I eat quite a lot of books. Basically truckloads of them, because I get hungry okay? And I need snacks. BUT ANYWAY! When one eats a lot of books, things can start to blur. But you know which books stick out?
The ones with super unique and creative and just downright weird formatting.
I love it! I love how it startles me and makes me pay closer attention. I like how zany things can get. Huge fonts? One word chapters? Written in verse or lists? Throw out the capitals?
It makes me remember the book better because it’s different. And I also think it adds to the voice of the book. Like when the book wants to indicate something is insane and crazy and the world is melting down?! And all the words just SPLAT on the page in a blur?! It makes me not only read the panic, I SEE it too!
Except, erm, there are downsides. Sometimes it can feel forced and jagged, like a ploy for attention. And I’ve read some books with crazy formatting that have been HEADACHES to read.
Reasons Unique Formatting Sometimes SUCKS
- It doesn’t translate to audio-book very well.
- Sometimes, if it takes out punctuation, the book is super hard to read and follow.
- It can be distracting and unnecessary. Like if you are reading a normal paragraph one minute, flip, the page and — OH HELLO THE TYPOGRAPHY IS NOW SHOUTING AT YOU.
- It can limit the story. Like books written in verse or lists tend to lack world-building. And books written in letters might not have much dialogue. And books written in dragonese are just downright intolerable to read without burning things down.
-~-
For me, good outweighs the bad on this topic. SO! Let us take a brief perusal of some different types of unique formatting and I shall declare which ones I love and which drive me as batty as a fruitcake. Which, to be honest, is my average mentality. But let’s not get into that now.
DIFFERENT TYPES OF UNIQUE FORMATTING
THE FONT SIZE EXPLOSION
This specimen is from Half Wild. If you take a sneaky peek at the picture, there’s a sentence that says “the adrenaline floods…” so this is a marvellous VISUAL of adrenaline flooding, right?!
THE LIST-TASTIC
This is from Me Being Me Is Exactly As Insane As You Being You which is an extremely long and title that exhausts me half to death every time I type it — but regardless! THE ENTIRE BOOK IS TOLD IN LISTS. Lists, peoples. This will be the format of my memoir, I swear.
LET’S JUST CROSS OUT ALL THE WORDS
This is a super interesting phenomenon because you can still SEE what wanted to be said, even if the character is regretting saying/thinking it and now crossing it out. In Shatter Me it also shows how unhinged Juliette is. I mean, she’s been locked away for YEARS with zlich human contact. It sounds kind of like paradise but shuuuush, someone stifle this hermit whingeing in the back row. And I think this was a really important glimpse at Juliette’s mental stability (or lack thereof) so it really added to the story.
WHAT EVEN IS THIS MESS
This is just…a catastrophe. BUT IT HAS A POINT! In The Knife of Never Letting Go, people can hear each other’s thoughts. Like, erm, all of them. (Worst place ever.) I think the page adequately sums up life in this world, right?!
WHEREIN LIFE IS A POEM
Is verse the same as poetry? I don’t even know. I’m an uneducated pineapple who used to hide all household poetry books because they just didn’t make sense and I hated them. ERGH. But poems still intrigue me quite copiously. I plucked this example from One. I have to admit I’m not a huge fan of verse (I think it limits description and character development).
THE REPETITION EXPLOSION
This is from The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly (which is such a fabulous book and totally terrified me, therefore I recommend it) which is about Minnow Bly (didn’t see THAT coming did ya?) who has been in a cult and had her hands cut of and is now in prison. So you think she might be a little…deranged? JUST A LITTLE. This is a picture of her prayer. It kind of just sums up the hopelessness, doesn’t it?
-~-
I’m a big fan of unique formatting. It actually makes me want a book more. Provided it’s done well (I’m still dubious about verse, but I think it’s cool) and provided the book is still readable. For instance, in Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close there are chapters with NO PARAGRAPHS. I’m talking about pages and pages of block text with no breaks. That’s hard to read, okay?! That’s excruciating. Also in Talk Under Water there are no dialogue marks. Again! HARD TO READ. I’m not a fan. In fact, I become an angry tomato over it.
So is unique formatting a ploy to make a book stand out or does it mean something? Maybe it does make a book memorable, but is it annoying at the same time?
I do like unique formatting – the lists was the primary reason I picked up Me Being Me and although I didn’t like it much, I want to read more in that format! Also, I will never forget reading Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf and discovering that there were no chapters! In fact, there were only three paragraph breaks in the whole book! It was superb and the first taste I got of different formatting! I loved the Patrick Ness page you included – plus it looks AWESOME from the side as well!
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Same as me! XD I love lists but noooot so much in Me Being Me. (Agh, Darren annoyed me no end.) I’ve read a book with no chapters before! It was super hard to find a breaking place. XD AHHH THANK YOU THO. <3 I had fun with these photos. 🙂
YESYESYESYESYES SO MUCH A FAN. Well. I suppose that it matter on the actual book, and I must admit that I’m not really a fan of books written in verse (although neither have I read too many of them, so maybe that’s a reason too.) But I LOVED the way the Shatter Me series was done — even though it took me some time to get used it. xD
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SAME HERE, and I liked the Shatter Me books more as they went on. *nods* Basically because of Kenji. EVERYTHING IS KENJI BASICALLY. *ahem*
Another book that does this is magonia. I do like this! It’s sort of arty and a unique way to express things the people are feeling. But I know what you mean about it being distracting. I really liked Shatter Me (especially how it progressed through the series. I like books in verse. I also like font changes and I find that it works well with multiple narrators. I also like it (even though it is sort of pretentioous, when the books tell you what font they’re in and the fonts history.
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OMG I FORGOT MAGONIA! Which is shameful because I just read it. -_- But I was totally bookmarking when the font and words were just falling. I loved that.
My enjoyment of unique formatting (or lack of it) depends on the book. If it makes sense in the story, then I like it. Shatter Me…I tried, but the constant crossing out of complete phrases just bothered me too much. At the same time though, I loved it in The Dead House, because it made sense. I think it also depends on my mood at a certain time. Because sometimes I can enjoy something, but other times that something can be very annoying to me. Repetition is okay, because it stresses how desperate or unhinged the character is at a moment in the story. Again, it really depends on the story itself and if it makes sense for it to be told like that.
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That totally makes sense! And sometimes it’s the story that doesn’t work for us, not the unique formatting, right?! So ALL THESE THINGS. *nods* And yes, I think it all depends on the story and the writer telling it the best possible way. Which I think they mostly succeed at. 😉
For me it has to serve the story. If it serves the story/characters/whatever then I’m all over that. I LOVED the bit in The Knife of Never Letting Go. I felt so overwhelmed and it makes the reader understand immediately how overwhelming and oppressive living in Prentisstown would be. More I say!
EXACTLY! I would’ve just done my head in if I lived in a town like that, omg. SO OVERWHELMING. Loved that book!
I LOVE unique formatting in books if they aren’t too hard to read. I haven’t read a book written in verse yet, but I loved the crossed out words in Shatter Me because it was really cool how Juliette progressed through the book. I thought it ADDED something to the story, and I loved it. The Knife of Never Letting Go has been on my TBR FOREVER , and now I’m even more excited to read it because of the formatting. Also, Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff comes out in a month or so AND OH MY GOSH THE FORMATTING LOOKS SO AWESOME.
