to Cecelia:

This is more for your amusement than anything else. I had an idea today about mystery books and since you’re the only mystery writer I know, I thought I’d send it along. I’d been thinking for a while of alternative ways to present a novel; aside from the graphic novels currently in vogue, how about a novel that changes typeface as you go along? Who decided that authors be limited to bold and italics? I understand that too much dynamic type can be distracting—it all depends on how you use it. But anything on paper will be visual by nature, so why not make the most of the medium by introducing some well-chosen type modifications?

Of course I’m not the first person to think of that, but I’m surprised it’s not done more frequently. Have you seen a book called House of Leaves by Mark Danielewski? I haven’t gotten my hands on a copy of it yet, but apparently he uses changes in typeface and well-chosen page breaks to effectively increase the drama.

So I had all of this rolling around in my head, and last night I watched “Stolen Kisses”, a wonderful old François Truffaut movie. At one point the main character, Antoine Doinel, takes his latest read and a knife into the bathroom with him. His wife notes that the pages still haven’t been opened. I guess I’d never known that paperbacks weren’t always cut at the factory. It seemed kind of quaint, and the picture stayed in my mind of someone holding a book in one hand and a knife in the other.

Which led me to think of this for a modern-day mystery novel. Yeah, the book and knife thing is gimmicky, but I wonder how the experience of reading a book would change if you were forced to open the pages? Would it just be annoying, and break your concentration, or could the enforced pauses be used as a narrative device? Would you feel required to cut the pages in order, and be less likely to skip around? Etc…

Anyway, I hope all is well with y’all! Sorry I didn’t get to see you over the holidays…

best,
Carl