Writing Journal #1: Fontsplosion

So I'm going to occasionally post about my writing life here, from short stories to (slowly) working on a novel to issues related to writing for a fiction blog.

I've been doing a lot of weekly challenges, prompts, link-ups, that sort of thing, and it's been very helpful in getting me to write more, to write better, to write about things that wouldn't normally have occurred to me. And, as I've been participating, I've been reading the entries submitted by other authors. The range of quality in the writing itself is about what one would expect: from clear beginners who I suspect don't read all that much much less write, to seasoned writers who really should be (and perhaps even are) already published.

I'm not going to talk about writing quality here. Today's post is about presentation. In short: sort out your font. And your spacing. And your color scheme.

When I was younger I imagined that I was going to be a composer. I wrote music by hand. I copied parts (for myself and for others). I even took a music calligraphy class. I've brought music in (or written out music on-the-fly) for just about every ensemble I've ever played with. Much of that music was handed to players on the bandstand at a gig. Let me tell you the one major lesson I learned in all that time:

Anything that makes it harder for the player to sight-read your part should be done away with.

Substitute 'reader' for player and 'story' for part, and you'll have my advice for bloggers, especially fiction bloggers.

It's very easy to turn off a reader who has chosen to give your writing a chance, out of all the thousands upon thousands of writers/bloggers on the internet. Why put unnecessary roadblocks in front of them with fonts and colors that belong best on flyers for company parties and middle-school take-home worksheets? If the reader is thinking about the font while trying to get through your story, you've already lost them. If the reader is wondering why the words are multi-colored and the paragraphs are center-justified, you've already lost them. If the font is too small, and they have to strain to see it, you've already lost them. If the font is too big, and they feel like they're looking at a billboard from three feet away, you've already lost them

Now, if your writing is truly, unquestionably excellent, you might very well win them back. But why risk it?

I understand everyone wants to individuate, to stand out, to sparkle and foam in a becalmed sea of wordpress installs and blogger templates. Do it with the quality of your writing.