You Again: She’s a Type A

~ Jenny

First, thank you all very much, I had a great time reading the comments. Still not sure what Zelda’s deal is that gets her hooked, but I have plenty of options now.

Then I played with the type and thought about Zelda, and she has to be this one:

Because it looks like her, that why.

I know many of you were seduced by Fireside Chat, but the problem there is that it has such a strong identity already, before a book is even attached to it, that I think it overwhelms what I want the book to be. I love that font, but it’s just too classic Christie, and I’m looking for classic Crusie. On the other hand, the Archive type that’s so perfect for Zelda is too heavy and threatening for this story. So I think this is it:

This I like, now that I’ve calmed down that awful staring “O” in the middle of the “You” by making it lower case. This is formal and old-fashioned but it’s got that whacked-out undercurrent to it. I’m pretty sure this is what the book I want to write looks like.

And the fact that the Zelda font doesn’t match the world-of-the-book font? Symbolism, baby. Yep, these are my choices.

I still haven’t opened the file because I’m still working on Agnes but I’m really close now. I’m taking tomorrow to cut 5, 584 words from it (argh) and then I’m done. Forever.

And shortly after that, I’m opening that file. Well, I might take a break. But really soon . . .

26 thoughts on “You Again: She’s a Type A”

  1. Jenny, Agnes seems to get shorter everytime you mention it! I’m trying not to panic. I keep thinking about all those great scenes – like coleslaw – that might end up homeless. We should have an “adopt a scene” program so that they can have a long and productive life, giving joy to many people. Why yes I am tired, and yes there is alcohol involved.

    Like the font choices. That one was my second choice. And yes it is more “Crusie”. Oh. Well you would know that, wouldn’t you?

  2. I think you are right on about Zelda and the fonts. Those are the ones I liked, and it looks right with the smaller case “o”. I think Zelda is on her way.

    You have to cut over 5000 words? Can I have them? I’ll give them a good home and they can come and play in my MSS and maybe they can help me find the right road to Oz. I’m willing to take on that responsibility. Really. you can trust me. *grin*

  3. It’s interesting what a difference font makes. Anything that brings you closer to Zelda is a good thing. You’ll write her when you’re ready. Meanwhile, we hang on your every word. YOU ARE A GREAT WRITER!

  4. It’s your story and only you can tell it, but it sure was fun getting in the sandbox with you and the other Cherries. Can’t wait to see Zelda come to life on the page and wave to me from a B&N shelf.
    I’m having a Crusie fest this week. Just picked up Manhunting and two others I’d been unable to get before. Yay.

  5. I had a thought, and thought I’d share:

    YoU
    AGaIN

    :::shrugs::: I just thought that having _both_ middle letters lower case would look even better.

  6. Today, I attended a talk on mystery writing by a well-known author. After the talk, I was standing in the back of the room scarfing up cookies for the drive home and listening to the conversation between this author and one of the other attendees. When the author asked this newbie writer who she liked and who she’d most like to write like, her answer was..That Crusie Woman!!!

    You never know when there’s a Cherry in the room listening in!

  9. I like the YoU AGAIN typeface; it looks like roses rambling over the front of hte house. I also agree with ChelSierra – what does it look like with the lower case ‘a’?

  10. It looks strange with the lower case A.
    I think the fact that it’s three letters and the Y kind of wraps around the O makes the YoU work, but dropping the middle letters of Again out just makes it hard to read and creates white space in the middle which screws up the eye movement over it. But i tried it, too, because I like the symbolism, the cap A for what happened in the past and the cap N for what’s happening now, and then the lower case letters showing the passage of time.
    But I think it works better in the YoU. Y is for the summer of ’88 when everything happened to the heroine, and U is for 2008 and the now of the story, and the lower case “o” is for the average empty years in between. Not that she was empty, they’re just empty for the story. Nothing happened of importance.
    And then the all caps AGAIN hits the spoken emphasis, too: We’re back here AGAIN with these same old problems? You AGAIN??

