"rest" notes in writing

[Dom]

Anyone who's ever taken music classes has come accross "rests"; symbols in the music that tell you you're supposed to shut up and be quiet for a few beats.

Wikipedia article on rests in music

For some reason, I've always been fascinated by "rests" in writing.

Writing doesn't have many dead obvious symbols for rests, but nonetheless, learning how to use rests and whitespace is a part of writing, one I don't see discussed very often.

What do you guys think of rests and whitespace in writing?

Some of it is punctuation. 

Here's how I interpret punctuation-as-rests (this might differ for other readers):

The period is also known as a "full stop".  As you read, you stop momentarily when you hit a period (or at least I do).  Then there's the comma, which indicates a pause, but a shorter one followed with the expectation of more information after it.  Also, the semi-colon which to me is a pause combined with a prompt to the reader to understand something before moving on, and the colon, which is a pause that tells a reader to expect something to be told to them in simple, plain language, often a list of some sort, or an exclamation.  There is also the dash, which is a pause with a hook on the end connected to the next phrase mashing the two sentences together (so it's sort of a pregnant, excited pause, or a sudden and unexpected pause), and the ellipsis, which is three dots, and signifies a long or open-ended pause. (Or omitted information, in journalism.)

Then there is whitespace, which is effectively "invisible".

Paragraph breaks, tabs, and spaces.

Paragraph breaks are used to seperate sentences into groups that are related in some way.  You do a paragraph break when you change the subject in some way.  You can also use paragraph breaks to isolate significant text.  A paragraph break makes the reader stop, take a breath, and prepare for the change in topic.

The sentence, "I don't want to do that!" is different from

I

don't

want

to

do

that!

And the reader reads the invisible information between the lines when paragraph breaks are used like that.

Tabs in fiction writing assist the paragraph break by making it stand out.  (in online writing, tabs often don't work so a double paragraph break is used to make paragraphs distinct.)  I personally don't use the tab for any purpose but this, but I think a clever writer might be able to.

Spaces, and spacing, once again allow a writer to space significant words.  You can space a word s o  i t  i s m a d e  w i d e r, or do all sorts of crazy things with it.

So anyway, that's some of my thoughts on rests, or pauses in writing.

Has anyone else ever thought about this, or am I just odd little person?   

Do your interpreatations of the meanings of certain punctuation differ from mine?

[Darrington]

Well, if you are an odd little person, I am firmly joining you.  I've always had a problem with adding a bit more punctuation than is absolutely necessary to force readers to insert those pauses.  Since you can't include your own emphasis on sentences and words, you have to substitute that with the punctuation.  It's a necessity.  It helps add another level of color to the story without doubt!

Probably coupled with reading up on Jim's livejournal, I just feel a surge of passion toward this subject.  I feel all reinspired to write...  To be honest, I hadn't thought too much about the punctuation pauses and 'rests' I put in until I read your post!  So thanks.

[Tersa]

If you guys are weird, so am I.  Granted, I didn't think about it as in depth as you did, but the way Jim deals with those pauses are part of what I really admire about his writing.  The way the dialogue is written in the Dresden files, all the pauses are exactly where you'd expect them to be if someone was actually speaking.  It makes everything natural and comfortable to read. 

[blgarver]

I'm definately in the white space club. 

When I write, my paragraphs are usually only two or three sentences long before I tab to the next.  I only use double space to seperate paragraphs when there is a break in a scene (usually for suspense after a plot point) but that part of the story isn't quite finished yet.  I use double spaced paragraphs to signal a change in pace within the chapter.

So, here's to odd little people.

[the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh]

The shape of the words on the page does not matter much to me in writing prose. There are case where it makes a difference, as in:

There was an old man
From Peru, whose lim'ricks all
Look'd like haiku. He

Said with a laugh, "I
Cut them in half, the pay is
Much better for two."

To my mind punctuation gives you a series of pauses of slightly increasing length, comma->semicolon->colon->full stop, and the point of having them is mostly to give whoever's speaking the chance to stop and breathe every now and again.

[blgarver]

Another use for white space is to make the piece less intimidating to the reader.  I think the reason I'm still only half way through LOTR is because of the daunting solid bricks of text. 

Now I'm gonna run and hide lest I be lynched for my incompletion of LOTR.

Zing! *vanishes into the shadows*

[the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh]

Another use for white space is to make the piece less intimidating to the reader.  I think the reason I'm still only half way through LOTR is because of the daunting solid bricks of text. 

To each their own, and all, but. seeing solid briocks of text as daunting rather than inviting is a new one to me.

Sometimes Alexandre Dumas was paid by the page, and you can really identify those ones because you get lots and lots of dialogue with really short sentences, so some pages have really astoundingly much whitespace.