The Book Case is proud to welcome author (and handwriting analyst!) Sheila Lowe. Here, she examines several handwriting samples from famous authors and demonstrates that telling a person’s profession by their handwriting is easier said than done.
How can you tell a person is an author by their handwriting?
This was the question posed to me when I offered to analyze the handwritings of some of the authors featured in BookPage (and I learned that authors are promised that they won’t, in fact, be subject to analysis!).
As part of my work as a forensic handwriting expert, I’ve studied more than 10,000 handwriting samples from people who work in a wide spectrum of professions and industries, including publishing. Authors like Dean Koontz, Michael Connelly, Anne Perry, and Dominick Dunne are part of my collection. So when BookPage asked me what commonalities there might be in the handwriting of authors, I had plenty of samples to look at.
The fact is, everyone’s handwriting reveals a great deal about their personality, social skills, thinking style, ego strengths, and much more. But it’s not a matter of merely looking at how a person forms their loops or dots their i’s. Handwriting contains thousands of variables, and the experiences the writer has accumulated throughout a lifetime and their response to them creates a distinct pattern in the spatial arrangement of the writing on the page, the way the letters are formed, and the rhythm and movement of the writing.
Emily Dickinson had handwriting that is unusual in its excessive simplification, which reveals a problem with her ego. The extremely wide spaces between letters and words indicate her sense of, and need for, isolation.
Emily Dickinson
Oscar Wilde’s writing pattern is similar to Dickinson’s in that the spacing, though not as extreme. So, we see these two authors had a strong need for personal space that dominated all aspects of their lives.
Oscar Wilde
One of my favorite handwriting samples came in a letter from Dean Koontz, who kindly replied to a letter of mine. In his sample, the letters, words, and lines are quite close together, but not so close that the lower loops fall down and interfere with the next line (which would mean that he had trouble keeping things in their proper place). The writing looks warm and friendly but self-disciplined (the writer whose books have sold more than a half-billion copies would need to be self-disciplined!).
Dean Koonz
Dominick Dunne’s handwriting is highly stylized, indicating someone who is concerned with image. It also has a left slant, which says he doesn’t easily get close to people.
Dominick Dunne
So we can see that despite some common characteristics, these authors have real differences, personality-wise, which makes sense. There is one thing they all have in common, though: their handwritings look nothing like the copybook model they were taught in school, and that means they each possess the characteristics of creativity, artistry, originality.
So coming back to the question, how do you tell who is an author by their handwriting? The answer is, you can’t. Because each person is an individual with their own set of experiences and responses, like fingerprints, every handwriting is unique. There isn’t just one type of author, so there isn’t one type of author handwriting. But if the handwriting is creative, original, and expressive, it might have been done by an author. Or an artist. Or a photographer. Or…well, you get the picture.
Sheila Lowe is the author of the Forensic Handwriting Mysteries series, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Handwriting Analysis, and Handwriting of the Famous & Infamous. Her latest Claudia Rose mystery, Dead Write, is on sale this week.
I think you mean Sheila Lowe. That is a correction I think you should make immediately to the first line in your posting.
Happily, the correction was quickly made.
I enjoyed reading Sheila’s analyses of the different authors. She is an excellent handwriting analyst. I also have read her many books on handwriting analysis which are first rate.
I’ve read all of Sheila Lowe’s Claudia Rose books and thoroughly enjoy the way she makes graphology an important part of her plots. Fascinating! I wish she could show the handwriting of some “living” authors in this blog, say… Dan Brown or Janet Evanovitch. It would have been cool to see a sample of Agatha Christie’s script too. There’s gotta be a clue to their huge success in some of their loops and slants and dots, doesn’t there?
Keep writing and analysing, Sheila!
Thanks, Jackie–the last time I checked, Dean Koontz was still alive
Sorry, I don’t have Dan Brown or Janet Evanovitch’s, but if you have a way to get them, I’ll happily comment. As for loops and slants and dots–no one piece of handwriting is significant by itself. It’s more important to see how everything fits together in the context of the whole writing. A particular characteristic in one writing might mean something different in another writing when surrounded by other stuff. Know what I mean?
Hi Sheila, All,
Sheila, first, seems the mistake is not yet corrected, at least not on my screen….
Another mistake: in your explanation here of what it means to deviate from copybook, the conclusion is missing.
Thanks for showing these interesting samples. I love the simplicity and flowing writings, but as you point out some are too simplified.
In the dark, crowded sample (one before the last), there’s a lot of emotion. Seems too stressed. I can imagine the warmth and the emotions injected in the author’s works. Seems too stressed and perhaps lack of ability to think “outside the box?”
Thanks again for the examination of these hw samples.
All,
Sheila Lowe is a world-famous handwriting analyst and author of several books on Graphology as well as mysteries.
Her Idiot’s Guide of Handwriting Analysis is perhaps the best books for beginning (and advanced) Graphologists. It’s brilliantly written in her fluent, humorous and creative style.
Jacob, that’s for all the lovely compliments. I have to take issue with your comment about the sample you refer to as “dark, crowded.” I don’t think anyone could accuse Dean Koontz of not thinking outside the box! He says in the sample that he’d been working 90 hour weeks, so that should excuse a multitude of sins. (working on getting the missing text added about copybook).
Hi Sheila,
Thanks for resonding. Not meant to accuse, just an observation. There are many good qualities in the writing, especially the strong will power and persistence, and more so in light of the strong pressure.
I don’t know the writer, but was wondering, because that was my impression, with the large size, heavy pressure, narrow letter spacing. Also the regularity, dominating Middle Zone.
But your suggestion is great, paying attention to the content, which can offer valuable clues! Thanks for making aware of it.
Glad you got you name back, Sheila. Had a lovely time at the book launch for Dead Write. Anxious to get started reading.
Thanks, Marilyn. It was great to see you and your daughter. As soon as I get a chance to start reading again, I’ll be looking for one of yours
Meanwhile, I hope you enjoy Dead Write.
Congratulations on your new book
Best wishes on all of your future endeavors.
one of my boss claim that he determine a hand writing that was place on door that the handing writing is mines .since some spelling was not right.And he fine the hand writing on file and the one on the door to be same .how can’t you just determine that like that with expert.
Joel,
Usually an expert is called in to make that kind of determination.
Hello Sheila,
I have been pursuig Graphology for the past 15 years as a hobby (i.e since I was in Grade 7). However, I just came upon a few sites that claimed it to be on the same league as Palm Reading & astrology and not infact applied psychology.
Wiki & Other sites claims it to be a pseudoscience. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphology
http://www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/Tests/grapho.html
http://skepdic.com/graphol.html
Some of the claims are:
1. No certified Medical Doctors / Psychologists practice it
2. Same features in a handwriting have multiple interpretations
3. No known medical journals publish peer reviewed articles on graphology
4. In properly controlled, blind studies, where the handwriting samples contain no content that could provide non-graphological information upon which to base a prediction graphologists do no better than chance at predicting personality traits
and much more….
All this has left me distraught & disillusioned. Your inputs & insight will certainly help me.
Sincerely,
Ani
Ani,
Just because ignorant people make false claims, you don’t need to be discouraged. The Skeptics organization sets up ridiculous tests and then claims the results prove their point. There is a list of peer-reviewed studies on my web site that you are welcome to download, which support the efficacy of graphology.
Perhaps you would like to join the international graphology list that I moderate. If so, contact me privately at sheila@sheilalowe.com
When I came to this post I can only see fifty percent of it, is this my on-line browser or the website? Should I restart?
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I’ve always wanted to have my hand writing analyzed so bad but I have no idea how to get it done or where to go. Loved this post.