New Theme: Penscratch

Penscratch is a fresh, stylish design for sharing your writing.

October 16, 2014

Caroline Moore

Today we have a brand new free theme especially for writers and bloggers!

Penscratch

Penscratch WordPress Theme

Penscratch is a clean, sophisticated theme for sharing your writing. Whether you’re working on an analytical essay, an anthology of poems, or a piece of long-form fiction, Penscratch makes for a pleasant reading and writing experience all around.

Choose between a one- or two-column layout by adding widgets, add links to your favorite social networks, customize your home on the web with a site logo or header image, or add fancy pull quotes throughout your content.

Penscratch is also responsive, ensuring the transition between different devices and screen sizes is flawless for your readers.

Learn more about the free Penscratch theme at the Theme Showcase, or preview it by going to Appearance → Themes.

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62 Comments

Comments are closed.

  1. silverjules Oct 16th at 5:12 pm

    I love this theme! I just started using it and it’s so minimalist and perfect.

    Liked by 8 people

  2. Sammy D. Oct 16th at 5:17 pm

    This looks like an interesting alternative to my current theme. I will explore it once our sunny autumn days turn to gray, cold weather, and I’m hunkered indoors.

    Liked by 5 people

  3. mmsddq Oct 16th at 5:17 pm

    Reblogged this on mmsddq and commented:
    Beautiful.

    Liked by 1 person

  4. JenT Oct 16th at 5:31 pm

    Not just for writers and bloggers. Started using it today on my photography site and really love it. Can we get a full list of the genericons supported in the Social Links menu?

    Liked by 5 people

  5. mjjameson Oct 16th at 5:41 pm

    The cup of raspberries reminds me of that one National song, “I know you’re a serious lady/Living off a teacup full of cherries”…
    This theme strikes me as a bit too dainty. I’ll stick with Singl for now…

    Liked by 4 people

  6. eclecticoddsnsods Oct 16th at 5:45 pm

    Looks like a great theme with clean lines. I am thinking of giving up my paid theme so this might do very well as a replacement x

    Liked by 2 people

  7. sainikbiswas Oct 16th at 6:12 pm

    I just started blogging today and picked this theme. It feels like it is created for writers. Very simple very clean. Loved it.

    Liked by 1 person

  8. Mark Petruska Oct 16th at 6:14 pm

    I was using Syntax and really liked it, but switched to this one because of a few extra features (site logo, background that doesn’t intrude on the comments). One thing: I have set up a social icons menu but nothing is showing up on my blog. Am I missing a step?

    Liked by 1 person

  9. Metal Blade Oct 16th at 6:19 pm

    Please add Gallery Post Format to this beautiful theme 🙂

    Liked by 2 people

  10. timethief Oct 16th at 6:21 pm

    I like minimal themes like this one every much. Being able to select either single column or two column display is a boon, as are adding a site logo, flexible header and social links. Thanks so much for this clean and classy looking theme.

    Liked by 1 person

  11. Christie Oct 16th at 6:30 pm

    I love it!

    Liked by 1 person

  12. arnedehn Oct 16th at 6:44 pm

    Love it

    Liked by 1 person

  13. Radoslav Siderov Oct 16th at 7:23 pm

    Too simple for me. All good themes are premium…

    Liked by 1 person

  14. Sui Oct 16th at 7:28 pm

    Beautiful, I’ll keep it in mind because I’m thinking about making a personal blog.

    Liked by 1 person

  15. tominalbion Oct 16th at 7:35 pm

    It’s really clean! I’m going to try it out tonight and see how it works for my blog 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

  16. minstreltales Oct 16th at 7:43 pm

    Oh this looks like what I’ve been looking for. Definitely checking out. So glad for all these free themes popping up. Thanks WordPress!

    Liked by 1 person

  17. aqilaqamar Oct 16th at 7:57 pm

    Finally! Finally! GOD BLESS Themes for writing! Hurray! Please give more free themes like this for longform writing and poem writing all of us amateur or professional writers need it like a good fix! 😉

    Liked by 1 person

  18. aqilaqamar Oct 16th at 8:06 pm

    One thing though I wish the font size was not too big man can you look into that sorry had to say 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    • Zachary Thor Oct 17th at 12:46 pm

      I have been noticing that with mostly all of the WordPress themes: the fonts are far too large! Sadly, $30 a year for the ability to change the font size is a bit much…

      Liked by 1 person

  19. thesciencegeek Oct 16th at 8:08 pm

    I have had a look on theme showcase and yes I agree it looks a good theme for writers.

    The Science Geek

    Liked by 1 person

  20. deepbellylaugh Oct 16th at 9:06 pm

    Congrats guys – you’re almost at 400 themes!

    Liked by 1 person

  21. skarz Oct 16th at 9:57 pm

    I absolutely love it. I feel like this is the theme I have been searching for!! Thank you guys for this awesome and free theme.

    Liked by 1 person

  22. alienindirtyromania Oct 16th at 10:22 pm

    I wish I have the time and opportunity to read all that people using this theme have to say!

    Liked by 1 person

  23. HipsterApproved.net Oct 17th at 12:34 am

    This looks great. Very ‘hipster’.

