Formatting. When Words Are Pretty.

[Tony]

I think formatting of the written word is often undersold. It's just words on a page (or screen, if you're ebookin' it), so what's the big whoop? It's all about the story, who cares what the words look like?

Two authors have changed my opinion, where they used creative formatting (font type, font size, etc.) to add a dimension to the ordinary look of a novel.

Wintergirls
The Knife of Never Letting Go

Anyone got a book to add?

[★ Jess]

The Book Thief

[Maddy froehlich]

Totally agree I love The Book Thief everyone should read it!

[Baxter]

House of Leaves exists just to mess around with formatting. And the world is better for it.

[[deleted user]]

★ Jess wrote: "The Book Thief"

Absolutely!!

[£mily]

★ Jess wrote: "The Book Thief"

<3 that book, epically the little definitions and things scattered through the book

[cy]

I love all the different types of cover fonts, some are really purty

[Kate]

I can't come up with anything off the top of my head, but formatting can be really powerful.

[Sophia]

Beautiful Darkness or Beautiful Creatures, anything in that sereis.

[Sophia]

Beautiful Darkness or Beautiful Creatures, anything in the sereeis has an amazing font, and the color of it changes with each book.

[[deleted user]]

All of the Artemis Fowl books, everyone should read them.

[Tony]

Forgot about the Book Thief! Loved it!

[[deleted user]]

I loved House of Leaves and its formatting.

But I hate, and I mean hate, when authors use different colored front (such as Shiver Trilogy Boxset.)

[[deleted user]]

by Ellen Hopkins had a pretty creative format. However, I did feel that it kinda lost its impact after a while.

[cy]

Melanie wrote: "I loved House of Leaves and its formatting.

But I hate, and I mean hate, when authors use different colored front (such as Shiver Trilogy Boxset.)"
sooo distracting! :)

[Olivia]

Why We Broke Up is the only one i can think of. The pages where glossy which was cool, but hard to read in bright light and the pictures were really cool. They were of things that she collected during a failed realtionship.

[[deleted user]]

Cy wrote: "Melanie wrote: "I loved House of Leaves and its formatting.

But I hate, and I mean hate, when authors use different colored front (such as Shiver Trilogy Boxset.)"
soo..."

who wants to read brown or green text seriously!

[Katrina]

Baxter wrote: "House of Leaves exists just to mess around with formatting. And the world is better for it."

★ Jess wrote: "The Book Thief"

I agree. Book Thief used formatting amazingly, not just for the kicks of it. The formatting compliments the story really well.

I started House of Leaves a while ago but never really finished it. I think I only chose to read because I was in that limbo where I just read anything to pass the time waiting for the book I really want.
But I'm really keen on giving House of Leaves another go.

[cy]

Melanie wrote: "Cy wrote: "Melanie wrote: "I loved House of Leaves and its formatting.

But I hate, and I mean hate, when authors use different colored front (such as Shiver Trilogy Boxset.)"
soo..."

who wants to..."

I know, sometimes there just isn't a point! :(

[Kam]

Shatter Me did, with the strikeouts and such. Although it were a pain in the donkey to read through the strikeouts. I mean, wouldn't you get pissed, trying to read through a random line in the middle of words through a fourth of the book?

[£mily]

The Knife of Never Letting Go series used it really well to show the noise and the alternating narrations.

[Kate]

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close uses formatting really well.

He also has a book, Tree of Codes which he wrote by taking the book Street of Crocodiles, supposedly his favorite book, and cutting out words. (Street of Crocodiles) The whole book's like that. But what's even cooler is that all the blanks he made are still there, so a page can have more cut-outs than words. It's like a sculpture.

[Kea]

Kam wrote: "Shatter Me did, with the strikeouts and such. Although it were a pain in the donkey to read through the strikeouts. I mean, wouldn't you get pissed, trying to read through a random line in the midd..."

Oh, that would make me nuts. I would feel like I was reading a manuscript in progress!

