Tilting paper and holding writing utensil.

[guitarplayer7694]

Are the Japanese taught to tilt the paper or hold their pen a certain way? I tilt the paper out of habit, but this causes my characters to slant, so I'm wondering if I just need to work on that or if I need to not tilt the paper.

[furrykef]

It's fine to slant your horizontal strokes (but they should slant upward, not downward). You shouldn't slant your vertical strokes, though.

[astaroth]

When I was talking a shodou class I wasn't tilting the paper as it's easier to draw straight vertical lines (the horizontal ones after a while start to slant "naturally" upward or bend a bit).
I never so any professional calligrapher tilting their paper ... this is a demonstration of Inkyo-sensei at the end of one of the classes.

[furrykef]

Yeah, but I think calligraphy is a different matter entirely...

[astaroth]

Uh? I thought the OP was talking about calligraphy ... my bad ...

[guitarplayer7694]

It's fine to slant your horizontal strokes (but they should slant upward, not downward). You shouldn't slant your vertical strokes, though.

Which is exactly what happens my 食 ends up kinda off.