Sunday, August 29, 2010

Type-fonts?!

It came to my attention recently that it's really important to me what font my stories are written in.

My favourite font to write in is Calibri - it just looks sweet on the page to me and generally makes me happy with what I'm writing. I'm okay with Times New Roman and will use it if I have to but I absolutely do NOT like my writing when it's in Courier or Courier New font.

There's no reasonable explanation for this but I read it and it just seems blah in Courier. This is a real pain because many contest entries (at least here in Australia) require that the entry font is Courier.

Anyway I'm the first to admit that I have many strange quirks, so I was wondering.... is it just me or does the font matter to you as well???

12 comments:

Sally Clements said...

I always use Times New Roman, because you can be guaranteed that it will look like times no matter what machine it appears on. I don't like courier and other non proportional fonts either, and will only use it if I have to (for an entry or something).

Lacey Devlin said...

I use to have a thing for Arial but then I read that submissions should always be in Times or Courier. I've opted for Times and forced myself to get use to it ;). Unfortunately I've also downloaded a lot of fonts so it would be so easy to find another to have an affair with! This is me trying to exercise a little restraint ha!

Angie Peters said...

If it's any consolation, it's not just you, Rach :) I don't like Courier or Courier New fonts either. I dont' know wny. Maybe 'cos I'm used to Times New Roman :)

Rachael Johns said...

Okay ladies - so its official, we all HATE Courier so why the hell do these contests insist we use it. You get less on the page too.

Maybe we should start a group protesting against Courier in contests - lol!

Jackie Ashenden said...

I don't like courier either. Takes up lots of room. I use Times New Roman because, well, it looks like a proper book. Hehe. Yeah,why is Courier the font for contests anyway?

Rachael Johns said...

I don't know why Courier is the font for contests Jackie but I DO know it's STOOPID and needs to be stopped - lol!

Cathryn Hein said...

I used to write in Courier New all the time and then swapped to TNR because that's what my publisher wanted. The thought of going back gives me the horrors but sometimes swapping fonts, especially during editing, helps me pick up more errors. TNR can look really tight and make your eyes hurt when you're concentrating hard.

One thing I've learnt is to never give a non-writer something to read in Courier. The work could be a masterpiece but they'll hate it regardless because the font irritates so much.

Rachael Johns said...

Ooh Cathryn - you always add something really interesting to the discuss. Interesting about using different fonts for editing! And good tip on the non-readers with Courier too :)

Suzanne Brandyn Author said...

I used to always use New Times Roman, due to editors want material in that font, but now I use Veranda a lot, and Calibri. It appears neater on the screen. lol.. My opinion only. :)

Joanne Coles said...

I always wrote in courier but then when it came time for me to print out a whole ms for the RNA New Writers' Scheme last year I realised I could cut 40odd pages by changing to TNR. Amazing but true.

So I always use that now, even if not printing out because I like to think I'm being green :-)

Janette Radevski said...

Coming in verrryyyy late to say that mine is Tahoma. My old workplace used it as the 'standard' font, a whole lot better than times new roman...

Rachael Johns said...

Suz - I like Calibri but have never heard of Veranda, will have to check it out!

Joanne - WOW amazing what a diff to page count a font can make. Definitely something to think about when printing :)

Janette - i just tried Tahoma and am loving it. Changed my ST wip into that font!