I couldn't agree with you more, Michael. I considerr myself a pretty serious reader, but have read very little Jose Saramago and no other no-paraagraph-break novels for precisely this reason. I can't be bothered to read lumps of 1,000-word flash either. I look at such novels/pieces and feel thoroughly claustrophobic. There's far more to read than I'll ever get round to, and I'm happy to read stuff that's 'difficult' in other ways, I'm just not prepared to wade through that sort of stuff.
The punctuation issues you raise are a bit different. I don't mind quotations marks being dispensed with if who's speaking, etc. is made clear in other ways (and not because I'm a fan of Sally Rooney).
So glad to see I'm not alone in this. Love to be challenged emotionally by my reading, not physically. I agree about the quotation marks. I personally don't mind the lack of them in certain works, when done well, but when it's done poorly it can definitely lead to some truly awful reading. I've personally never written without them, coming from a screenwriting background I had clarity and readability ingrained in me, but I do want to experiment with it. Do you think there are certain emotions/moods that are enhanced by ditching quotation marks, or is it more of an aesthetic choice by the authors?
Having read a lot of stuff without quotation marks, I now ALMOST see them as clutter sometimes and dialogue without them as 'cleaner'. Having used those single quotation marks there, I'll also say that they're 'cleaner' than double ones.
I don't think certain moods/emotions are enhanced by ditching quotation marks. I suspect the choice is usually aesthetic - and a question of fashion. Punctuation conventions do change, as do grammar, spelling and pronunciation. I wonder where quotation marks will be in 50 years.
Another fashion change is past tense to present tense. It annoys me, but I'm a fuddy duddy, and I know it adds immediacy. What I HATE and refuse to accept is historians blathering about long-past events in present tense on NPR..
Elizabeth! I CANNOT STAND historians' use of the present tense either. I first encountered it in French - I think the French have been at it for quite a while - and that's fine (it annoys me in French too, but it's not my language so ...). But English-speaking historians have only started doing so in the last 20 or 30 years. And they ALL do it now!
In fiction and CNF, it doesn't bother me, though I might baulk at a whole book in the present tense,
As an editor who reads a lot of submissions, I can absolutely say that formatting and white space matter. Some of it is that not following guidelines automatically puts doubt in the reading editor's mind (and you don't want to lead with doubt), but it's honestly mostly mechanical, and down to the eyes' abilities to parse and latch onto type while reading a high volume of prose. I will absolutely give my best attempt at reading fairly, regardless of formatting, but tightly packed prose puts work at a disadvantage from the get-go.
An insightful post. Applies to many things literary. For instance, our nation's leading literary critics, whose job is to announce the glories of our art form, engage in 10,000-word think pieces which invariably open with extra-long paragraphs of jargon-filled verbiage. The casual reader (me) takes one glance at these tomes and dismisses them. Especially when they come with the inevitable paywall.
I'm talking about all the leading literary journals whose job is to get the public-- or somebody-- excited about literature, New York Review of Books, Granta, etc., to, increasingly, the Substack articles written by these folks. They forget that they're no longer Phd candidates, and are no longer writing for professors!
Yes! You nailed it! Writing about writing is often so dense you lose track of the point. Could be a whole other article! It reminds me of that Hemingway quote about William Faulkner. "Poor Faulkner. Does he really think big emotions come from big words? He thinks I don’t know the ten-dollar words. I know them all right. But there are older and simpler and better words, and those are the ones I use."
Very insightful. I love thinking of the spacing as adding to the rhythm of the writing. I think I've done a bit of this inadvertently, but will add intentional use of white space to my writing. Thanks.
I never thought of this. I just obediently sent off my stories double spaced with boring font and several months later they came back to me. I'm about to do my regular submitting spree (not as much fun as the word implies) and will check out the spacing and see where I might lighten the load a bit. Thank you.
The effect of white space varies with the delivery medium. You can get away with much longer paragraphs and less white space in a printed book than online.
Agents often ask for double spaced lines. That vitiates the use of white space: a double spaced paragraph made up of two short sentences followed by white space (in effect, four blank lines) and you’re almost at the bottom of the page already.
Sometimes, a writer has to follow the playbook of great orators. Classic stories have an undeniable rhythm to them, anchored in the pause for breath. That’s what white space provides. If the images are too dense the reader becomes overwhelmed and gives up in frustration.
Yes, all of this! I use this argument to simply get writing students to use paragraphs! They tend to cram everything together on a page, with nary an indentation. I point out how weary a reader gets just reading line after line ad infinitum.
I loved your article on white space. An editor once kindly took the time to re-do one of my poems to explain the advantages of white space. Many editors are truly kind and helpful. Karan is like that. He is truly a fine, compassionate, and helpful editor.
I think the use of spacing, whether spreading, indenting, newlining or condensing, is essential to a story. For me the form of a piece is a part of the story, not just the words being the whole story, and not just the form being a helpful accoutrement. They go hand in hand for the final whole.
I couldn't agree with you more, Michael. I considerr myself a pretty serious reader, but have read very little Jose Saramago and no other no-paraagraph-break novels for precisely this reason. I can't be bothered to read lumps of 1,000-word flash either. I look at such novels/pieces and feel thoroughly claustrophobic. There's far more to read than I'll ever get round to, and I'm happy to read stuff that's 'difficult' in other ways, I'm just not prepared to wade through that sort of stuff.