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YESSSS. I totally agree! And I love how Juliette slowly didn’t need to cross out so many things?! It was like proof of her character development too. THE KNIFE IS REALLY GOOD, intense, and a bit hard at teh beginning, but gooood. and I need Illuminae so so bad.
I have a love hate relationship with unique formatting. As you said, HUGE LONG PAGES OF TEXT (aka Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close) I am not fond of – hence I never managed to finish the book which is sad because apparently it’s really good. However, I do love both lists and verse aka The Weight of Water by Sarah Crossan. Also, I just finished Illuminae which is made up of SO MANY COOL THINGS and I LOVED IT. It doesn’t hurt that unique formatting is extremely photogenic too which is awesome for Instagram..hehe.
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I listened to Extremely Loud on audio and OMG = lifesaver. I think I would’ve died if I’d had to tackle those pages with my own too eyeballs. But seriously, I ended up giving it 5-stars because it totally melted my heart a little. :’) I want to read Illuminae SO SO BAD AHHHHHHHHHH.
There’s something about unique formatting that can make a book feel extra special. Although, there is a fine line between it being appropriate and it being forced. BUT a book told entirely through lists??? GIVE IT TO ME I’M HUNGRY! 🙂
YES. I love the specialness! And it just sticks in my mind (which is notoriously good at forgetting things -_-) so much better. I didn’t adore Me Being Me but the fact that IT IS ENTIRELY IN LISTS kinda sold me anyway. XD
The book that comes to mind is ‘the book thief” I loved the formatting of it, and I think there was another The Music of Dolphins, which was a rather strange book, yet I liked it and the weird writing also went with it.
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YES! I forgot about the Book Thief and OMG I WAS JUST THINKING ABOUT MUSIC OF THE DOLPHINS THE OTHER DAY. I swear we owned it and I couldn’t find it anywhere. But I loved that book when I was little. The formatting really reflected the girl’s thought process, right?!
Yes the formatting was like her progress, the font started really large and then got smaller, then near the end there was some one sentence paragraphs, and the writing got larger again.
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My favourite example of this is The Knife of Never Letting Go but then I am being 120% bias because that series owns a little piece of my soul! Hehe. I am glad you featured it in this post.
I like the unique formatting because I feel like it makes buying the physical book more worth it, ya know? I am such an ebook lover that I need things like formatting that would absolutely scramble Kindle to be pushed to get a physical book. Even things like different ink colour like in The Wolves of Mercy Falls series makes me happy.
I get annoyed at the repetitive kind of formatting though, unless it has a point to it, which it rarely does IMO.
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I need to finish that series so so bad. Aaaand now that I’ve got the last 2 books from a library sale I HAVE NO EXCUSE AND AM IMMENSELY EXCITED TO FINISH! 😀 Except, Manchee. I’m forever traumatised tbh. :'(
I also like that formatting kind of adds another layer to the book, like it’s all about the words, but theeeeen…here’s a special little something with the formatting too. :’)
You know what, to be honest, I don’t think I’ve read a lot of books with unique formatting. *scratches head* Well maybe a few, like Shatter Me, but mostly no. But I’d like to read more though. I am a huge fan of books that has different writing styles : Like in Vicious – jumping in between time , The Book Thief – the narrative and the frequent “things you need to know” and Night Circus – which was lyrical. So I guess I would love different formatting too. I really enjoyed reading Shatter Me – and loved the writing, so maybe I should try reading these book.s. I have a copy of Half Bad, maybe I should start with that.
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I LOVED those little details (or quotes??) in The Book Thief. They’re like, hands down, my favourite part of the book. DEATH WAS EPIC. *ahem* Did you like Night Circus?!? I really want to read that but my library doesn’t have it and I hear SO many mixed things. GAH. I’ll have to take the plunge and maybe ebook it someday. xD Ahhh, Half Bad is one of my ALL TIME favourite books. *nods*
First of all, I HATE that formatting in Half Bad. I’m sure it has significance, but I can only stand repetition for so long. In general, I don’t really mind unique formatting as long as it doesn’t get on my nerves. I also understand that it’s used to portray a character’s thoughts, but sometimes it just seems so unnecessary, you know?
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Aw, I am sad! It was my favourite part. 😉 But good thing books are subjective and all different, right?!
The book I reviewed today—Blood Red Road by Moira Young doesn’t have any dialogue marks either. A lot of the words are written as how they sound rather than how they’re actually spelt. Personally I’m not a fan of that. I like formatting like Half Wild and Shatter Me, but I need punctuation. I also need paragraphs…my eyes can’t focus on huge chunks of text.
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I soooo want to read Blood Red Road so I’m going over to your blog DIRECTLY to read that review! I’m not sure how I’d go with bad grammar?!? SO IT COULD BE AN INTRIGUING EXPERIENCE. *nods* Punctuation is kind of the love of my life, so I don’t like us to be separated.
I like it a lot as long as everything is still readable! 🙂
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SAME. Particularly if it makes the reading experience BETTER and not difficult. *nods*
I’ve never read a book where unique formatting was awful or stopped me from reading the rest of the book. IN FACT, one of my absolute favourite books is The Weight of Water by Sarah Crossan and that one is written like loads and loads of short poems. I’d 100% recommend it! I’ve also recently read Finding Audrey and that one has a large section of the story told though a camera so on the page it looks like a script! Finding Audrey was also amazing :3 I think I’ve been lucky when it comes to staying away from the terrible ones xD Great post!
I want to read that!!! One is by Sarah Crossan here, so I absolutely trust her ability to write awesomely and beautifully. :’)
I don’t believe I read a lot of books with unique formatting, actually. In epistolary form, sure, and also I recall Tremolo has one or two broken line paragraphs which I LOVED. But then I did love the entire page of “ever”s in ASOUE once, and also the two black pages in The Ersatz Elevator. AND OH WAIT there was Geronimo Stilton and those odd font and colour choices, and I’m ridiculously proud of myself for remembering considering how long ago I read those.
And oh yeah, I completely forgot about the multiple choices in Gone Girl. Those were wicked clever, like everything else about the book. Basically this comment has been a memory lane down books with unique formatting and I’d say — yeah, why not? So long as it’s done in moderation and not randomly and doesn’t hinder my actual reading.
AHHHH YES. See I do have quite an infatuation with it, and I particularly was relieved when you said you liked that bit in your comments, because I WAS WORRID IT’D BE GIMMICKY. But we can agree Beck isn’t…um…quite mentally stable.
Ahem.
OH YES. I forgot about all those quirky bits in Lemony Snicket! And the one where he’s like “and he found himself reading the same sentence over again. And he found himself reading…” And it was a WAIT WHAT moment and I loved that. x)
I DO LIKE UNIQUE FORMATTING. I read so many books (well..not compared to you, but still!!) that anything that stands out is good in my book 🙂 Plus, it makes everything more interesting.!
Aww, come on, YOU READ A LOT! Particularly for someone doing HSC! My sister has read, like, um…1 book this year. -_- Omg, every holidays I pile her arms full of books and she NEVER READS ANY OF THEM I DESPAIR OF HUMANITY.
