A method and apparatus for reducing the effects of electrostatic charge repulsion and aerodynamic drag on a stream of ink drops in an ink jet printer. This reduction is accomplished by the non-sequential printing of the ink drops as they issue from the nozzle, i.e., drops issuing sequentially from the nozzle are never printed adjacent to one another. This maximizes the inflight distance between successive ink drops, reducing drop interaction. The slight misalignment in the printing which results from the non-sequential printing may be corrected by either displacing the deflection plates a sufficient angle with respect to the print line or by a corrective signal added to the signal input so that the desired slant results with the non-sequential printing.