# Calligrams and such.



## Ariosto (Jul 16, 2011)

FAF's wirters, have you ever experimented with calligrams and/or text placing? Do you consider it a gimmick or something that can bring a whole new plethora of benefits to your writing? 
I've been reflecting upon them for a few days and would like to know your opinion on he matter. My opinion? They're like a game, a challenging one that, well employed, makes a reading a lot more interesting and playful... or at least one with a novelty factor.

A few examples:
-Lewis Carrol's famous "tale/tail" created by Alice's tired mind.
-Discussed and done quite a few times in Julio CortÃ¡zar's _Rayuela, _in which it is implied to be a method to "illustrate ideas" (a good definition, and why I consider them fun as dynamic elements): once in a "wall" done with this single phrase "_en el fondo sabÃ­a que no podÃ­a ir mÃ¡s allÃ¡ porque no lo habÃ­a_" ("deep inside, I knew that I could not go any further, because there wasn't any"), in this case, one of the phrases lacks a "_lo_" (a "there" in my translation), what does that tell you? Another chapter is written in phrases that appear to be _non-sequitur_'s dumped into a single paragraph; however, it does not take long to notice that it's a series of alternating lines. It starts with a line from a novel that a character is reading, followed by another one that corresponds the thoughts it provokes in said character's mind and so on.
-One name: Stephane MallarmÃ©.     

So, FAF'ers, have you ever tried to experiment with this?

More clearly, have you ever experimented with the way you _place_ your text's elements and how they look?


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## Aden (Jul 16, 2011)

Seems like a neat idea. I always enjoy interesting applications of typography.


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