I think unique formatting only adds to the creativity of a book and it really allows a book to hold your attention and stand out from the rest. I wish I saw it more in books in fact, but then I guess if that was the case then the times I do encounter it I wouldn’t be as excited to see it and explore how it lends to the story. Also I love that the story is just that, unique. I don’t think I’ve yet to encounter a given unique formatting on more than one occasion… Except for lists perhaps.
Of all the formats you’ve shown, I really like the list as well as the crossing out of words.
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Me tooooo. I would love it in more books. But then I guess it wouldn’t be so special?! But still I get ridiculously excited when a book turns out to have surprisingly unique formatting. 😀 YAY FOR THIS GLORIOUS FEAST.
I’ve read hardly any books with unique formatting (The Book Thief was maybe a little strange…beyond that, I’ve read exactly zero) but I definitely want to. I liked the technique used in Legend by Marie Lu where one narrator’s chapters are a different font and color than the other, but compared to some of these, that’s completely normal.
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Oh yes! I forgot about The Book Thief. It had those little excerpt’s of Death’s, like, quotes, right?! (I should really remember, but, ack, I’ve got a horrific memory.) I’ve read the different-colour-font thing in the Splintered trilogy too. 😀
I like when books do stuff like that. I like lists and crazy fonts and crossed out sentences and big letters because it just adds this depth to the book. I don’t think I’ve found a book that did something like that and it distracted me.
I’ve actually considered writing a book with the crossed-out thing because I like it so much.
YES ME TOO. WE ARE TWINS ON THIS MATTER. I’ve considered writing a book totally in lists. YOU KNOW I HAVE. *nods*
I like unique formatting, but I’m not a fan of repetition because, while I understand its meaning in the context and why it’s there, I just skip over it because who the heck has time to read the same word/phrase 800 times?! Another unique formatting thing isn’t so much formatting as it is design: and that is when books are printed in colored ink. Think the Legend and Shiver trilogies, where the printed words match the cover color. It’s kinda gimmicky, but I kinda like it. At first I hated it, but now I think it’s okay and pretty out-there. 😀
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You actually read it, though?? I just skip to the end of the page because obviously it’s just gonna repeat that sentence/word the whole time. 😛 So I feel like it makes reading go FASTER. xD Oh yes! I forgot about coloured ink! Splintered did that too, and I liked it, but the last book was dark red and it was a little harder to read, imo.
Oh, I’ll read the first word/phrase but then I’ll skip to the end of the page, like you do. I don’t skip over the entire book! I do like that unique style of writing because it can be really effective if used correctly. Oh, and I NEED to read Splintered SO BAAAAAAAD.
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Overall, I’m going to say no, unique formatting is not for me. I think it can be done well, but usually I just want my words, please and thank you. It’s the same reason why graphic novels don’t do anything for me. 😀
Ahh, I understand. 😉 Actually everyone seems pretty equally split here!
An entire book written in lists?! I wonder how the story and characters progress like that 0_0 And when I thought of unique formats, I immediately thought of the Shatter Me series and I really liked that aspect and seeing it change as Juliette changed. Minnow Bly’s prayer is desperate and sad and now I want to read that book. Why is it always the sad books that catch eyes?
Heh but I tend to like unique formatting more often than not. Especially if it has meaning and is supposed to represent the world or the situation or the characters.
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It’s worth reading just for the novelty!! 😀 I didn’t actually like the content, but still. LISTS. THEY ARE SO AWESOME. And I think the whole Shatter Me series was soooo in depth into Juliette’s thought-process. It was REALLY awesome for that. And I liked how, as the series progressed, there was less crossing-out and craziness, because she was growing so much as a character.
READ MINNOW BLY. CRY WITH ME.
I have to say, I do like books that have an interesting format, although I’ll also say that I’m concerned that they don’t always show up very well in eBook form, either. Especially because you can change the formatting, you know? I do think it’s cool, though. In particular, I always think of Lemony Snicket’s books because he just goes for it. So in some ways, he is the original weird formatter in my reading story. But it is nice to see some interesting ways that people format, and to think about who and how everything fits together when your brain is putting the pieces together, not their words. The only book I can think of that I’ve read like this lately is THE ROAD by Cormac McCarthy but still. I know what you mean.
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Yes! I should’ve mentioned that too *nods* because I’ve read ebooks with unique formatting and thought “Oops, this one’s gone haywire” and thought it needed fixing. *facepalm* Plus when its an e-ARC you can’t really tell, you know?!? It could be a mistake!! I think Lemony Snicket is like king of breaking the 4th wall. Basically bulldozing it down.
My sister read Code Name Verity and I listened to it. She said there is some really unique formatting in that novel. And now I need a copy of my own!,
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Omg, I didn’t know that! I LISTENED TO IT TOO. (Aren’t the accents the best though?!? Hands down my favourite audio ever.)
Interesting topic! I think you make a good point when you say unique formatting doesn’t translate to the audiobook, and that it can take away worldbuilding. I often find it annoying, or at least slightly irritating, BUT BUT BUT. Sometimes I really like it. Like, I didn’t even read past the first few Shatter Me chapters (sorry, I know), but I thought the crossing out thing was very effective. Also, I LOVE to cross out sentences on my blog too, but I guess that has a slightly different function. I also really liked that one page that’s a completele mess because it does adequately show you how overwhelming it is to hear what everyone’s thinking (maybe I should pick up that book).
The one other occasion I remember where this was used really well is in New Moon when Edward leaves and Bella goes catatonic and then the next few pages are just the month names. Whether you like the book or not, I feel like that was a really good writing/editing decision, because it feels a bit like a punch in the gut, and it effectively makes the point that nothing in those months remotely mattered to Bella and that she wasn’t paying attention to her surroundings at all.
I think the most important thing to remember when using unique formatting is not to overuse it! One page of that might be fine, but not fifty. And if it makes everything really hard to read (like no paragraphs), you have to expect that you’re readers might throw the book across the room.
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I kind of want to finish the Twilight series one day so YAY THAT’S MOTIVATION. I’m such a sucker for any book I know is uniquely done. XD hehe. But yes! I agree it can be irritating (and I got fed up with Shatter Me a lot because I couldn’t see it MOVING anywhere…and I got bored, but I did like the style. xD) And not overusing = for sure. And I think people also need to think about whether the weirdness makes readers want to put it down. So please, for the love of grammar, KEEP THE PUNCTUATION.
I don’t like unusual formatting – even the epistolary novel (unless written so well that one forgets it’s letters) can be frustrating to read. I like to read books for their verbal content, not how it’s laid across the page. I think it doesn’t help that I prefer to read long chapters anyway, but one-page or even one-word chapters drive me crazy! What is the point? One might as well link said single-whatever chapter in with other characters. So, no is my answer to the post.
Question of interest – which of [the above or unusual-format books you know] are debuts? My first ever novel (written aged 13), which I hope one day to rewrite (again) and sub because the characters won’t leave me alone starts and ends epistolarily, but I’d always read that submissions should always be in uniform font, often TNR, and other uniform format choices. It makes me wonder how these writers, especially since they’re [all?] YA included interesting format without agents and publishers instantly dismissing them as ‘badly-written’ novels.
