You never write for yourself (a), because writing, the language itself, has a social, collective character, that is, the we write about something, we want to reach the "other", we intend to achieve that goal that motivated us to talk about a certain subject matter. In this sense, the interlocutor who is on the “there” side needs to perfectly decipher the ideas expressed by the sender.
In this way, the subject we will talk about a little more from now on comes into play – textual aesthetics. Thus, conceiving the word “aesthetics” in its literal sense, we have the impression that we are referring to appearance, is it not true? A perfectly adequate and correct finding, as the way a given text is presented is of fundamental importance for the perfect understanding by the interlocutor. In this sense, some statements that we make here may help you, in the sense of making you more and more skilled in this endeavor, do you agree?
So let's start with the way the lyrics are presented. Hence, you may feel questioned (a): Does a text, to be considered of good quality, need to be composed of well-drawn, attractive letters?
Obviously not, because what is really necessary is that the handwriting is within reach of the receiver, in order to make the interlocution materialize fully. In this way, it can even be presented graphically better than others, but without exaggeration, without distortions. In other words, we must always make use of cursive letters, as they represent that conventional form, common to all. No block letters, big ones, ok?
Another aspect is due to the spacing, given that we often see a very large space, sometimes a very small one, a fact that also hinders the reader's understanding. In that sense, we have to be skillful in knowing how to dose these limits, right? This pattern that you determine also extends to the font size, as it is not uncommon to find texts out there with large print, small print, large print... and so on.
The paragraphs? How can we not talk about them, huh? It may even seem difficult for the issuer to build them, making the correct division of the ideas discussed, but it will certainly make the reader's understanding much easier. Therefore, when talking about them, we also remember the margins, that space used when you want to start another idea. They also need to be standardized, not forgetting that at the end of the line, if you need to separate the syllables of a given word, this procedure must be done according to well-defined criteria, correct.
Erasures? No way, because imagine we are faced with a text all crossed out, deteriorated? Deteriorated yes, because depending on the strength we try to erase this or that word, the sheet can often come apart, tear. And scribbles instead of erasing? It is also not advisable, as it compromises the quality and aesthetics of the text in the same way. Thus, the ideal is that we first make a draft, in the sense of listing all the ideas, and then... we put them on paper, ok? Don't forget these recommendations.
By Vânia Duarte
Graduated in Letters