    Liked by 1 person

  24. Perse Oct 17th at 12:50 am

    This looked like it would work for writers, and I’m a novelist, so I checked it out. Nice, quaint setup, but I tend to prefer more widget and menu options (and my blog is for more than just writing novels). I also like a widget footer and a header image but unfortunately, I couldn’t get that far with the preview because it was taking forever to load between clicks! I wish I could preview themes more easily, without clicks taking a half hour to register…

    Liked by 1 person

  25. Pati Montero Oct 17th at 1:42 am

    So nice and clean. I love it!

    Liked by 1 person

  26. Aditi Oct 17th at 2:19 am

    This theme is lovely! But could you try to release more free themes with vertical layouts for writers? (like Bushwick, Oslo and Kent?) Thanks

    Liked by 1 person

  27. dyule2014 Oct 17th at 2:30 am

    Thank you for your new theme, Penscratch, Caroline Moore. This is wonderful.

    Liked by 1 person

  28. rcv814 Oct 17th at 7:52 am

    Thank you so much ! I changed from Twenty Fourteen to Penscratch for my new site yesterday after reading this post !! Just perfect and what I wanted. 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    • TicketAndTravelBlog Oct 21st at 1:40 pm

      I did the same thing! This was a little bolder than the twenty fourteen and was exactly what I was looking for!

      Liked by 1 person

      • rcv814 Oct 21st at 4:39 pm

        yes I love it that it suits my content. But today I feel a bit disappointed, with regards to the sidebar. The moment we add widgets to the sidebar, the background colours have no effect and it’s all just one big white screen 😦

        Liked by 1 person

  29. Laura Bloomsbury Oct 17th at 9:38 am

    Very tempted by this one 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

  30. jojogjoy Oct 17th at 10:19 am

    Sounds simple and organized I’ll give it a shot 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

  31. Belindq Oct 17th at 10:47 am

    I like the font and the layout. Most importantly it has the 2 column layout I always use. The recent new themes are mostly 1 column layout which I don’t use.

    Liked by 1 person

  32. Jacqui Thatcher Oct 17th at 11:37 am

    Having played around with other themes, I am so glad about this one – thank you! I love it, it is just right!

    Liked by 1 person

  33. annieblu2014 Oct 17th at 4:40 pm

    Reblogged this on A Beginners Blogger Diary and commented:
    Sleek simplicity!

    Liked by 1 person

  34. indianmacgyver Oct 17th at 7:09 pm

    Hi Caroline,

    Will the Penscratch theme info page have examples of the post formats and the logo feature added? It’s new so don’t mind waiting. Those examples really help me check out themes. Thanks.

    Liked by 1 person

  35. mrst2014 Oct 18th at 2:53 am

    Just started using this theme. I am only two posts in, so still a newbie. But this theme is lovely, clean and clear. Thumbs up 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

  36. dilmilgaya.com Oct 19th at 4:38 am

    I liked it, but would have loved to see more design in the layout than minimalism, perhaps not for me.

    Liked by 1 person

  37. izzycheshire Oct 19th at 1:08 pm

    I’ve just begun a cookery blog and I have chosen this theme. It’s very stylish and perfect for many different types of blogs. I think it’s fantastic!

    Liked by 2 people

  38. Brenda Oct 19th at 5:37 pm

    Hello! First of all thank you for this beautiful theme. I’m very new to WordPress and still clueless about everything. If I may ask, how do you put your social media account so it can show up on the footer? I see that this theme has the feature so I want to use it but don’t know how. Sorry for my bad English!

    Liked by 1 person

  39. romanymouner Oct 19th at 6:04 pm

    Reblogged this on zemoz2 and commented:
    I love this theme! I just started using it and it’s so minimalist and perfect.

    Liked by 1 person

  40. christylim2014 Oct 20th at 6:08 am

    Hi, Caroline! Are you the creator of this theme? I have used Bloggers, Weebly and WordPress for years (different blogs) but this is the first time I’ve fallen in love with a theme. It’s so elegant, beautiful and clean. It’s perfect for my assignment. Whoever it is, thank you very much for creating this theme!! ❤ ❤

    Liked by 1 person

  41. indratama Oct 20th at 10:01 am

    I really love this theme. Good job Caroline. Thumbs up. 😀

    Liked by 1 person

  42. glitterbunnies Oct 20th at 3:05 pm

    Happy fall, haha! This theme is so clean and crisp- I feel like I might use it as my next one.

    Liked by 2 people

  43. admin Oct 21st at 11:31 am

    Who do I thank for the theme? Thank you theme designer && Caroline && Automattic theme team.

    Liked by 1 person

  44. siterinadi Oct 21st at 10:20 pm

    I love this theme; it’s so clean and am using it for my blog. Thanks!

    Liked by 1 person

  45. ethannywrites Oct 23rd at 4:34 am

    I really love this theme! It’s great for writers who just want a minimalistic approach to blogging. I love the emojis as well! 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

  46. BantingLifestyle Oct 23rd at 9:46 am

    It is my third day on WordPress and I’ve also decided to use this theme four our business. I’ve changed my homepage to a static page where people can download our price list and then I have the news page where people can read blog posts or regular updates about our products. What do you think? Thank you Caroline, the clean look is working for us!

    Liked by 2 people

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