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Ah, yes, I can imagine it’d be hard to “break into” the industry with a uniquely formatted post, in case you were just dismissed as being gimmicky or something. SO YEAH. Buuuuut! The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly was definitely a debut. And I didn’t mention Half Bad here, because I listed Half Wild (the sequel) but Half Bad WAS a debut AND had unique formatting. Shatter Me was a debut. Aaand I think Me Being Me was a debut? But I’m not 100% sure on that one. So clearly yes! It CAN work! 😀
“It sounds kind of like paradise but shuuuush, someone stifle this hermit whingeing in the back row.”
(nods in recognition)
I think it really depends on why the author is getting all crazy with the formatting. If it’s to emphasize something in the book, then I’m cool with it, but if they’re just getting “artsy” to hide the lack of a plot or stale characters, then I’m not impressed. It turns gimmicky easily, I think.
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I think it could turn gimmicky easily if not well done? I haven’t actually seen a book with unique formatting that I’ve thought “this doesn’t flow”…more, “I didn’t like this particular story”.
AHHHH I need to read more books with unique formatting cause it is SO cool. The one book I can think of is Bruiser by Neal Shusterman. One of the characters is written entirely in free verse and it really works. Also, I read one book where the text wasn’t justified on the right, and that was really weird.
OMG I FORGOT ABOUT BRUISER! YESSSSS. I loved that about it! And I loved that it was Brewster’s chapters that were so poetic. :’)
Love this!
I recently read Everything, Everything (which I really enjoyed) but I think that the emails, IMs and the overall unique word setup really enhanced my reading experience. The only verse I’ve ever really read was Burned by: Ellen Hopkins (who can do verse well in my opinion) and a book called Sold which was also done well also. Maybe because world building wasn’t really necessary in any of those books. I haven’t had a “bad” verse experience but I definitely don’t prefer verse over other formats.
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AH YES! I totally forgot about Everything Everything! Did it have diagrams too? I read an e-ARC but I heard someone say there was little drawings in it. That would be epic too. Oh I read Sold! By Patricia McCormick? Or something? I read it so long ago I don’t remember that it was in verse. o.O
I don’t suppose I really read too many books with “unique formatting”, so when I do it’s extra exciting. In my experience, the formatting added to the story, so I didn’t really perceive it as a ploy. Me Being Me Is Exactly As Insane As You Being You is a story told entirely with lists? That sounds indubitably awesome! I think I need it…
I feel like it’s exciting too! Especially when I’m not expecting it! 😀 Me Being Me (etc. omg that title) is REALLY REALLY DIFFERENT AND UNIQUE. I really liked it for the lists….not so much the actual story. but ahhhh I would LOVE to find another book in lists! 😀
Interesting what you say about verse novels limiting description and character development. I’ve actually found the reverse to be true! If done well, those books can give the reader a sense of setting and character even better than pages of prose.
I do like some weirdly formatted books… but not all. Some of those books look like a nightmare to me. My OCD manifests with a need to count things… so that page from Shatter Me would probably take me an inordinately long time to get past, because I’d have to count every one of those crossed-out phrases. Ugh. Well, good to know; I guess I’ll be avoiding that book!
Sometimes a certain type of weirdness works, and other times it doesn’t. Like in Alice Hoffman’s Incantation, there were no quotation marks; dialogue was italicized instead. I got used to it after a while. But then there are books like Meg Rosoff’s How I Live Now that didn’t use quotation marks or italicization for dialogue, and it just came off as annoying and pretentious (well, the whole book was kind of annoying, so I can’t blame it all on the format).
I enjoy the different formatting in verse novels for the most part, but for really different formatting you can’t beat books like Nick Bantock’s Griffin and Sabine. I don’t know if you’ve read these or not; they were probably published before you were born! But they were really popular for a while there. Who doesn’t like reading other people’s mail? Opening fabulous artistic envelopes and pulling out the letters inside was so much fun! (If you can find these at the library, I’d highly recommend giving them a try. They’re definitely books that would NOT translate well to digital format!)
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Ahh, but this is a classic example of how subjective books are right?!!? I think it limits and you think it expands. CLEARLY WE ARE BOTH RIGHT AND BOOKS ARE SUBJECTIVE. *nods* I totally understand that Shatter Me might not be a good book for you, then, with the OCD. 😐 It does the crossing out thing a LOT (and Minnow Bly doesn’t do it as much, but there are definitely a few pages sprinkled without so you might want to skip that one too?) Ohh, I shall look up Griffin and Sabine! 😀
One of my favorite books is Karen Hesse’s “Witness,” which is a multiple POV novel told in verse. So yes, I’m definitely a fan of unique formatting! I’m not a fan of Ellen Hopkins’ novels in verse, because to my untutored mind she does what I do when I attempt to write free verse, namely just write paragraphs with weird line breaks. But otherwise, yes to all of your examples. That Patrick Ness page is so gorgeous.
Regarding novels in verse and world building, the examples I can think of are all realistic fiction or historical fiction, meaning that world building per se is not as vital. So I guess that makes sense.
There is an indescribably happy feeling I get when I start a new book, and the author is doing something funky that totally works, and I feel like “Ah, I’m in the hands of a master!” You can just tell when a writer really knows what they are doing.
AHHH I LOVE KAREN HESSE! I remember reading Out of the Dust for school and it was my first introduction to books in verse. I did like it! I guess some kinds click with us better htan others, though?! Which is totally fine! While I like verse, but it’s not my favourite and I love the mess of words on page, buuuut…it dies in audio books (which I listen to a lot). XD BUT YES! I love that “In the hands of a master” feel. :’)
I read Illuminae a while ago and immediately scheduled a post about unique formatting (this should be coming up soon). Basically, YES to all of this.
Jessica @ Bookish Serendipity recently posted…September 2015 YA Releases I’m Excited For
I’m seriously excited for Illuminae! It sounds like EXACTLY my kinda book.
Hmmm. I haven’t had the pleasure of reading a book with odd formatting. Interesting. Very interesting. Muahahha.
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Ohhh, I hope you do one day though! THE EXPERIENCE IS FABULOUSNESS.
I LOVE unique formatting. The size changing thing in Half Wild was amazing. One of my favourite things about that trilogy is that Sally Green seems to just write how she feels the story should be written. Second person start? Change in size? It’s all there.
I also liked the brief bits in Maggie Stiefvater’s Forever where the formatting went kind of…I don’t know how to explain it. It was in italics with no punctuation and one sentence down the side with others going across? Whatever it’s called, it’s awesome! 😉
YES. ME TOO. I got so so excited when I started reading it and it had lists and second person adn just ALL THIS STUFF. I was seriously hyperventilating because it sucked me into the story SO BAD. *happy sigh* Omg, yeessss, THAT part in Forever! I just reread it so I know what you mean. :’)
Oh, wow, this is a tough one. On the one hand, I’d say I’m all for it, and I was just thinking the other day of The Knife of Never Letting Go and how artistic it is just in general, with it’s run-on sentences and word explosions and whatnot. But I know I wrote a really whiney review about The Canary Room, and one of my major gripes was that the formatting was all over the place and just… *retches* I think if it’s intentional and has some sort of system to it, if it’s done well and with a good idea for what works and what doesn’t (if that makes sense) it can really enhance the reading experience. But if it’s not done well, or if it’s just not my style, it can be super distracting. So, six of one, half dozen of another. I prefer the crossing out words, the word explosions, and the repetition. But I’m sure, if I were in a different mood, I’d say that I preferred other things. So there’s that. But anyway, this is a great topic–so thanks for discussing it. 🙂
Liz Brooks recently posted…Another Double Feature
Oh I totally get this! Like initially I was annoyed with what Shatter Me was doing, but the more I read, the more I got it. So it totally depends! I’ve only ever read one book in a list format, so I’d like to read others (since that one book I read wasn’t that…great).
