BASIC FORMATTING OF YOUR MANUSCRIPT

Often, the first thing I have to do when I receive a manuscript for potential editing, before starting my sample edit, is to reformat the section I’ve been sent, so it’s easier for me to read. Here are some guidelines for formatting your manuscript before submitting it to a freelance editor, an agent, or a publisher.

1. Your manuscript needs to be in Microsoft Word (Microsoft Office). This is a must.

2. The preferred font is Times New Roman. It’s easier to read than many other fonts. The font size should be 12-point.

3. Left-justify the text, rather than justifying both sides.

4. Double-spaced, if possible. But do not press “Enter” at the ends of the lines to double-space. This causes major headaches and a lot of frustration. As soon as a word is added or taken out, everything screws up. If you've already done this to double-space your document, add 3-4 words to a line, and take out 3-4 words from another line, and you'll see what I mean. And it's a slow process to remove all the "returns" at the ends of the lines. Please don't send it for editing like this. Much better to just send it single-spaced. So make sure that when you’re typing and you come to the end of a line, do not press “Enter” unless it’s for a new paragraph. Let the text “wrap” around on its own.

5. A quick and easy way to double-space your whole manuscript: Control + A (for “all”), then Control + 2. Voila! It’s done!

6. Indent each new paragraph, including each time someone new is speaking. Press “Tab” to indent for each new paragraph. Do not click repeatedly on the space bar to indent! It’s important to use the forced indent, which is the “Tab” key. If the indent is too deep or too shallow for you, this can be fixed for the entire manuscript in a second or two, but only if you have clicked “Tab” to indent, and not the space bar. Clicking repeatedly on the space bar to indent is not acceptable and is another problem that's time-consuming to fix.

7. Don’t add an extra space between paragraphs. Just leave it at your normal double-spacing. Press “Enter” at the end of the last paragraph, then indent the new paragraph by clicking on "Tab."

8. Only one space between sentences, not two. Two spaces between sentences went out with manual typewriters.

Slightly more advanced info:

9. To force a page break at the end of a chapter (in Word 2007), place your cursor at the end of the chapter, then click on the tab “Page Layout” in your …, then click on “Breaks”, then on “Page.” This will give you a forced page break for the end of each chapter. Do not do this at the end of a normal page, only for the end of a chapter.

10. Your next chapter should start at least 4 spaces down the page. And if you flip through your collection of best-sellers, you'll notice that the first paragraph of a new chapter is not indented. Just a custom, I think - lends itself well to making the first letter bigger, too.

11. For more advanced, specific formatting, read the guidelines set out by the agent or publisher.

12. And a few more technical notes about writing:

Dialogue:

New paragraph for each new person talking (remember to press Tab!).

Comma after “said”: He said, “How are you?” (Much more often, the "he said" comes after.)

Comma at the end of the spoken sentence, where a period would normally go, inside the last quotation mark. “Come with me,” she said.

Also, use "Tom said" not "said Tom." "said Tom" is considered old-fashioned.


Dash vs ellipses:

Dash (—) is for interruption: “I just—” “You just what?”

Ellipses (…) are for hesitation, or trailing off: “But I thought…”

For more specific info on Hyphens, Dashes, Ellipses, go to my article on this blog:  http://jodierennerediting.blogspot.com/2011/02/hyphens-dashes-ellipses.html

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