sucked in really fast. The entire experience can become more about the pens than the actual writing and using of the pens. Nathan Tardiff (prolific founder of ink making company Doodlers Inks) is religious about this.
I would recommend studying your writing style a little bit first and understanding your main use cases. Do you need a pen for school? Do you write left handed? Do you want something to show off? Do you lose pens often? Do you travel a lot? How do you currently hold your pens? All of these questions will impact the pen(s) you should purchase and use. I use plural because you might need two pens for different colours, or for inks with different properties like an "eternal" ink that will never fade or a "fancy" colour.
For example if you're a student and write a lot for school you may consider the Lamy Safari line or Pilot Metro. They're not terribly expensive and you can get them in different colours and designs. That being said the Safari has a very specific section (the middle part where you hold a pen) that you may or may not like because it forces your hand into a traditional triangle pattern.
If you're looking for a status symbol you can't go wrong with a Montblanc - now there's a caveat here, most reddit forum types hate on Montblancs because they're expensive for what you seemingly get. However, I'll be honest I have numerous pens spanning all sorts of European, American and Japanese brands and the ones that consistently write all the time without hassle are my Montblancs. Not to mention the lifetime of the pen warranty. If you want different and unique and a piece of art, there's that too. I have a bunch Omas pens that are no longer made (Omas went out of business a couple years ago now) and they're like beautiful inspiring pieces of art between your fingers (now difficult to find and purchase and when you do expensive as heck).
There really is something for everyone but be careful it's easy to blow a budget here. The one thing I don't recommend is starting with cheap brands like Jinhao or HERO. You may have a poor experience the first time if these brands are your first and it will certainly colour your experience.
Sorry for the rambling note. Hope this helps and enjoy the journey!