I enjoy it, but only if it is done well. The list thing is probably my favorite.
I would hate no dialogue marks, I have to know when people are talking.
Skye recently posted…Paint Fight
ME TOO. I just can’t stand when writers mess with punctuation. GIVE THE PUNCTUATION BACK. I NEED IT.
I absolutely love unique writing styles. Poetry is one of my favorites, though at times, I don’t connect with it all too much. But, that’s my lack of knowledge on the topic rather than the author’s writing style. I have yet to read any other writing style other than poetry. Which book would you recommend to start off in a totally different writing style?
Erica @ Novel Ink recently posted…Stacking the Shelves (89)
Ohhh definitely Minnow Bly! Because it’s not really INTENSE. But it’s definitely there and that book is just so freakishly brilliant. 😀 Shatter Me is really good too, although I way prefer the second two books to the first. BUT SWOONABLE CHARACTERS.
I do actually like books like that, where there’s unique formatting as long as I can clearly define which is which. Like the ones you mentioned with no dialogue tags? Um, no thank you.
I feel like there is a point to the format, to accent a certain message or whatever. Although I’m not sure I’m interested in the Shatter Me style where things are crossed out. I’m okay with it sometimes but I heard it’s been used a LOT and I’m not sure if I could go through with it. >.<
Oh don't forget the messaging format where it's like
Character: [insert funny comment here]
Other Character: [insert witty comeback here]
and… yeah. That's all I got. ^.^
Claudia Victoria recently posted…Spoilers. Spoilers Everywhere
Yes, the no dialogue tags (or basically when they fiddle with the punctuation) drives me BATTY. Because I neeeeed it. My mind needs the rules to appreciate the story. ERk.
AH YES. But the insta-messaging thingy too *nods* Although I don’t know if I’d do well reading a whole book like that, right?! It’d kind of be like a play I suppose. OH. Technically I guess plays are “unique formatting” of a story too?!
I love unique formatting, too, Cait! I think that’s one of the reasons I fell so in love with the Shatter Me series – as you said, the crossed out words showed us how Juliette had felt, but that she didn’t want anyone to know, and I thought that was a much stronger way of showing that to us readers, rather than have Juliette somehow explain the how and the why of things – just crossing it out did the job marvelously.
I’ve also read a book called A Visit From the Goon Squad, where each chapter had different formatting, because it was from a different character’s perspective. When one of the main characters’ daughter had her chapter, it was formatted like a power point. I loved it!
As always, great discussion topic, Cait 🙂 Enjoy your weekend and happy reading.
Lexxie @ (un)Conventional Bookviews recently posted…COYER: 77 Days of Scavenging and Reading
I was really sad that the end books didn’t have so much crossing-out!! I mean, I guess it was a sign of Juliette’s character development and growing and mind stability BUT I MISSED IT A LOT. XD
I have to be honest that I don’t think I’ve actually read all that many books with unique formatting. The big repetition is a technique I’ve seen a few times, and it works really well for me with the right context. Sometimes it just bugs me if you don’t have a character that clearly needs the repetition (or, as you say, is unhinged). I’d say my biggest hesitation is that I listen to a LOT of audiobooks, and as you mentioned, it just doesn’t come across, especially things like strikethroughs and text barfed all over the page (for lack of a better word). I do quite like lists though 🙂
By the way, your pictures are amazing!
Liza Barrett recently posted…Weekend Writing Warriors: September 5 #8sunday
Ah yes, I totally get that! Sometimes I don’t even KNOW if a book is formatted weirdly because I listened to the audio. And also, I find weird formatting doesn’t always translate well onto kindle books? Like usually I think my edition is psycho and think it needs to be fixed. -_- #mybad
Obviously, it depends on the book, but I like it! I like the verse and I can stand repetitions, but I am not a fan of everything corssed out. xD
Vane J. recently posted…Review: Queen of Shadows
Repetitions are fine for me because it’s like “OH LOOK, I JUST READ 2 WHOLE PAGES IN LIKE 1 SECOND. HAHA” *ahem*
The fastest way to make me read a book is by saying it’s formatted differently somehow! I LOVE novels in verse, although I do agree that they risk leaving things out — but I think that, if done well, verse impacts the story positively while keeping it whole. (Like, including world building and character development and such.)
And I’m just attracted to things that are different. It’s interesting on a writerly level, because I really want to take in ALL the ways of telling stories – I think it better helps me tell my own. Then, of course, I just also really enjoy this as a reader. Although I admit I’m skeptical about this ‘book told in lists’ thing. I’ve been meaning to pick that one up for awhile but am nervous because I have NO CLUE how you would tell an effective story in list format!
(Also I really really loved Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. It was actually one of the first I thought of at the beginning of this post. I could see while reading it how others might have a difficult time with the writing style, though.)
Katie recently posted…A Fresh Start – Random Life Updates
OMG YES ME TO SO INSANELY MUCH. Like I would love to write a book with in a differently formatted way. I just am desperate to, really. In my latest WIP I have a one-sentence-chapter, but otherwise it’s pretty average. hehe I REALLY want to read a book told in lsits though! I think it’d have a lot of the same limitations as a book in verse, though, right? Ahhh but if an author pulls it off well I AM SO UP FOR READING IT.
(I listened to Extremely Loud on audio! IT SAVED MY LIFE. I think my eyes would’ve glazed over with the uber long paragraphs. But it’s still a total 5-star book for me. omg. So. many. feels.)
I’ve written several stories in verse and once this weird one told in emails, letters, and texts (which was SUPER fun to write). Most of my recent stuff is formatted regularly, though. Talking about it makes me want to think up something with a different format haha 😀
Katie recently posted…A Fresh Start – Random Life Updates
I really do like unique formatting in a book. I can see why verse doesn’t always work, but sometimes if the book is really emotional, it makes sense to have it in verse because it’s poetic and nice. 🙂 I also really love books told in the form of letters. I know some people HATE it, but it’s been a favorite technique of mine for years.
-lauren
ShootingStarsMag recently posted…Subscription September: Letters in the Mail from Authors
Oh oh I do love letters too! I should’ve mentioned some letter books on here, really, because that’s totally counting as a unique formatting style. I find they don’t usually have enough dialogue for me (I’m a dialogue addict!) but I STILL LIKE THEM.
I LOVE nonlinear formatting! I agree with you, and everyone else, that it does depend on the book, if it’s obviously done just to be different then it’s annoying, but I’ve never read a nonlinear book I didn’t love. I will give you that verse can be frustrating though, cause as you said, it doesn’t leave a lot of room for world/character building. Nonlinear is really hard to write though(in my experience) so I give authors mad props for pulling it off. =)
Oh yes, I totally think authors are crazy talented to be able to pull of non-linear writing. o.O I would absolutely fall APART. And I do like verse, but yeah, I usually end by thinking I didn’t see much of the world.
