Format: A Refresher Course

A popular post from March 2008

by Annette Lyon

Several years ago I sat at a general session of a writers conference during a Q&A. I was surprised at the kinds of questions asked, things that were, I thought, obvious.

Then it dawned on me that four years prior, I hadn’t known the answers to those very same questions. Of course not. I had to learn them just like everyone else. I had really learned a lot over the last few years.

In the same vein, I’ve been surprised recently at some manuscripts that have crossed my path, or rather, I've been surprised at the format of some of them. They’ve had some really basic problems, and I finally clued in why. The writers just hadn't learned yet. It's not like there's a writer fairy that bestows knowledge about things like formatting the moment you declare you're a writer.

So in light of that, I thought I’d do a refresher on some basics about manuscript formatting. It’s something I think we often overlook, focusing instead of the craft of writing. But really, how your work looks will be the first thing the agent or editor ever sees.

If it’s wrong, you’ll look like an amateur, and that’s not a the best way to make a good impression.

While publishers and specific types of manuscripts vary (screenplays, etc. are very different), in your average novel, you’re pretty safe using all of the following:

• One-inch margins. That means all around: top, bottom, left, and right. A bigger margin (say 1.25 inches—1.5 at the most) is fine, but never go smaller than one inch.
• Twelve-point font. Don’t go bigger, and don’t go smaller in an attempt to fit stuff onto the page.
• A standard font, like Courier or Times New Roman. In the past, Courier was the standard, but that was in the days of typewriters, when editors needed a good way to estimate word counts. Courier was good for that, since every letter takes up the exact same amount of space, whether it’s an I or an M. Nowadays, Courier is still fine, but Times New Roman is also popular and accepted—and for some editors and agents, preferred, since it's a bit easier on the eyes. Just don’t use some funky script or cutesy font.
• A header at the top of each and every page. On the left side, it needs to have your title (or an abbreviated version of it) and your last name, such as: SPIRES OF STONE/Lyon. This way, if manuscript pages get separated from the whole, the editor will still know which work—and which author—it belongs to.
• Page numbers, beginning with 1, on every single page, preferably top right.
• Basic contact information on the first page, top left. Including your name, address, phone number, and email address. You can also include a fax number. Single space this part.
• Approximate word count. Either immediately under your contact information or flush right at the top of the first page.
• Indent the first line of every paragraph by tabbing over once. Don’t use the space bar.
• Create a new page for the beginning of each chapter.
• Use italics instead of underlining, which is another fossil from the typewriter age.
• Don’t use all caps or bold. Leave those for blogs, e-mail, and non-fiction.
• Do ellipses properly. Always be sure there are only 3 dots, and each one has a space before and after it, like this . . . (Sometimes Word will try to smash them all together. Undo it.)
• Know how to create an em dash, and use it properly. Don’t use a hyphen (or two hyphens) in its place.
• Use plain white paper.
• Print on only one side.
• Double space throughout (except for your contact information on the first page).
• Don’t include a copyright notice. That makes you look paranoid and unprofessional. Editors and agents know the copyright laws and that the moment you set your work into a tangible form, it’s already under protection by law.

You want the editor to notice your story, not your formatting. If you follow these basic guidelines, the formatting becomes invisible, and you’ll look polished and professional for that very first impression.

Questions: Paragraph Length

A popular post from March 2009

Josi S. Kilpack

I'm in the middle of the first draft of a book and I was wondering if there were any general norms to paragraph length. All I can find is "don't make them too long" and "vary the length". Is there any more I should know?

*Typically a single paragraph should be committed to a single idea, when the idea transitions to another idea, end the paragraph and start another one. The single idea is relayed to readers by collecting sentences together, thus making the 'paragraph'.

*Paragraphs can be anywhere from one sentence, to infinite sentences (or what feels that way anyhow--chances are the reader won't finish anyway, so it will always be without end).

*Typically paragraphs are between four and eight sentences.

*Varying the length of sentences keeps your writing flowing easily, especially in regard to prose. Be careful about using the same type of sentence (complex, three word, beginning with a pronoun) over and over again, this often bores your reader and sounds repetitive.

*Signal the start of a new paragraph by indenting the first line (in the formatting menu of your Word processing program you should be able to choose this as a default so that whenever you manually return, the next line indents)

*When writing dialogue, each character gets a new paragraph when it's their turn to participate.

( I had an example, but I can't get the formatting to work in blogger, thus I put a # in the following block that shows where a hard return should be. The line following the hard return would then be indented 5 spaces. Notice how hard it is to follow the conversation when it is not broken into paragraphs)


"Don't eat the cheese!" she yelled.# He looked at the cheese, picked it up and stuffed it in his mouth. "I an ef I ant!" he said with his mouth full, giving her a challenging look. #"It was spiked with botulism, you'll be dead within twenty four hours, you idiot," she retorted. If he would just once listen to her, he'd have a long and happy life. But, well, as she'd just told him, he was an idiot. Idiots tended to die young whether or not they ate botulism tainted cheeses. #He swallowed and looked back at the cheese tray, fear in his eyes and beads of sweat forming on his forehead. "Botulism?" he asked, looking a little green. "Why is the cheese tainted with botulism?" # "I don't think the why matters any more, does it?" She hoped his funeral wouldn't take place on Saturday, she had a hair appointment that day and didn't want to miss it.

And all of this brings me to my personal opinion on paragraphs; paragraphs are good. Use them. I rarely have more than 9 sentences in a paragraph specifically because when a reader opens a book, seeing a solid block of text is daunting. I'm a reader and I can verify that this is true for me. I get lost when I move from the end of one line to the start of another line and the paragraph often SHOULD be broken into more paragraphs because it is rarely a single idea when it goes on that long. I have been known to put a book down when entire pages are taken up by one or two paragraphs. They remind me of a drawbridge of a castle, pulled up to prohibit entry. I often can't see past them and determine that the book is not worth my time.