The punctuation issues you raise are a bit different. I don't mind quotations marks being dispensed with if who's speaking, etc. is made clear in other ways (and not because I'm a fan of Sally Rooney).
So glad to see I'm not alone in this. Love to be challenged emotionally by my reading, not physically. I agree about the quotation marks. I personally don't mind the lack of them in certain works, when done well, but when it's done poorly it can definitely lead to some truly awful reading. I've personally never written without them, coming from a screenwriting background I had clarity and readability ingrained in me, but I do want to experiment with it. Do you think there are certain emotions/moods that are enhanced by ditching quotation marks, or is it more of an aesthetic choice by the authors?
Having read a lot of stuff without quotation marks, I now ALMOST see them as clutter sometimes and dialogue without them as 'cleaner'. Having used those single quotation marks there, I'll also say that they're 'cleaner' than double ones.
I don't think certain moods/emotions are enhanced by ditching quotation marks. I suspect the choice is usually aesthetic - and a question of fashion. Punctuation conventions do change, as do grammar, spelling and pronunciation. I wonder where quotation marks will be in 50 years.
Another fashion change is past tense to present tense. It annoys me, but I'm a fuddy duddy, and I know it adds immediacy. What I HATE and refuse to accept is historians blathering about long-past events in present tense on NPR..
Oh agree totally
Elizabeth! I CANNOT STAND historians' use of the present tense either. I first encountered it in French - I think the French have been at it for quite a while - and that's fine (it annoys me in French too, but it's not my language so ...). But English-speaking historians have only started doing so in the last 20 or 30 years. And they ALL do it now!
In fiction and CNF, it doesn't bother me, though I might baulk at a whole book in the present tense,
As an editor who reads a lot of submissions, I can absolutely say that formatting and white space matter. Some of it is that not following guidelines automatically puts doubt in the reading editor's mind (and you don't want to lead with doubt), but it's honestly mostly mechanical, and down to the eyes' abilities to parse and latch onto type while reading a high volume of prose. I will absolutely give my best attempt at reading fairly, regardless of formatting, but tightly packed prose puts work at a disadvantage from the get-go.
An insightful post. Applies to many things literary. For instance, our nation's leading literary critics, whose job is to announce the glories of our art form, engage in 10,000-word think pieces which invariably open with extra-long paragraphs of jargon-filled verbiage. The casual reader (me) takes one glance at these tomes and dismisses them. Especially when they come with the inevitable paywall.
I'm talking about all the leading literary journals whose job is to get the public-- or somebody-- excited about literature, New York Review of Books, Granta, etc., to, increasingly, the Substack articles written by these folks. They forget that they're no longer Phd candidates, and are no longer writing for professors!
Yes! You nailed it! Writing about writing is often so dense you lose track of the point. Could be a whole other article! It reminds me of that Hemingway quote about William Faulkner. "Poor Faulkner. Does he really think big emotions come from big words? He thinks I don’t know the ten-dollar words. I know them all right. But there are older and simpler and better words, and those are the ones I use."
Very insightful. I love thinking of the spacing as adding to the rhythm of the writing. I think I've done a bit of this inadvertently, but will add intentional use of white space to my writing. Thanks.
I never thought of this. I just obediently sent off my stories double spaced with boring font and several months later they came back to me. I'm about to do my regular submitting spree (not as much fun as the word implies) and will check out the spacing and see where I might lighten the load a bit. Thank you.
It's a very fun edit! You'll be surprised at how much a difference a few spaces can make.
👌. Thank you.
Thanks for reading!
Such an interesting column!
Thank you! I'm so happy you enjoyed it.
Great advice!! Thanks for sharing! 😎✨💫✨
Thank you!!
The effect of white space varies with the delivery medium. You can get away with much longer paragraphs and less white space in a printed book than online.
Agents often ask for double spaced lines. That vitiates the use of white space: a double spaced paragraph made up of two short sentences followed by white space (in effect, four blank lines) and you’re almost at the bottom of the page already.
I’m so glad when agents accept 1.5 line spacing.
Sometimes, a writer has to follow the playbook of great orators. Classic stories have an undeniable rhythm to them, anchored in the pause for breath. That’s what white space provides. If the images are too dense the reader becomes overwhelmed and gives up in frustration.
Yes, all of this! I use this argument to simply get writing students to use paragraphs! They tend to cram everything together on a page, with nary an indentation. I point out how weary a reader gets just reading line after line ad infinitum.
I loved your article on white space. An editor once kindly took the time to re-do one of my poems to explain the advantages of white space. Many editors are truly kind and helpful. Karan is like that. He is truly a fine, compassionate, and helpful editor.
I think the use of spacing, whether spreading, indenting, newlining or condensing, is essential to a story. For me the form of a piece is a part of the story, not just the words being the whole story, and not just the form being a helpful accoutrement. They go hand in hand for the final whole.
You may have just saved a story I've been working on for years. Thanks!
Wow! That is amazing to hear. If you don't mind me asking, what clicked for you after reading this?