This is a fun place to chat about fountain pens and writing in general.
Any tips on how to get started?
I usually use a felt tipped pen (like the Sharpie Fine), but would love to learn to use a fountain pen!
Where did you start? Any tips? What would you recommend for someone who's curious, but not ready to go all in?



I would recommend buying a cheap fountain pen, like a Pilot Kakuno or Pilot Metropolitan, and giving it a whirl. Some ink samples (you can buy them from Goulet Pens) would allow for some variety without breaking the bank, too.
Welcome to the wonderful world of fountain pens!
I started with a Platinum Preppy with a bottle of Noodler's ink and it was all downill from there!
I would highly reccomend the Pilot Varsity or the Preppy to start with, but not the Noodler's ink. The Varsity is great because it comes prefilled like a regular pen and it's about as simple as a regular pen as well. The downside is that it's far more difficult to refill once you're finished using it (hence the "disposable" part). The Preppy is about as cheap as the Varsity, but for another $7.50, you can find a bottle of wonderful color to write with. Note that you may need to purchase a blunted syringe or an eyedropper to fill the Preppy.
If you're willing to spend a bit more, the Lamy Safari or the Pilot Metropolitan are good starting choices.
I personally reccomend sampling the playing field and setting aside ~$100 to start off. You can get a Metro and a Safari in different nib sizes, two bottles of ink, and another cheap pen like the Muji with a blunted syringe, and a nice notepad.
Anything else I can help with?
-Nibs.Ink
Where are you? The readily available options differ depending on where you're based. I know that in Europe (I'm in the UK) there are a lot of decent pens available really cheaply. Someone has mentioned setting aside $100, but I think that must sound like a pretty intimidating and offputting amount of money to someone just looking to buy a pen, so don't worry about that. You can easily get everything you'll need to write for years for £10 or less.
Highly recommend checking out brands like Baoer or Jinhao on eBay or aliexpress.com. Those pens are really really good for the money. You can get ink cartridges instead of bottled ink to start which is easier and more practical until you get to grips with them.
Some awesome Youtube channels for reviews and amazing info are:
The Pen Habit: https://www.youtube.com/user/PenHabit
and SBRE brown: https://www.youtube.com/user/sbrebrown
Goulet Pens also has some great informative stuff and they're an online shop as well: https://www.youtube.com/user/TheInkNouveau