Novels

- [Instructor] In this movie, I'll talk about some considerations for typesetting a novel, and I'd like to make two big points. The first is that the typography should be invisible, by which I mean that your reader is motivated, they're reading the book voluntarily. The type should serve the text without drawing too much attention to itself. And the second point is that the text flow is linear. It starts on page one. It continues to the end in a single column, and for that reason, when using InDesign, we want to use a primary text frame. First of all, let me just say a few words about the choice of typeface. Here I am on Adobe Fonts, and I can use the classification filter here to drill down, to give me a short list of candidate typefaces. I want a serif typeface with a medium weight, relatively high X height, standard width, and medium contrast that has an accompanying italic. That gives me over a hundred potential font families to choose from. If you go with a classic typeface, like Garamond or Caslon, you really can't go wrong. Here are two examples: one a paperback, the other a hardback. The paragraphs are differentiated with first line indents. Sections are denoted with a line space, followed by a non-indented paragraph. The paperback has 30 lines per page, the hardback, 32 lines per page. Both allow for between 60 to 70 characters per line. And in both cases, the margins are generous enough to frame the type area, and to avoid any content being lost in the spine. Here I am in the New Document dialogue in InDesign, Command or Control + N. I'm going to work with a page that is six inches by nine inches, facing pages, and very importantly, I want a primary text frame. For now, I'll leave the margins as they are. There is my primary text frame. We see on the Pages panel, I currently have just a single page. When I place my text file into that primary text frame, InDesign will create as many pages as necessary to accommodate the text. And if I change the size of my type so that my text runs shorter or longer, then the page count will automatically adjust. The first thing I'd want to do is create a paragraph style for my body text, which is going to define the appearance of most of the text, and the paragraphs, which are exceptions, will be based on this paragraph style. So let's say I use Adobe Garamond Pro. Type size for a novel is somewhere between 10 and 12 points. The leading, or line spacing, can be quite generous, somewhere between two to four points bigger than the point size. I'm going to go with 16 points. I would like my alignment to be justified, which is probably more common than ragged alignment, but it really is a matter of personal preference, and I would like to specify a first line indent. The size of the first line indent will be the size of the type, or one em space. Having created that paragraph style, and there are more things that I need to do to it, but I can always go back and revisit and change the paragraph style options, but I'll now just select all of my type by pressing Command or Control + A, and then applying the style to my selected type. That will cause the type in this case to run longer, and for pages to be added. Another benefit of using a primary text frame is that I can come to the parent page spread and change the margins. Actually, before I do that, I will change my unit of measurement by right-clicking where the rulers intersect the points, and change my margins to 64, 72 for the bottom, 48 for the inside, and 44 for the outside. And then choose Adjust Layout. Just before I check this, you'll see I currently have the dotted line, which indicates the height of the previous text frame, and down at the bottom as well. When I choose Adjust Layout, we'll see that the text frame is now resized according to the new margin dimensions, and that will apply on all of my document pages. Obviously, there is much more that needs to be done, but with a novel or continuous prose, you really start the project off on the front foot if you use a primary text frame.