I saw this on Hedgewytch's tumblr, who seems to have taken it in turn from a long line of pass-the-parcel.
I've read in the past some angst-ridden debates online about what's the "correct" font to use in submissions, so I copied this helpful guide here. You might need to click the image to read it.
Times New Roman 12 point seems to be the standard, by the way, but as far as I know, editors couldn't care less what font we use. I may test this theory by doing my next submission in Comic Sans.
32 comments:
Hmmm... I've always been partial to Wingdings. Maybe I'll try that. :)
Is there a font for Egyptian hieroglyphs?
I hate sans serif types! Hate them! I can never tell the letters apart and I get a vicious headache trying to read them. I have heard that comic sans, I think it is, is an ink saver if you're printing out crit copies. Normally, though, I never use anything but TNR 12 point or, in a pinch, Book Antiqua or Bookman's Old Style. Now, for fancy stuff I just love Black Chancery and Lucida Handwriting is nice.
I have been told, btw, that having favorite and least-favorite types is a sign of hopeless geekdom. *G*
Hi Loretta,
Having a relationship with typefaces probably is a symptom of terminal geekiness (I like Lithos, myself) but you're signed with Janet, so hey, it's already too late for you.
Luckily, Times New Roman 12 is what I regard as standard, but for book covers there are some lovely fonts available. Can I put in a word for Possum Saltare? A quirky font and I love its name too.
I like your blog header, Gary, but have you considered a serif typeface for the content?
Hi Lexi!
So Loretta hates sans serif, and you like serif.
The floor is now open for suggestions for a content font for this blog.
Any replacement has to be supported by all browsers, which severely limits the choice to (I think): Arial, Georgia, Trebuchet, Courier, Times and Verdana.
The heading font by the way is Lithos, an Adobe font based on Ancient Greek lettering style. It's also the font on the book cover. Lithos is not supported in browsers so I imported the blog heading as an image.
Lexi, I just had a look at Possum Saltare and...er...quirky definitely describes it.
This is quite funny! I should have guessed when I posted about fonts someone would think to apply it to me.
All opinions welcome!
I'm a big fan of Georgia! But I must say that sans serif fonts don't particularly bug me.
I'm designing all the paper goods for my wedding right now, and I was scarily obsessed with fonts for a while. Now that I've picked the ones I'll be using, I'm only obsessed with those.
However, I will not be using Albemarle Swash for my manuscript. I'll stick to Times, because it's my old friend. :)
My wife is partial to Papyrus, but I've got to go w/ TNR except when editors call for Courier (though I do have a soft spot for Copperplate Gothic)
All these fonts I'd never heard of...
Albemarle Swash looks nice! If the font is anything to go by, it will be an elegant wedding, LT.
Bane, I can't recall anyone ever actually requiring Courier, but I guess someone does. Maybe it was useful for estimating pages back in the good old days, since it's fixed width?
Thanks, Gary! It's going to be a Victorian Garden Tea-Party. So elegant is what I'm going for :) I guess we'll see!
I must resist...I must resist...I must resist...
Okay, I can't resist...a Victorian Tea Party Wedding be a great setting for a murder mystery. Especially if you have any exotic animals wandering amongst the guests (like, for example, a giraffe).
Are there any relatives who don't get on?
LOL.
I SO wish I could afford a giraffe.
As for the relatives, well, I think we might be out of luck there. However, I'm sure one of the guests will bring a guest that's . . . expendable.
In that case you need a gorgeous, witty and active Great Aunt to bring along her boyfriend, the billionaire shipping magnate, who expires of an exotic poison slipped into his champagne.
It just so happens a small vial of said exotic poison - normally found only in the wilds of Madagascar - was kept in the safe at the zoo. When the detective (who also happens to be the bride) checks, she discovers the vial has gone missing.
It all becomes more confused when it transpires one of the waitering staff is the long lost son of the billionaire, who was cut off by the father for dropping out of Harvard law school to pursue his dream of becoming a literary novelist.
(I considered an exploding parrot that lands on the billionaire's shoulder, but this is a cozy, not a comedy.)
I vote for including the exploding parrot.
And I'm too nervous to stray outside the lines when it comes to queries and fonts. Heck, a short story I recently submitted REQUIRED TNR 12pt, and I sighed in relief. Yanno, just to know for sure.
We finish the sorbet course, and the spidery, white-gloved waiter I had almost knocked over earlier takes my cup and spoon. His hands are shaking slightly, but this doesn't register with me until later.
