Quick Answer
The best writer tattoos feature typewriters, quills, literary quotes, and book stacks — here are dozens of ideas sorted by style.
I’ve wanted tattoos on my forearms or hands for a long, long time. I used to say, “I’ll get them done when I never have to consider getting a job or employment.” I passed that mark some time ago (I haven’t been employed for almost 5 years).
But then I just didn’t know what to get. I thought about my brand: “creative” + “indie” but never pulled the trigger. I didn’t want a feather, or a pen, or a typewriter – those are just tools, they don’t have the magic of written language, not to mention the typographic appeal of beautiful fonts.
I’m not sure exactly when it came up, but recently I decided to use the very popular #amwriting hashtag.
It signifies many things to me; it’s part of a broader movement dear to indie authors around the world; writing, publishing and making a lot of money from book sales is basically all I plan to do for the rest of my life.
If you want a deeper analysis of what #amwriting means you should read this article I wrote on Medium in response to another article called “War on #amwriting.”
I’m actually surprised I couldn’t find anybody else out there who had used the hashtag as a tattoo, but it’s a big world, I’m probably not the first.
However in case you are also searching for a fitting tattoo that reflects your author-identity and creative, world-building powers, I’m going to post all the fonts I considered before settling on Phraell.
These are nice typographic fonts you could really use for any tattoo…
Getting Your Writer Tattoo Right
Two things I always tell writers about literary tattoos: first, make absolutely sure the quote is correct. I’ve seen tattoos with misattributed quotes, misspellings, and lines that the author never actually wrote. Google isn’t always right; verify with the actual source text. Second, think about how it reads at arm’s length — if nobody can read your tattoo without leaning in and squinting, the font is too small or too decorative.
If you’re looking for font inspiration beyond what your tattoo artist suggests, our fantasy fonts collection has some beautiful options that look great as tattoo lettering. And if your tattoo is inspired by a character you’ve created, you might enjoy the character generator — not for the tattoo itself, but for developing the character’s story further.
Derek Murphy has a PhD in Literature, is a USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestselling author, and has spent over a decade helping authors write, publish, and sell books through Creativindie. When he’s not critiquing manuscripts or building writing tools, he’s probably in a castle somewhere with cats.
1 Comment
This is a great idea for a tattoo! I love yours. How long did that take to heal? I’d be worried about losing days and not being able to type with one in that location 🙂 Lol
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