Literary White Space

Literary
White Space

The visual construction of writing guides our internal reading voice and impacts our interpretation of a text

Eliza Campbell

The act of writing eludes to an inherent preoccupation with the written word. Makes sense, right? Writing is all about text; writers use words in much the same way that an artist uses colours when painting a picture. When we write—be it an essay, a poem or a fictional narrative—we weave a tapestry of literary techniques throughout, creating an end product that is both complex and multifaceted. Through characterization, foreshadowing, anecdote, simile and metaphor, the writer is able to control what a reader interprets from a text. Literary techniques are responsible for what we read—but what about how we read? 

The voice that you are hearing in your head as you read this sentence is a phenomenon known as subvocalisation. Subvocalisation or ‘inner voice’ is the internal speech that provides the sound of a word as it is read—it is your very own omniscient narrator. Your inner voice is a vessel through which the brain can access meanings of text, symbols and graphics. Not totally dissimilar to the communicative theory of semiotics, subvocalisation is the direct result of not what we read but of how we read it.

“The voice that you are hearing in your head as you read this sentence is a phenomenon known as subvocalisation”

The layout of a text is constructed through textual principles. This broad term can refer to something as specific as font, or a more abstract concept like page space and the attributes of position. Textual principles act as the guide for our omniscient inner-voice narration. Note how

Your

SUBVOCALISATION

Is

A f f e c t e d

By these textual principles. 

Compared to reading …

… a sentence that is centred, italicized and a uniform font-size and type.

There is nothing particularly remarkable about the words that have been used here but, interestingly, there are certain nuances interpreted by your inner voice as a result of the way layout and space has been used.

Literary white space or the absence of it has the power to change the way we interpret the meaning of a text. It can indicate dialogue, emphasis or even control the hierarchy of the information itself. The presence of space can create anxiety—similarly, the lack of it can communicate a certain urgency. Text placement can create interlinear discussion; it not only changes, but actually creates feeling, tone or mood. Perhaps evocative writing isn’t all about words, after all.

Text layout has the power to create a hierarchy within a piece of writing. Our associations of value change according to a range of textual principles. For example, the simple act of putting one section of text above another is indicative of the way the words should be read—a metaphysical superiority is asserted to the text placed above, and in turn, the below text takes the role of the subordinate or supporting text.

By writing this text in a new paragraph, it is expected that the following will take the role of the foundation or supportive thought form to the above. The above is the leader, the introductory statement that need not support itself, only assert itself. This text is significant in the way it operates in conjunction with the above. As a standalone piece of writing, it is lacking in resolution and is without complete meaning; this paragraph does not and cannot stand alone.

In the same way that above and below text create a relationship of superiority and subordination, juxtaposing text can create the illusion of parity.

While the instinct to read the left-hand paragraph first is understandably and undeniably strong, there is less attribution of hierarchy between two side-by-side columns. That is not the only reason why we juxtapose text, either. Newspapers and magazines will often publish in multiple columns rather than full lines of text.

The simple act of juxtaposing sections of writing actually increases our ability to read at a faster speed. Therefore, the chance of maintaining a reader’s attention from start to finish is also increased. This is a direct result of what is known as saccadic eye movement. A saccade is the rapid movement made by the eye between fixation points—our eyes do not move continuously along a line of text, but make short, rapid movements. Thus, the less saccades required per-line, the greater our ability to consume text.

The choice to use space in these different ways is a deliberate one. It facilitates a different kind of reading and, therefore, a different kind of understanding for each. If you were to write an argumentative essay, creating a hierarchy in your text would serve to support and refute the argument that you are presenting to the reader. However, if you were writing a magazine or newspaper article, writing in columns to create a juxtaposition of text would be more suitable.

Another way to create a differentiation of meaning in a text is by

Using headings and subheadings. This creates levels and sections that

clearly segregate information, making it clear that text below a heading is not to be read in direct accordance with text below it. This might be a suitable option when writing a reflection or a report. 

The way we choose to use layout and literary white space within a piece of writing ultimately controls the way the text converses with itself—and furthermore the way we converse with it; textual principles can serve as the curators of our inner dialogue. 

Entanglement can be used to create interlinear discussion,
making room for two separate 

Entanglement steers our subvocalisation in two 

streams of thought within one section of text. This use of
space challenges the conventional 

separate directions, leaving room for refutation,
objection, agreement, expansion and 

way our inner voice translates a text and is inherently
thought provoking.

extension. The text now has a dynamic relationship
with itself.

Text placed outside the main body of writing also creates an element of dialogue, disrupting the linear navigation of our inner voice. These are not a separate monologue, but rather the continuation of a principle thought. They may support or add-on to the main text and can even be used in conjunction with first person perspective to sound like an aside.

Marginalia is not so important that it is included in the main text, yet not so unimportant that it is excluded all together.

White space in a body of writing may function as a literary chiaroscuro of sorts. Though separate entities, the relationship of the text, the space it occupies and the space that surrounds it must be understood as a whole in order to fully interpret the ‘picture’ that is being ‘painted’ by the writer.

No one understands the evocative power that literary white space has better than a poet. In poetry, the use of space is referred to as the poetic device of form. Form can describe the length, rhythm, rhyme and repetition of a poem—or, more simply, it can refer to the shape the words make on a page.

Poets use form 
To create 

Emphasis.

altering the meaning

of 
a
sentence
simply by altering the amount 

Of 

space

it is allowed to occupy on a single line of a stanza.

Form creates feeling. An exaggerated amount of space can evoke a sense of questioning—as if the writer is creating a space for the reader to stop, think and consider.

(Why is this space here? What does it mean?
What is the writer trying to say?)

Conversely, a lack of space communicates a less imperative mood. There is a certain calming effect of the apparent harmonies and equilibriums that come from a text that is a consistent shape and size.

In a piece of writing, every decision has an effect on the other. While the words in a text are the undisputed primary focus, the ways we choose to arrange those words on the page are not without their own distinct and important meaning. Just from looking at the form of text on a page, we can interpret the kind of message the text itself might carry.

The way a text is segregated—or not segregated—is communicative of the values each passage has to the overall theme. Different levels of dialogue can be created within the one piece of text simply by using literary space in a specific way, thus creating a highly sophisticated piece of writing that allows for multiple interpretations.

The function of literary white space is to be the parameters for our writing to operate within; space creates the conditions and specifications for how the words we use affect us. It is significant in the potential it has to both challenge our thinking and guide our inner voice. Ultimately, it is the notion that a writer, just as an artist, is able to create meaning from nothing more than absence.

The impact of pauses when reading is further explored in both Parentheses, Dashes and Commas, and Virginia Woolf and the Semicolon.