[Brittany]

For younger reads the Clarice Bean series by Lauren Child uses some cool formatting. The whole book is set in her perspective so when the words change the formatting, it's like you get to see her thinking process. It's pretty cool

[Elysia]

My Sister's Keeper plays with font types, it switches between characters on their chapters, it's really cool.

And then the Lego Ninjago books (like Zane: Ninja of Ice or Jay: Ninja of Lightning and etc) has some really cool fonts also!

[[deleted user]]

Elysia wrote: "My Sister's Keeper plays with font types, it switches between characters on their chapters, it's really cool.

And then the Lego Ninjago books (like Zane: Ninja of Ice or Jay: Ninja of Lightning an..."

I liked that a lot in Sister's Keeper. It added a bit of spunk and spirit to the characters and you got to see their personality in a nut shell.

[Brianna]

In Invisible Monsters Remix by Chuck Palahniuk he ends each chapter with "Now please jump to Chapter #" and at the end there was still about six or seven that I had not read. Of those, about three needed a mirror to read and it was really fun getting lost in the book like that. Or just read Invisible Monsters if you prefer chapter1, chapter2, etc.

[Harper]

The one and only Ivan used formatting to make the story flow well, almost like poetry. It was very sad though

[Irene]

Elysia wrote: "My Sister's Keeper plays with font types, it switches between characters on their chapters, it's really cool.

And then the Lego Ninjago books (like Zane: Ninja of Ice or Jay: Ninja of Lightning an..."

I think Jodi Picoult does the "different font for different characters " thing in most of her books actually.

[Kathy]

Between the Lines It uses colored font and a variety of illustrations, which I find really cool!

[Rachel]

I agree with a lot of other people about The Book Thief and some of Mark Zusacks other books like The Messenger. Both of those have interesting formats. Diary formats in books just lose their meaning on me, though; it seems overused...

[Jessica]

by Nora Raleigh Baskin Had a cute format, as well as font. Is was a breath of fresh air compared to the normal fonts I see.

[Mary]

Hi everyone just a short little information for you. If you want to see the little animation of my character Poppy the troll please go to my website. He is telling your all about my book Mary Sumeridge Beginnings which was published on the 10/7/13. It is the first of a fantasy series I am writing. Great little animation, I hope you like it.
http://maryfilmer.com/
Mary Filmer Children's Author

[[deleted user]]

I dont really mind as long as it has a clear font, ok size and the colour black, the rest lies in the book itself

[Daniella]

I liked the way that Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs was formatted - the photographs added a certain eeriness and spookiness that the book needed. I also like the way Brian Selznick wrote/drew The Invention Of Hugo Cabret and Wonderstruck - it was like I was both reading a book and watching a movie at the same time. The actual writing fonts, sizes, etc. weren't monumental, but I like books that experiment with other forms of getting their message across. I suppose that means that I'm off-topic. *shrug*

[Michael]

Good thread. I've always also believed when I open a book the presentation of it contributes to how I perceive it. With ebooks this is sometimes lost, however authors can PDF graphic images of their books and publish that way, just costs more sometimes. I'm checking out the recommendations posted here to help me with my next children's book. Content isn't everything, it needs something to support it as well.
My first post! Looking forward to participating more.

[Jazzy]

Formatting is an excellent way to keep it interesting and set a book apart from the rest. The formatting in Shatter Me annoyed me but in other books like The Book Thief and The Knife of Never Letting Go really know how to use formatting to their advantage.

[bean]

If anyone's read any Ellen Hopkins books, they're all so prettily done. OwO

[Kaitlyn]

The Gospel Truth by Caroline Pignat has a format like Crank and Impulse by Ellen Hopkins. It's a great book too.

But I absolutely hate it when authors use a colour other than black like Shiver and the other books in that series. So distracting and I wasn't even the one reading the books! My friend was reading it and ugh, I can't stand it.