On The Way Words Look

I’ve been thinking about this lately, how the way words look can say just as much as the words themselves.

Sometimes I’ll write a sentence, stare at it, and realize it doesn’t feel right. Not because of what it says, but because of how it looks on the page. The rhythm’s off. The spacing feels rushed. The line break comes too soon, or too late, or maybe there are too many.

And when I fix it, when I move one word down, or give the sentence a little more air, suddenly it feels different. Truer somehow.

I think that’s the magic of writing. The way it looks shapes how it’s received.
A word in ALL CAPS feels like it’s trying to prove something.
A line in lowercase feels like it’s just thinking out loud.
A phrase italicized jumped off the page, demanding consideration.

And a sentence with space around it feels like it’s letting you breathe.

Maybe that’s why I can spend ten minutes rearranging a single paragraph. I’m not just editing for meaning, but sometimes I’m editing for feeling.

Because sometimes the message isn’t just in what we say.
It’s in how the words sit.
How they move.
How they look when we finally stop trying to make them perfect, and just let them be.

— James Burge
Author of The Shape of Ordinary