We all want our documents to look good. Here are some advanced techniques to make sure your manuscript is not only good-looking, but orderly, whether you’re submitting traditionally or self-publishing. The first thing to remember is that your manuscript needs to be edited before it’s designed, so save the design …
Tag: Manuscript Mechanics
Fiction Q&A: How long is a chapter?
Q: Is there a rule of thumb for how long chapters in novels should be? Also, how should I place chapter breaks? I try to put them in when I’m writing, but then I wind up moving things around and having to renumber them. It’s kind of a pain. A: …
Manuscript formatting: Advanced topics
Last time I shared the basics a writer needs to know to prepare a book manuscript for submission to an agent or editor. Here are some of the finer points.
What your typing teacher didn’t tell you about manuscript formatting
A writer once complained to me that she had spent a lot of time going through her manuscript replacing all the five-space paragraph indents with tabs. She didn’t realize the five-space indent was wrong. She said, “I didn’t get that memo!” I almost didn’t have the heart to tell her …