Book Synthesis: Text Justification

Tammy Wynette and KLF were right when they sang about “Justified and Ancient.”  The justification of text dates back to the process of typesetting when movable type was composed by hand by arranging metal sorts into lines of text and words.

Justified Text, or full justification as it is also called, is text set evenly within a column so that both the left and right margins are aligned perfectly from top to bottom.  It is common for spaces between the text in each line to be stretched so that the text aligns perfectly with the line above and below it.

The history of justification is explained as so… Justification has been the preferred setting of type in many western languages through the history of movable type. This is due to the classic Western manuscript book page being built of a column or two columns, which is considered to look “best” if it is even-margined on the left and right. The classical Western column did not rigorously justify, but came as close as feasible when the skill of the penman and the character of the manuscript permitted.

Lines that have been stretched beyond their normal width (sometimes containing too few words such as the last line of a paragraph) are called loose lines and lines that have been compressed are called tight lines.  This is important to know because you can end up with a line of text in your book’s body that looks something like this….

This  is     a      line       of       text    that     has     been      stretched  too       much.

Notice that the spacing between the text does not look even. In most cases this situation can be resolved by breaking the body of text into another paragraph or by moving a word or two from the previous line to the line that is being stretched too far.

My biggest pet peeve when looking at previews of books that have been queried to us for review is finding that the text in the book is only flushed left, and the right margin is left jagged rather than being flushed left and right.  As history notes, it is common procedure for the text to be fully justified left to right, without that jagged edge down the right.  Even though some indie authors will argue that the jagged right margin makes the text easier to read, it is not acceptable if you want your book to look and feel like a traditionally published book.  We’ve shown you before but for examples of each of these, look here.

So, how do you fix it, you ask?

When I write, I tend to leave my body of text with a jagged right edge, and only justify it once I have finished my first draft and begin the editing process.  However, you may choose to justify your body of text right from the start.  If you do this, it may make the loose and tight lines easier to fix as you go.  But remember, when you are writing, you should do just that.  Write.  Save the formatting for the editing process which comes later.

But to fix the justification, all you have to do is select the body of text and then click on the “justify” option which is located in your tool bar.  It looks something like this, mimicking the look of your lines of text:

Yep, it’s as easy as that.  And justifying your text can definitely help give your book a traditional feel.  Leaving that jagged edge is a sure sign of novice, and also one reason why LLBR may not consider your book for review.

Next month, we hope to have some special guests discussing the first chapter of a novel.  What goes into a good first chapter, and, well, makes it good?  Find out next month!