Visual/font tools for writing

[Flaviosky]

Hello!

This time I come with a specific issue. I want to show when you hear this kind of hellish voice that sounds distorted, and I've come up with this:

“I tOLd yOu…you’LL neVEr geT Rid oF Me…I aM bEYoNd liFe anD dEAth…"

May this way to write a hellish/distorted voice work or it's just too messy or confusing?

So...

Are there other visual tools using caps, fonts or any other that serve certain purposes?

Hoping to hear your opinions!

 

[Valtharius]

I think what you did could come across as cliché.

 

[msstice]

Is this a kids or YA book? Outside of that the effect might end up being comical. It might be better to describe the voice and make the description scary.

 

[Flaviosky]

Outside of that the effect might end up being comical

Well, that's something I wanted to find out, so thanks for that.

 

[Wayne Mack]

Trust your description and dialog to provide the tone for the reader. For me, the text was hard to read and would pull me out of the story to pay attention to the formatting.

 

[Kerrybuchanan]

I’d rely on the visceral reactions of whoever hears the voice to portray a sense of menace. Not convinced about the text itself — as mentioned above, seems a bit cliché.

 

[tinkerdan]

“I tOLd yOu…you’LL neVEr geT Rid oF Me…I aM bEYoNd liFe anD dEAth…"

I've read a few books that do something different.
But usually with shorter sections. If they did it they might do it this way.

I. Told. You. You'll never get rid of me. I . Am. Beyond. Life. And. Death.

 

[HareBrain]

I. Told. You. You'll never get rid of me. I . Am. Beyond. Life. And. Death.

Shatner, is that you?

 

[tinkerdan]

You know that wasn't his fault.
It was the script writer.
He left on all the hidden formats and those dots in the spaces looked like periods.
[Tinkers false facts: No. 89564832209814764]

 

[Toby Frost]

I wouldn't use any effects like this in text except italics for thoughts, emphasis and maybe psychic communication. I've seen random capitals used to suggest stupidity on the internet, too, although perhaps only in politics. Likewise, when comics have a person shouting "Noooo" as they fall off a cliff, I always read it to rhyme with "Moo".

I think this is one of those areas where books can't quite do what films can, and the effect has to be inferred from what the character is like and has done, perhaps with an earlier description of their voice.

Of course, Terry Pratchett's Death spoke only in capitals, but that was outright comedy and the rules are a bit different for that.

 

[Dan Jones]

I really wouldn't use this, it looks like a Gen-Z youtube comment.

I think you're better off describing the voice and maybe using italics without quotation marks. Or with quotation marks, but the jar of the omission could make it seem a little more otherworldly.

 

[sknox]

First and before all, I would make the voice menacing using words. If the character isn't menacing, nothing will make him so. If his voice--what he says and how he says it--is not menacing, then typography will not make it so.

Once you have achieved menace, ask yourself whether typographic tricks are still worth the effort.