For me, unique formatting is either absolutely amazing and adds so much to to the story, or it’s horrendous. There really isn’t an in-between. I absolutely adored the way Tahereh Mafi utilized the strikeouts in Shatter Me – it really helped showcase Juliette’s mental state; and I found it really interesting how as the books go on there’s less and less strikeouts.
And I haven’t read The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly yet, but I’ve heard it’s absolutely amazing and heartwrenching. I think that it’s unique styling seems like it adds a lot to the emotional aspect of the story from what you’ve showed us through the photograph.
Another book that comes to mind is Illuminae; and I think the way Kaufman and Kristoff choose to write the story was so, so smart. It really gave you a feel of the world it was placed in and the drasticness of what was taking place. (I know you’re going to love it Cait!)
Thanks for sharing this and, as always, fabulous discussion! ♥ Definitely going to have to check out the other books that you’ve mentioned here.
Zoe @ Stories on Stage recently posted…The Kiss of Deception
Yaaay, I’m glad you liked that in Shatter Me too! Like I wasn’t the world’s biggest fan of the first book (I loved the second two) but that’s just because I felt like not much happened. I LOVED THE STRIKING OUT STUFF. And you need Minnow Bly, TRUST ME ZOE. I’m like 99% sure you’ll appreciate its creeptastic awesomeness.
I’m literally dying for Illuminae. *hyperventilates*
This is a GREAT topic, Cait! I don’t think I’ve read that many books with unique formatting . . . but now I want to go search out a bunch and read them. ^_^
I think that, like anything else, it has to serve the story. If it’s there just because the author thought, “Hey, this looks cool/interesting/weird,” then . . . no. But if it accomplishes something in a way nothing else could, I’m all for it!
Ooh, one series that has a little of that is The Solitary Tales by Travis Thrasher (creepy, compelling stories that kind of almost inch over into horror territory, but not quite)! In the moments when Chris, the main character, is terrified out of his socks, his thoughts and/or the narrative lose punctuation. Kind of like, “No no not that anything but that it can’t be him.” (Not an actual quote, just an example.) I felt it did a good job conveying the rapid-fire burst of adrenaline and fragmented thoughts brought on by fear.
Wow. This post has me wanting to go WRITE a uniquely formatted novel now. 😀
Tracey Dyck recently posted…Beautiful People – Vyntyri
*whispers* I just remembered another series with slight formatting uniqueness. Tales of Goldstone Wood by Anne Elisabeth Stengl–that series that Katie Grace and I were flailing over a while ago?–uses boldfaced font for the dialogue of stars. Which are actual sentient beings, portrayed as unicorns at times. And they have these gorgeously majestic voices that sound like numerous voices rolled into one, hence the boldface type. It’s all very neat, and not distracting either.
Tracey Dyck recently posted…Beautiful People – Vyntyri
Oh I agree! It NEEDS to serve the story. But, to be honest, I haven’t ever read a book with unique formatting and thought “Eh, it totally didn’t need to be like this.” It always seems to work for me. xD (Unless, like, there’s no paragraphs because that kills me so much. -_- Egh.)
AHHH, you two basically convinced me to look up that series! AND I WILL ONE DAY I PROMISE!! *glares at current TBR* One day….
Well, that’s good then! But ergh, yeah, no paragraphs would be horrid. I doubt I could even read more than a few pages like that before giving up. >.<
*squee* You shoooould! Y'know, when doing so doesn't endanger you. (Because being killed by a falling TBR pile is definitely a possibility, right? XD)
Tracey Dyck recently posted…Beautiful People – Vyntyri
IT IS A DEFINITE POSSIBILITY AND WE MUST BE CAREFUL OF THIS DANGEROUS BOOKWORM LIFE LEAD. *eyes TBR suspiciously*
hmmm… I tend to be a little more traditional when it comes to the format of my books. I generally find it difficult to read if it is written in a way that’s too far out of the ordinary. BUT… There are exceptions!
I found that The Book Thief’s format was a little different, & it took me a while to get used to it, but at the end of the day, the author really did use it well! Another example would be A Series of Unfortunate Events. (“A word which here means…”) 😉
So, I guess for me it just depends on the book, the author’s writing style, & how well they execute a new format.
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Oh yes!! THe Book Thief totally did this, with those interruptions of Death’s little life quotes or whatever. Omg, did I just say Death’s life quotes?! HAHAHA. *ahem* You know what I mean. 😉 AND YES I LOVE HOW LEMONY SNICKET DID THAT. I think he spent 90% of that book breaking the 4th wall.
When I first see unique formatting, I think about how the author as artist has so many more options than even 30 years ago. Then I think about publishers complaining about possible costs, and finally about how it would work as an audio, even though I don’t really listen to books. Your points to the positives are great, I just hope more authors/publishers don’t start messing around with formatting just to make themselves stand out and end up ruining the story.
When I read audio books I actually want MORE formatting. Sometimes I can’t tell what is going on.
Elizabeth the Evil Overlord recently posted…R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril X
I’ve never heard that publishers complain about the costs? Wow. o.O I guess that makes sense but I had no idea that’s a thing they publicly said!
Not that they say it publicly, but in a meeting about creative costs. I have a friend who was an intern.
Ohhhh THAT makes sense! It’s sad that cost has to come before art, but I guess publishers need to eat too?
It’s a surefire way for me to dislike and flat out quit reading a book. I don’t like it. I don’t care how much it suits the story. Funny that you picked SHATTER ME that was the first book that popped into my mind when I read your post. Absolutely hated the formatting and i had no idea why the author chose it, because it made absolutely no sense whatsoever to the story. Not a fan of it.
Jen @ The Bookavid recently posted…[Interview] Lauren James On Her Debut YA Novel “The Next Together”
Awww, I’m sad you hate it so much, Jen! BUT FAIR ENOUGH. XD Not every style has to suit everyone, right?!
I LOVE UNIQUE FORMATTING! But you’re right–far too many books lack in this department. I don’t want EVERY book to be like so, but a few more would be welcome. I especially love the repetition/crossing out method (like in Shatter Me). Especially that part where Juliette types “I am not insane” and crosses it out for, like, a page and a half. It really does demonstrate how she HOPES she isn’t crazy, but believes she might be. It screams with emotion! Anyway, this post is great, as usual! XD
I totally agree! It’s like the crossing out is a peek into their deepest thoughts that they confessed but don’t REALLY want to confess. SO I KINDA LOVE IT. And heck yes = so much emotion! so much screaming!
I both love and hate unique formatting. Sometimes, like you said, it just makes a book stand out. It’s something different, which is nice. Even if it’s only a different color -like the Legend books by Marie Lu. So I love unique formatting, until it makes the book harder to read. For example, The Knife of Never Letting Go. I actually got a headache reading it! Something that chaotic, just isn’t for me. Or poetry. I don’t think I’ve ever read a book written in verse…
I’m curious to check out some of the books you’ve mentioned though!
Jolien @ The Fictional Reader recently posted…Weekly Wrap Up | September #1
Oh yes! Different coloured fonts can totally be cool, like if it’s subtle. The Splintered trilogy did that too! Although I did struggle a bit with the dark red font.
