"hand writting" a question about format.

[The Blue Lotus]

As the header states this is a formatting issue as well as a style question. Allow me to explain.

I have several hand written notes between my charaters and in the RD I gave them all their own font "handwritting." The betta readers have said they like this, but my mentor said it is crap.
Who would you listen to?

My mentor has been a professional editor for some 30 years, but the readers went fruit- loopy for this style.
it this just an example of how things are changing in the industry should I change it so that everything has the same font/size

 

[Johnny Cosmo]

I think consistency is preferable. It will likely look unprofessional if you have a variety of font styles.

 

[Hëradïn]

the way I've seen it, notes, letters, etc, in a story have been indented (twice if it is the first line) and then put in italics.

 

[Ravana]

No editor will accept it for publication in that form... not unless you're publishing it as an art book. (And I'm guessing you probably aren't Nick Bantock in disguise. ) If you want an editor to read it, you're going to have to put it all in one font; otherwise, as soon as he gets to the first change (assuming he reads it that far), he's going to circular-file it. You might add an explanatory note concerning your idea, but print publishers will tell you to forget it--at least until you have a well-established publishing history. An electronic publisher might consider the possibility; even they will want to be able to read the manuscript sans embellishments first. So unless you're going to self-pub, follow submission guidelines. They're there for a reason.

 

[Lord Darkstorm]

Simply put, we write, others publish. The font we use to submit, may not be the one it is printed in. Nice looking fonts while making a reader happy, will not do the same for the publisher. Just imagine a purple house (I've seen a few on tv), and think about whether or not it's uniqueness would be something you would want to live next too. Many people have grand ideas on what looks good, some do a great job of it....more do not.

Any editor has only one thing they are concerned with when it comes to your submission...how to reject it as fast as possible so they can get to the next one. Putting it in the correct font they specify, as well as conforming to all the specifications they make, will give them one less reason to send you a form rejection without even bothering to read the story. If you think it sounds cruel, go do an image search for slush pile. Look at the stacks and stacks of people who have submitted stories to them. The shear volume is intimidating.

Most books that contain a letter have been left indented an extra tab, and on occasion, the right margin taken in as well. For you, me, most of us, the left justification will be fine.

 

[EParadise]

Dont you find it time consuming to stop and change the font and keep them all sorted? Fun and creative to look at? Yes. But also a distraction from the true point of writing in my opinion.

 

[Emeria]

The only book I've seen this done in (and published that way) was a book for teenage girls. I do not suggest it. Too much formatting distracts from the writing itself and can even make it difficult, if not impossible, for other people to read. (This is why a lot of the online forum RP sites have restrictions on formatting the text on posts.) While you are writing and doing your own editing, go ahead and do whatever you want with your font (personally, I like using fonts that others have a hard time reading... it discourages people from looking over my shoulder when I write), but anything sent to an editor should be in standard formatting. Teachers in school require standard formatting in papers for a reason and so do the editors and publishers.

 

[Kelise]

It won't ever look like someone is writing or has a style if it's just a font picked that anyone could use. If it's not going to believable then there's no point

Less distracting if the book is just plain text, and much more professional.

 

[mythique890]

Well, no one seems to think this is a good idea, but I've seen it done in several books. Maybe when you're submitting the manuscript, keep it all uniform. If it gets accepted, you can always suggest the idea to your publisher. It may depend on your audience.