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Author Topic: Nitpicky Format Question
Rahl22
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I know the basic format for manuscripts - but how do I denote changes in chapters?
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Kathleen Dalton Woodbury
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From one chapter to the next?

Probably the easiest way is to end the one chapter on one sheet of paper and start the next chapter (with a chapter heading, like Chapter 16--or whatever number chapter it is) on a new sheet of paper.

If you mean something other than this, please clarify.


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Rahl22
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Nope, that is exactly what I meant. And do you suppose I need any sort of special heading? Or do I just write "Chapter 12" at the top, double space down and off I go? I've tried looking around for the answer to this before I posted, but all I can find are general manuscript formats - nothing at all about chapter breaks.

Rahl


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srhowen
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According to the newest copy of formatting and submitting your manuscript----

Your slug line goes left justified at the top, the page number goes in the right corner. Use a header to do this saves typing it on every page and makes it even. Then a third of the way down you put Chapter X , drop two lines and put in the chapter title if you have one, then go down 4 lines and start the chapter. Use Times New Roman or other clear dark font, in 12pt and 1 to 1 1/2 inch margins on all sides.

Most times the words Chapter X are underlined. If you have a word processing program that lets you see line numbers----the chapter goes on line 6, and the text starts on line 9 of a double spaced mss---just remember to turn it off when you print it. Don’t use the keep it together features---widows and orphans protect. If one page has 22 lines of text then they all should, except the last chapter page.

I center the page number at the top and put my phone number in the right corner. I also sometimes tinker with words if I end up with only a line or two on the last chapter page. It just looks funny to me.

Shawn


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JeremyMc
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Do editors really care anymore about the exact spacing, etc?
I realize that once it gets to the typesetting stage, they'll need to set it correctly, but just for general submissions, does it really matter?

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Kathleen Dalton Woodbury
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Rahl, no special headings other than the one that should be at the top of every manuscript page, giving your last name, a keyword from the novel title, and the page number.

Jeremy, editors use the space above short story titles and above "chapter 16" to write notes to the typesetter, so it's a good idea to leave them some for that.

Publishing is moving very slowly toward more technological things, but it isn't moving there nearly as fast as the rest of us are, and most editors have learned how to do their things in a very untechnological way.

The more the author can do to help the editor do the job the way the editor knows how to do it, the more professional the author is going to appear to the editor, and the better the editor is going to feel about working with the author.

Formatting can be a nit-picky thing, and authors shouldn't obsess about it because the story really is more important; but if an editor has to choose between two great stories and one has a sloppy manuscript while the other has a carefully formatted one, which do you think the editor will choose?


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GZ
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Is there a book or pamplet that is sort of the "gold standard" for manuscript formatting. I know there are individual guidelines set out by each publisher, but what’s the best general guide?

GZ


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srhowen
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The best one that I have found which tells you the format of almost anything you want to sub is Formatting and Submitting Your Manuscript from Writer's Digest books. They also still carry an older one guide to mss formats--it's out of date. So go for the first.

Shawn


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