I’ve not read many books with unique formatting, but I really did like it in Shatter Me. A lot of people didn’t seem to like it, but I agree with you and think it tells you about what’s going on in Juliette’s head.
Geek Girl had lists in it, which I really liked. You can’t go wrong with a good list. But it didn’t translate into ebook particularly well. It was in a handwritten font, and I had to stick the Kindle about 5mm from my face to read it properly. That was a bit annoying.
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YES. I loved it! I didn’t love Shatter Me the most, though?! But that was more, personally, because I didn’t feel like the story was moving very fast. But hehe, I still loved the originality.
OH YES. Totally can’t go wrong with a list. LISTS ARE LIFE.
I am very rarely a fan of unique formatting.- I’m very boring that way. Often I find changes in formatting ridiculously distracting and I just stare at the layout as oppose to taking in the words.
However, in books like Shatter Me – the crossing out REALLY worked and showed how being locked up was destroying Juliette. Actually, the formatting was one of the only things I did like in Shatter Me.
Holly @ Lost in a Library recently posted…Fan Loyalty
Ahhh, I do understand that. *nods* Sometimes I find it distracting, but I DO like it more than not. AND YES I LOVED HOW SHATTER ME DID IT. And I loved how, as Juliette grew more stable, the crossing out lessened and stuff. It was such an epic visual representation. :’) (I was kinda annoyed at how slow the series was though, heeh)
Possibly the only book I’ve read with unique formatting (and loved) is The Knife of Never Letting Go probably because I got used to the changes in grammar and spelling AND that mess you so wonderfully photographed up there. I think, if I had the books on me forever, I’d just stare at each page and y’know absorb just how freaking confusing the “New World” is described (and shown) to be. Gah, I love it so much.
Mawa Mahima recently posted…Ten Characters You Just Didn’t Click With
YES I LOVED THE KNIFE OF NEVER LETTING GO SO MUCH. It took me a while to get into the swing of it…with the weird spelling/grammar. BUT. Then I was addicted. I shall be eating the rest of the series asap.
Sometimes I love unique formatting. Sometimes I hate it. I just read Wintergirls and all of the crossed-out words drove me crazy. But I really like reading books written in verse (btw, verse and poetry are often the same thing, but not all verse is poetry).
I think The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood doesn’t have dialogue marks, too. Something like that is hard to get used to but adds a lot to the story.
Emily Seals recently posted…Characters I Didn’t Click With
I loved Wintergirls for that. XD Buuuut, I do understand. That’s why I’m glad there are so many different types of formatting because some just work better for us than others, right?!
OOOH. NICE EXAMPLES. And nice post, Cait. Unique formatting is such an interesting thing to consider and I do enjoy it, I agree that it makes books that little bit more relevant (Lauren Child does it so well, my childhood was filled with wonder for it), but at the same time? Yes. It has t be relevant. I don’t really go for stories that have these creative, unique flares in format if they are pointless to telling the story. If they’re just there to make you remember it, but don’t tell the story in a necessary or important way, then they’re not really for me.
It’s another element of the creativity of authors, and I so want to read a couple of these now and live in all the amazing formatty elements.
xx
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AH YES. I read Charlie and Lola to my nephew/niece ALL the time and I love it, but I noticed my nephew reading it the other day and kind of having trouble following the words scattered all over the page.So yeah. I guess it has downsides too?!
But I LOVE how you it makes books doubly creative — like visually as well as readingly (readingly is totally a word, shush now, don’t doubt this).
I agree that unique formatting is great unless it makes the book unreadable. Now I want to go read all these books!
Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction recently posted…Sunday Post & Giveaways Galore 9/6/15
MY JOB HERE IS DONE THEN. 😉 Seriously, though, if you haven’t tried the Half Bad books they are INCREDIBLE. *hyperventilates*
First, I want to congratulate myself on guessing every book based on the picture alone. Applause break, please. Now. I love unique formatting! LOVE! As long as it is done well. I read a book without dialogue marks and what even is that!? I had no idea what was happening and I hated it. And I am sorry, but the pages and pages of block text? Nope. I would have tagged out of that immediately. My eyes can’t handle that nonsense!
I think the difference between the good and the bad is really quite simple: The good examples were eye-catching, related to the story, and actually broke things up a bit. The bad ones? They made the book harder to read and made you feel like the book was a chore.
As for other styles I like, I LOVED the way Everything, Everything was done- with the little snippets of emails and IMs, and funny anecdotes from Maddy in general. I also like when books have random drawings because I feel like I am cheating the page count 😉
Shannon @ It Starts At Midnight recently posted…This Week At Midnight (77) + Giveaway
I will congratulate you too, Shannon. CLEARLY THIS CEMENTS HOW FABULOUS YOU ARE. And I think I should be congratulated because I had to borrow Shatter Me from the library and WAIT for it to arrive before I could even publish this post. So. Yes. Patience award to me. I NEED PUNCTUATION TOO, THO. That’s my list favourite unique-formatting-twist. >_> It makes it too hard to read. I had even trouble with There Be Lies and I think the dialogue was done in like < and > sort of tags?! Because the narrator was deaf. So it made SENSE. But I didn’t enjoy it so much.
Most of the time I love unique formatting in books – I find it intersting – but that is only if it is done well. If it’s wiredly formatting for no reason at all and it’s so hard to read – then why do it. it’s annoying.
In saying that one of my teachers at uni doesn’t use punctuation in her writing and it’s fab. you have to hear her read it once and then you can read it in her voice and it’s so interesting.
Angel @Angel Reads recently posted…August Wrap Up
TRUE, TRUE. To be honest, I haven’t read a book where I didn’t get WHY they were doing it, although I didn’t like the style as much (like hello, I need punctuation, dangit). XD
The only book I have ‘read’ that was written in verse (free verse), I listened to the audiobook (Brown Girl Dreaming), so it had no impact on my reading at all. In fact because my son’s paternal great-grandfather is African American, and some of his relatives speak with that poetic lilt like Maya Angelou does when she is just talking, I didn’t even know it was written in free verse until I read the synopsis half way though the book. It was narrated by the author and I thought that was just the way she spoke. Ha! I also read a book where the two MC love interests wrote in their journals to each other to tell the story, but for some reason, I don’t think each of them was intended to see the other’s diary? Weird; and as far as this format having an impact on me, haha, I cannot even remember what book it was. The font thing I think I would like, but I don’t remember having read any books where they jazzed up the font in certain places, except when the Harry Potter books had Owl Posts sometimes.. I will tell you what, I am glad it was a Raven Cycle HC I traded my Knife of Never Letting Go for because I think I would have been sad if it was for any other book. .So what was up with Illuminae anyway. The publisher said the reason they couldn’t make it available for Kindle download on Netgalley was because of it’s unique formatting. What was so different? I have been ultra curious, and it seems strange no one who has read the book has mentioned anything about it.