  11. Preface this comment with – I’m just a reader . . .

    When you asked in the last post “What made Zelda need to search for her Dad NOW?” . . . or something like that. . . my thoughts just keep circling round this idea. . .

    Her mom died recently. She’s alone in the world – except for the dad she never knew. Without your sense of family – Where does one belong?

    I just keep thinking about how awful it’d be to lose my mom. Thank God she’s young! Even then, no guarantees.

    Just what was on your mind.

    Good luck with Agnes. Thankfully, we can trust you to leave us with the Good Stuff.

    I love that you are blogging more frequently!

  12. Maybe Zelda had some sort of medical situation that got her thinking of her family biological history. You start getting older, and this stuff comes up. At 20 she didn’t really care, but at 40? Healthcare looms large…

  13. That Crusie Woman. *snort* that could be the name of the movie website. my mom is still waiting for someone good to make your books into movies.

    glad you got the fonts picked out. ummm, about Agnes…i could, you know, take those cut words, no problem, give them a good home, feed them cookies. they’d have fun- my dorm house is party central. (you know, but good, clean partying, the place you want your kids to go) 🙂

    i was born in 88. just throwing that out there.

  14. Thanks for pointing that out, OH. Those of us who were already adults in 1988 LOVE to think about that.

    Jenny, it’s so cool that you not only craft such lovely novels but polish the details so carefully – and can explain WHY things look good and make sense or don’t. Thanks!

    I don’t deserve any extra words. I would just devour them, all at once, then re-read them over and over again. No fun, no cookies (I’m in charge of cookie eating at my house), no new life in a new story. There wouldn’t even be any ruminating, for anyone searching for digestive metaphors. That’s the nice thing about words – they’re still intact even after you’ve consumed them, absorbed them, and made them part of how you think.

  15. Someone might have suggested this already, but what if Zelda was going through her life, not exactly happily but close enough to not care, when something she either sees or hears about is strongly reminescent of the image she has of her father, bringing the subject into the forefront of her consciousness?

    Maybe even in the Christie style, the antagonist planned for this to occur and a series of events start taking place that led her back to where whatever-it-was happened, her childhood home, making her a prime target for the predator to strike.

    Or maybe it’s not so much of a thriller, Zelda’s not really in DANGER, and I’ve just read too many mystery novels and and spewing them up in a couple paragraphs.

    Love the look of the lowercase “o”.

  16. If your ears were burning today, Jenny, I was talking to Lisa Scottoline about you. She came out here to speak to the friends of Rancho Mirage Library. Anyway, it was so funny, I was at the luncheon with another Cherry and we both said, “She sounds just like Jenny.” You two have the same type of humor, plus that wonderful totally relaxed way of presenting. No wonder I love both of your writing styles. She was so interested in talking to me about romance writing that I was for once speechless. Heh. Well, almost.

  17. I love the typefaces you chose, too. I like that the o doesn’t change its shape when it goes from uppercase to lowercase, only its size. Like the core of the word almost fits with the other letters, but not quite.

    Could we have the director’s cut version of Agnes? Please? Pretty please with sugar on top. And a cherry Dove bar, of course.

  18. Ooooh! Someone’s been playing. This is very cool. Love the colors and the side bars and the neat comment thingies. Snazzzzy!

  19. That would be Mollie.
    She designed it and then we talked about it on the phone while she tweaked it (There was orange and blue at one point, but we fixed that.) Isn’t she a terrific designer?
    And thanks for putting up with the industrial gray while the design work was being done. It looked like cement, didn’t it?

  23. I LOVE it!! That was my favorite, but the O was a little disturbing… problemo solved! I may not be the most creative color in the crayon box, but man I sure appreciate those that are! Way to go Jenny and Mollie!

  26. Yeah, that “O” was bothering me, too. Looks great now.

    Do you get any say in the font they actually use on the book’s cover?

    Go, Mollie! Elegant and talented as ever.

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