1. A method for identifying characters in a handwritten input on a touch-sensitive device, the method comprising: establishing an anchor point on the touch-sensitive device; establishing reference support lines, wherein the reference support lines include first and second reference support lines, wherein the reference support lines are associated with a reference angle around the anchor point, wherein a first reference distance separates the anchor point and a point of the first reference support line proximate to the anchor point, and a second reference distance separates the anchor point and a point of the second reference support line proximate to the anchor point; receiving a handwritten user input via the touch-sensitive device; estimating candidate support lines for each candidate character in a set of candidate characters, wherein each candidate support line is associated with a candidate angle around the anchor point, wherein the candidate support lines for each candidate character include a first candidate support line and a second candidate support line, and wherein a first candidate distance separates the anchor point and a point of the first candidate support line proximate to the anchor point, and a second candidate distance separates the anchor point and a point of the second candidate support line proximate to the anchor point; for each candidate character, determining a deviation of the handwritten user input from the candidate character, wherein the deviation is based at least in part on: an angle deviation based at least in part on a difference between the candidate angle associated with the candidate character and the reference angle, a scale deviation determined based at least in part on a comparison between a difference of the first reference distance and the second reference distance and a difference of the first candidate distance and the second candidate distance, a position deviation determined based at least in part on a difference between the first reference distance and the first candidate difference, or a combination thereof; ranking the candidate characters based at least in part on respective deviations for the candidate character; and identifying a best-ranked candidate character based at least in part on a smallest deviation.