Software, firmware, and systems are described for identifying characters in a handwritten input received from a user on an input device, irrespective of an angle that the input is received at. In one implementation, the system establishes an anchor point and distances from the anchor point to reference support lines. A set of candidate characters is identified based on received handwritten input. The system estimates support lines for each of the candidate characters. The system ranks the candidate characters based on a total deviation measurement from the expectation for each candidate, where the expectation in part is based on the established distance from the established anchor point to reference support lines, and identifies a best-ranked candidate based at least in part on a smallest total deviation measurement.