La La in the Library recently posted…THE SUNDAY POST #26
I’ve kind of had that! Like I didn’t realise Extremely Loud and Incredibly close had unique formatting until I was part way through the audio and started reading along with the book. XD THEN I WAS SUPER GLAD FOR THE AUDIO, OMG. The book would’ve been hard as anything to read. But YESSS I’ve heard Illuminae had CRAZY formatting! But I keep seeing it on Netgalley?! I think I did?!? I didn’t request it because I’d heard the formatting was awesome and weird and I always want those kind of books in physical format. *nods*
I think it usually has a point, and I love it. It makes it more artsy. I wouldn’t like hard to read ones. I love the verse ones, and I do think it’s still poetry. 🙂 It really depends on what kind of story. I suppose. I liked the formatting of Everything, Everything and Half Bad/Half Wild. Also, Kiss of Broken Glass. And AWWWW. LIL CAIT AS AN ANGRY TOMATO. Lists are good, too. 🙂 Aw, it sucks you don’t like poetry. 🙁 Oh well, to each their own! I like this post!
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To be honest I prefer books written in a normal way. Like with Shatter Me the writing style and weird crossed out sentences just annoyed me and made it harder to read. I DNF’d that book. I don’t like it when the formatting makes the book harder to read. I do like some unique formatting, but it really depend son the book. I usually prefer f the story is formatted normally and just make up for it by being well written, some repetititon is okay, but a whole page is too much in my opinion. Although I do have to agree it makes the book stand out and easier to remember, although in my case that’s usually standing out in a negative way. Also like you said formatting like verse or poems really limit the story, character development and world building. I am not a big fan of verse either, although if the character writes poems or haikus it can be well done if it’s sprinkled into the story instead of the only way to write.
Lola recently posted…Review: The Duality Bridge by Susan Kaye Quin
I think unique formatting are cool WHEN DONE RIGHT. When it’s awkward and forced, then I’m like what the hell is this? Lol. I haven’t encountered any weird formatting though so that’s good! This post actually reminds me of Shatter Me because like you said, even though the words are crossed out, you can still see what the MC is trying to say/think.
I am SO GLAD you like the crossing out thing in Shatter Me! I see a lot of people on goodreads going on about how stupid it is, but I think it really adds to the story.
And I like the repetition thing…but only when actually reading. It gets kind of annoying in audio books.
And I find lack of quotation marks disorientating as well…it was like that in There Will Be Lies. So distracting.
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I’m more of an advocate for traditional formatting. I’ve not encountered a book with unique formatting like this, but I can see how it could be distracting or just too much. The five billion pleases is a bit much. I could see the crossed out words and just the explosion of mess being useful though as long as they’re used with discretion.
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Erm, I confess, I struggle with different types of formatting in books A LOT. I struggled in Half Bad until I really got absorbed into it, and The Knife of Never Letting Go, I admit, I liked the voice aspect, but I don’t do verse, or poems, or weird font choices, or different aspects unless it brings something extra to the story rather than changing the story, if that makes sense? I’m not sure it does, but I don’t think I like different formatting, and I do sometimes think it’s been done for attention.. shoot me? GREAT POST THOUGH.
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I love books with weird formatting also. Two that I know of (that I haven’t read yet) are “S” by Doug Dorst and JJ Abrams and “House of Leaves” by someone… whose name I forget. 😛
AHHH We shall LOVE weird and creatively formatted books together then. :’)
The second I saw this title I thought of The Knife of Never Letting Go! I love how they use the jumble of paragraphs to explain noise, and it even writes over one of your cons: I believe it would translate very well to audio.
This post is
a) hilariously written. I’m cracking up.
b) totally on point.
See what I did there? I made a uniquely formatted comment on your uniquely formatting text post! Ah! Cleverness. 😉
I, too, am a fan of unique formats when done well. A recent example, for me, is Illuminae by Amie Kaufman. It is so stylized that it can’t even be read on the Kindle. I downloaded the PDF from Net Galley and it is amazing, but since (for whatever reason) the file doesn’t allow for zoom, some of the documents in the book are too small to be read. I ended up e-mailing the Publisher and requesting a print copy (which I hope they take me up on!) Up to the point I was worried I was going to miss something, it was amazingly good. I was zooming through it. So the unique formatting works for the book, but it really needs to be read in print. It would be completely untranslatable for audio, I would think.
Great post! I am going to share it tomorrow on my Shout-Outs post!
AHHHH THANK YOU! 😀 And I admire your cleverness. I do. *nods* You clearly deserve a medal and a small giant cake. ANYWAY. I’m dyyyyying for Illuminae. I’ve requested a print ARC of that too and jfaksld I’m just waiting and hoping so hard. 😀 But I do agree that print is best. I’ve read some where the formatting is lost if it’s an ebook too. *nods* And, agh, graphic novels are particularly hard in ebook.
I like unique formatting… at times. At other times, I hate it. It depends on the book. The formatting. And why they have chosen to use that. Is it important for the story. Does it add something to the story. I need it to be for a real reason, and not just to try and look ‘DIFFERENT’. I LOVE Half Bad and the wonderful formatting of that.
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I ADORE unique formatting in books. I think it’s an art form and combines words with pictures with fonts with visuals with ideas in an extremely effective way. I haven’t read very many, but one that sticks out in my experience is Book Thief. Really done well there.
Also I heard Illuminae has some SPECTACULAR examples of unique formatting used to GREAT EFFECT, but I haven’t read that one.
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I actually haven’t come across anything like this, besides The Knife of Never Letting Go one.
Although actually, I read This is the Water and every sentence started with ‘This is’. That was a weird one… I couldn’t really get used to the format, but I was intrigued enough to carry on.
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YES, yes to all of these! That page in Chaos Walking was absolutely brilliant. It’s one of those times when just describing it wouldn’t have had nearly the impact as printing that chaos of words. I was introduced to bizarre postmodern formats and such in my fiction classes in college, and it’s SO cool to see the trend permeating YA! I remember books with only footnotes (no text), books told in columns and redactions. I think that as long as the format enhances the story instead of being merely decorative, it’s so powerful.
A.S. King often does this to good effect as well, using white space.
C.J.
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I love the unique formatting as well Cait, it really gets across the point of the story with just a few words and it really adheres to writing as an artform you know? Like you can just FEEL and HEAR Nathan’s confusion and just how annoying the mobile phones for him. Out with conventions I say!
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I’m going to be honest here – I am a traditional girl and am very bad at handling unique formatting. Sure, it can pop up once in a chapter but when it comes to whole books being unique like I have heard Everything, Everything is and Illuminae it makes me nervous! I find books in verse hard enough and that is worrying because I do want to try those ones as well. I did like Blood Red Road by Moira Young which is written in bad spelling from beginning to end, which gives me some hope 😀
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I like unique formatting, I think it’s refreshing to see the authors are being creative and trying to narrates the story with something different. But sometimes it’s also distracting, like in Shatter Me. I get a glimpse inside the instability of Juliette’s mind, but it’s kind of boring reading the same things over and over again. I really like the font size illustration or books that randomly has illustration on them.
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I agree! 😀 I think it’s refreshing totally, and it makes the book stand out somewhat, too. *nods* I always remember books with unique formatting better.
I’m thinking about the neverending story by Michael Ende. It is set in two worlds, our world and Phantásien and while everything that is set in our world is printed in red letters, the things that happen in Phantásien are written in blue.
And once, when I started writing a story from two points of view, I formatted it on my computer so that the girls view would be left-bound and the boys right-bound or whatever you call it. It wasn’t a love story, but I was telling the same scene twice from different points of view.