Dinner finishes, at last, without further ado. Imagine my surprise when I look up at a looming shadow and see Great Aunt Mildred teetering over me, honking into her tiny handkerchief.
"He's dead!" she wails, her head lolling about on her neck for a moment before she pitches forward, into my lap, clasping my ecru lace to her mascara-smeared eyes. "Mmf brbbles fld!"
"Aunt Mildred." Trying to claw her face out of my lap is like separating butter from toast after it's melted. "Aunt Mildred, I can't hear you."
The string quartet picks up a lively waltz as she lifts her head off of my dress. Black streaks run down both her face and my skirt. Sigh. So much for the gossip columns, I can see them now: "The bride wore ecru lace, streaked with an unfashionable and horrid zebra print applied by her great aunt's face. We sincerely hope the Laritz-Pierces do not move to Paris in the fall with hopes of the new Mrs. pursuing a fashion career."
I shake myself out of my stupor and turn back to Aunt Mildred. Her mouth is gurgling, her eyes are wild. Surely it was just news of another of her pack of dachshunds falling victim to old age? I lean in closer, trying to make out the words between the wails, and my heart jumps.
"My Bobby's dead!"
"What?" I jump up, knocking into the table. My champagne flute wobbles and then tips over, dashing bubbles across my third course. Percy rises by my side, clasping my elbow and hissing in my ear. "My dear, everyone is looking."
For the first time in all of the three hours that we've been married, I round on my husband, and raise my voice. "Percy, I don't care, a man is dead!"
The string quartet cuts off mid-arpeggio, and I see Flora Gastberger swoon into the best man's arms with a gasp. All eyes are in fact on me, I realize.
Oh well. I am a detective, after all. I can handle this. I turn to ask Aunt Mildred to direct me to Bobby's body.
Before I can say anything, I pause. "What's that sound?"
I turn to the east, away from the table again, and listen as it approaches. Out of the night, the giraffe gallops onto and then across the dance floor, dragging a slender man with white gloves behind it.
(I personally loves cozies with a touch of comedy. Though I feel an exploding parrot would have been great, I agree it may have been too much).
LT, you'll write this book, won't you? Please tell me you'll write this.
Susan, the exploding parrot might come in handy later to eliminate the zoo's nightwatchman Who Knew Too Much. After that, all the characters will flinch whenever a bird flies overhead.
And by the way, from this point forward L.T., you'll always be Mrs Laritz-Pierce to me.
I'd feel a little bad since you came up with the plot :) But I have to admit, it has the brain juices flowing . . .
I'll graciously accept a mention in the acks.
Write a few scenes and see what happens!
It's a plan, then! :D
L.T., if you need any more dead bodies, I have LOTS of expendable relatives. *G*
And yes, Gary, I didn't like to say but a serif font for your content would be loverly for those of us with vision problems. :) TNR gets my vote, but then I am a bit stodgy (as hopeless geeks go).
Loretta, thanks for telling me, and for goodness sake do mention if there's a problem!
No Papyrus. No Comic Sans. That is all.
Yes Ma'am!
I've set it to Georgia. It's a better screen font than Times and blogger supports it.
Please everyone let me know if there are any problems.
Loretta-- I will definitely let you know when I need more bodi-- er, names. :)
Gary-- Georgia looks great! Love it.
Hey L.T., there's a basic rule about not including your friends and rellies in stories, but no rule against killing friends of friends. If you deplete Loretta's store let me know and I'll see what I can add.
Having said that, we have one friend who's asked to be murdered...
We do? DO tell...
It's the local "we". My wife and I do ice dance for fun, and share a coach with the Australian champions, Danielle and Gregory.
Danielle has asked for an ice skating murder mystery. If I did it, she would be the victim.
And I'll note that our coach Monica wants an ice skating murder too, though she wants the body found embedded under the ice. Which would be a tight fit because rink ice is thin.
Ah; that makes sense. Here I was thinking Matt had volunteered himself.
Also: how cool is that about the ice dancing! I've always thought that would be a neat thing to get into, alas, my knees prevent me.
You know, the killer could be the zamboni driver, who floods the arena to cover the body and then smoothes it over after it freezes, and the person who finds the body notices something is wrong when they trip up onto the ice the next day.
Good try. Yes, I can see how that might work, as long as the driver digs into the ice first to make room..
My mild thought was to drop a high voltage cable onto the ice during a performance.
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