the colour experiment thing below (or in the previous entry) looked better on a white background, i assure you.
i picked up a new livejournal tool a couple of days back, so i have a few extra things to play around with. colour, putting lines in thing, fonts, stuff i didn't have before. i'm sure the result will be fascinating for you all. well, theone two of you that read this.
it's the fiction taboo to play with colours and fonts, which is a bit short sighted i find. sometimes i think fiction writers can be some of the most unimaginative people. yes, i did just want to use the smaller font, but it's still true. page usage can make a difference in a series of different and visual ways, and it's been used well in a number of books--the house of leaves being the first that jumps to my mind, but it's by no means a unique and singular thing in the publishing world. still, it surprises me that more page space techniques are not used, especially with fonts. in a novel that is supposedly written in handwriting, why not use a handwriting font? i'm sure there are reasons for this, but it just strikes me as a shame that it's not done moreso.
my thesis slash novel a walking tour in the dreaming city is font happy. it contains nineteen different narratives, and fifteen of these are in first person, and each of them is presented in a different font. i think it aids in the creation of a first person narrative voice, though i am sure people will disagree, and say that they find it intrusive, which is also the point. i guess in the end i'll discover how successful it is, but right now, i think it works nicely, and the feedback i've gotten on the draft i have has been positive in that draft like fashion. read: nothing has been born deformed.
anyhow, with the post earlier, it looked much more acceptable on white in the preview section. live and learn, hey?
i picked up a new livejournal tool a couple of days back, so i have a few extra things to play around with. colour, putting lines in thing, fonts, stuff i didn't have before. i'm sure the result will be fascinating for you all. well, the
it's the fiction taboo to play with colours and fonts, which is a bit short sighted i find. sometimes i think fiction writers can be some of the most unimaginative people. yes, i did just want to use the smaller font, but it's still true. page usage can make a difference in a series of different and visual ways, and it's been used well in a number of books--the house of leaves being the first that jumps to my mind, but it's by no means a unique and singular thing in the publishing world. still, it surprises me that more page space techniques are not used, especially with fonts. in a novel that is supposedly written in handwriting, why not use a handwriting font? i'm sure there are reasons for this, but it just strikes me as a shame that it's not done moreso.
my thesis slash novel a walking tour in the dreaming city is font happy. it contains nineteen different narratives, and fifteen of these are in first person, and each of them is presented in a different font. i think it aids in the creation of a first person narrative voice, though i am sure people will disagree, and say that they find it intrusive, which is also the point. i guess in the end i'll discover how successful it is, but right now, i think it works nicely, and the feedback i've gotten on the draft i have has been positive in that draft like fashion. read: nothing has been born deformed.
anyhow, with the post earlier, it looked much more acceptable on white in the preview section. live and learn, hey?
- Notes:Grandaddy - Am180
Comments
That sort of stuff isn't very interesting to me. But then, I'm a non-visual person, and that affects a lot of things. It's just a different take on the world. I do like the occasional hand-written note, use of type-writer font and such, in moderation (Stephen King does this semi-regularly).
Otherwise... well, I don't really have much to say for or against. Just not my thing.
it'll probably never take off anyhow :)
But I think it's something that would take a deft touch and artistic eye to pull off well. I'd find it annoying if done for the sake of being clever.
I think such device can help the reader navigate through a text, especially one with multiple narrative threads.
But yeah, I've read a few books where the font gets switched up, and the aforementioned Stephen King comes to mind. I imagine you'd have to be a fairly established writer to convince the printers that your book was worth it, though.
shame about house of leaves. i found that it moved pretty quickly--but taste is taste, and there's no arguing with it after a while.
Dammit, there's a memory of red printing taunting me. Can't nail it down.
Your thesis sounds fascinating, though. Care to share a smidgeon?
anyhow, send me an email at benpeek at livejournal dot com (hopefully that'll work) and i'll email you the rtf of it, if you want. you'll have to deal with the pre-edited stage of the manuscript, though, but if you're curious, feel free.
And I would be pleased as punch to buy the first hardback you are in. Let me know when it's on sale.
i've seen clever font manipulation work for pieces of poetry and illustrated stories. colour-coding dialogue makes sense to me(instead of "Said JAne" after every second line). it's standard practice in almost every magazine on the shelf, especialy where interviews are concerned - why not in "serious" literature?
the handwriting font makes sense for a handwritten section of text i agree. i've seen italics used in place of script. but i think the main reason for this is that there is a miniscule and subtle perfection behind the size and shape of certain type-faces that make them easier to read than others i would imagine several thousand words in mock-hand-writing would get the better of me after a while, especially if the font was modelled on say my doctors hand. i'm pretty sure Leonardo Davinci designed a couple of fonts based on the Golden Section or Divine Proprtion. there is a mathematical balance with the spacing between each letter etc... ok you asked for it... there are 3 differnt species of type face 1) decorative (handscript,wingdings, plump, etc) 2) serif - a latin word meaning "with teeth" 3)san-serif (without teeth). up untill not so long ago the fanged variety of font didn't exist - that is untill this one guy was havung trouble reading the News paper on the train. he discovered that the train wobbled side-to-side and if there were little "teeth" at the top and bottom of each letter, it gives your eye something to follow. his font was called Times New Roman and hasn't changed since then.
sorry, got a bit carried away there (my brain is so full of useless information like this).