I NEVER KNEW FONTS COULD BE SO INTERESTING

A REMARKABLE BOOK

I picked up a fascinating book at a secondhand store. It's called JUST MY TYPE by Simon Garfierld and is all about fonts. No time to do more than dip into it at the moment but each time I do I get something of interest. For instance, John Baskerville,printer and creator of the Baskerville font (obviously), died in 1774 and his widow had the equivalent of a car boot sale and offered everything in his print foundry for £4000 including the matrices etc for the Baskerville font.
John Baskerville, at his own wish, was buried vertically in his mausoleum but was subsequently moved several times, ending up (horizontal) in a bricked up vault in Birmingham.There are sections on the 10 most popular fonts, the ten worst fonts, fonts to write a love letter, one called Jesus Loves You which incorporates thorns and barbed wire. The Sex Pistols publicity used Ransom Note, which is the one that looks as if every letter has been cut out of a different magazine or newspaper.And if you're into illustration or cover design there's an app called TypeDrawing which allows you to choose a font, colour and size, and use your finger to swirl the word patterns on screen to paint an object or picture.

HOW LONG IS A NOVEL? HOW SHORT IS A NOVELLA?

A novel typically has around 95,000 words, although the range can cover anything from about 65,000 to say 350,000 or even longer. Children's novels for those who can read on their own may be shorter, say 35,000 to 40,000 words.

My own adult novels, those published on Kindle, are around 70,000 words, but if I were looking for a traditional publisher I would aim for at least 95,000 words to make the printing and distribution costs worthwhile.

A novella  is a short novel, say 20,000 to 40,000 words. It's difficult to get published traditionally in print, as the cost of printing outweighs its popularity and the price it can fetch in the bookstores, but it's now quite a popular format for e-books, eg Kindle.

The same rules apply for both novels and novellas.

Generally they must have a beginning, a middle and an ending. There should be a theme (which can usually be described in one word, eg loss, loneliness, courage, power, survival, ambition, greed, hatred, love, escape, justice, childlessness, disability) and a plot, which relates how this is overcome and reveals what happens first, what happens next and what happens at the end.

Writing a full length novel can be pretty hard graft, and it can be tempting to try and reduce your story to novella length. But generally a novel has far more 'meat' and gives you space to introduce more characters - oddball, funny or malevolent, but (of course!) always relevant to the overall theme and plot. 

MINOR CHARACTERS

When A Character Comes To Life 

There's a minor character in my novel THE ARMCHAIR GUIDE TO HEAVEN who's stayed in my mind ever since. I see her so vividly although she has such a small part and appears mostly in the principal character's thoughts and dreams.

But somehow she has come to life and every now and then she gives me a nudge as if to say, 'When are you going to write about me? When am I going to get star billing?'

It started with a brief mention in Chapter 1: "...the clatter of dishes from the kitchen as Mum boiled the kettle dry and burnt the toast downstairs".

Later: "Mum, round faced and smiley, eyes ringed panda-like with far too much liner, hair bleached to the colour of straw. She used to cut it herself, pulling out strands to the length of three fingers and chopping them off without the aid of a mirror. I longed to give her a makeover."

Here's another reference: "The usual aroma of burnt toast drifts up the stairs. I can hear Mum arguing with Chris Evans on Radio 2 and I wait for the crash of china as she whips mugs and plates out of the cupboard. She's a multi-tasker, Mum is, but not very good at it. She's the most accident-prone person I know, mainly because she's impelled to do everything at the speed of light. I'm always telling her to slow down, the world isn't going to end tomorrow."

Well., that's Zoe's Mum, alive in Zoe's heart during her sojourn in Heaven, but still alive for me here on Earth even though the book is well and truly finished.

One day I think I'll make her the leader of a protest group, or get her elected to Parliament, or have her win the Lottery and buy an old people's home. Imagine the havoc she might wreak!

But that's for the future. I've too many other ideas to deal with right now.

Next time - Free Gift - an idea for a short story

Why Start At The Beginning?

Beginnings are really crucial. How often do you pick up a book at the library or book store, glance at the first page and put it back on the shelves? But if you get past the first page, the first chapter, you'll probably want to read on.

In the good old days, before television and computers and Facebook and Twitter, perhaps readers had the necessary patience and concentration to follow a leisurely exploration of someone's life. Nowadays our attention span is much shorter. None of us wants to wade through whole chapters waiting for something to happen.

So don't start at the beginning. Start in the middle, with a real attention grabber, something that will hook your readers and draw them instantly into your story. A crisis, a murder, a love scene, a quarrel. 

Imagine your character in a situation that's dramatic, funny, emotional or atmospheric in some way and start at that point.

There! Isn't that better?

Next time - What exactly is a short story? How is it different from a novel?