I also love single line paragraphs, they are a great resource when trying to emphasize something. Such as:

. . . blah, blah, blah, blah, blah you better take out the garbage.
I didn't take it out.
The next morning I found the kitchen garbage poured into the front seat of my car. Apparently, she'd cracked a few eggs into it for good measure. Dang, I hate that woman. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. . . .

However, single sentence paragraphs only work if you use them the right way and don't over do it. Typically, your paragraphs should be 4-6 sentences long, using both complex and simple sentences, even a single word sentence works from time to time. Varying your sentences keeps your words flowing and your momentum up.

It's my belief that paragraphs are as much visual as they are semantic. The words need power, but the visual absorption of them also need to be pleasing to the eye.

For a little self-exercise go to your current WIP, go to 'edit' and 'select all' this will highlight your text. Back up from your screen--what do you see? What kind of white-space do you see (meaning non-written on paper)? Are the edges jagged at both sides? Or is it blocky and solid looking. (hint: you want airy and jagged)

Happy writing people!

Format Standards: They're A-Changin'

A popular post from August 2011

by Annette Lyon

As an editor, I used to be able to use a broad brush with certain formatting and punctuation rules.

With the rise of e-books, some of those rules have undergone shifts. While the market there is still too new to have concrete standards, here are a few things to keep in mind if you plan to format your manuscript as an e-book.

Em Dashes

It used to be that an em dash never had spaces before or after. Ever.

E-reading devices, however, make that a problem. They interpret the words on either side of an em dash as one word. If that lump of words and a dash land at the end of a line, the whole things wraps to the next line. This leaves an unsightly gap in the text.

There are coding solutions for that, but the most common fix is simply to add a space before and after each em dash to avoid any odd breaks. The one exception would be if the em dash is at the end of a quote where someone is interrupted, such as:

"What are you—"

In that case, you don't want the word, the dash, or the closing quotes separated. They need to be together. (So no spaces.)

Chapter Breaks

The standard rules is to always start on a new page with a hard-page break. Hitting the ENTER key a bunch of times to get to the next page didn't count, because that messes up codes and whatnot. You needed a hard-page break, made with control+enter.

I personally still prefer e-books to begin new chapters on a new "page" (at the top of the screen). There is no strict standard here, but many e-book writers and readers don't bother doing that, and instead just add a number of returns before starting with the next chapter.

If you're going with gaps instead of new pages, be sure the gaps are all the same size, such as five carriage returns each. It's also a good idea to give the reader a visual break if you aren't giving them a solid page break, so add several asterisks before the new chapter.

It's wise to create a clear difference between a section break and a chapter break, so use a smaller number of returns (say, three) between section breaks and a smaller number of asterisks (such as three for sections instead of five, used for chapter breaks).

Front Matter & Back Matter

Keep in mind how e-books are generally read: e-devices begin with Chapter One (or maybe a prologue or preface). The cover, title page, acknowledgments, dedication, contents, and more, are skipped over unless the reader clicks the BACK button to manually read them.

If it's really important to you for the reader to see something (the acknowledgments, for example), put it at the end of the file.

Coding and Files

You can find several books online about how to format and code a file in e-book form. You can find businesses and individuals you offer conversion services as well. Whatever you do, try to make the text and the file as clean as possible.

That means sending a copy to your Kindle or other e-reading device and reading it there. Check for funky formatting problems. Read through it and catch typos you didn't in any other way. Click through the whole thing to make sure it looks and feels right.

The vast majority of e-books sold are still through Amazon on the Kindle, but more and more people are buying other e-readers, so it's wise to get your books onto Smashwords, which supports virtually any file type. If you follow all their instructions, Smashwords will also put your book up for sale through Barnes & Noble (for the Nook), onto the Sony readers, and even the Apple iStore. But note that formatting for Smashwords is far more complicated than for the Kindle.

Your E-book Editor

Whether it's a beta reader or a hired freelance editor, tell the person reading your manuscript that you plan to publish the piece in e-book form.

That way they won't add hard page breaks, delete the spaces next to the em dashes, or otherwise change the format to what used to be the rule.

Give me a Break!

A popular post from September 2011

By Josi Kilpack

Just like in real life, a "break" in a manuscript is a pause, a format-spoken note to your reader's subconscious telling them what to expect next. Using them correctly will give the right signal, and knowing the terms they are called by will help you better communicate to other industry people.

There are actually two types of Line Breaks, or at least two ways I have found them to be used. The definition I'm most familiar with is basically the hard return at the end of a line that starts a new paragraph. This type of break is used all the time in fiction, if we didn't use it we'd have one very long and confusing paragraph. The correct way to use a line break is to signal the end of a paragraph and to signal a new speaker in dialogue. For instance, you wouldn't format dialogue this way:

"But what about the dog? What are we going to do about that @#!*% dog?" her voice was rising in direct proportion to her frustration. "We'll sell it, or give it away. We can do it while the kids are at school and tell them it ran off." "Do you really think they'll fall for it?" "Trust me. I'll take them to ice cream and buy them a new Wii game. I doubt they'll even notice."

Without line breaks we have a hard time following the discussion which should read:

"But what about the dog? What are we going to do about that @#!*% dog?" her voice was rising in direct proportion to her frustration.
"We'll sell it, or give it away. We can do it while the kids are at school and tell them it ran off."
"Do you really think they'll fall for it?"
"Trust me. I'll take them to ice cream and buy them a new Wii game. I doubt they'll even notice."

The other way that the term line break is used is when you have a significant change but not a new chapter--I call these Hard Breaks to keep it clearer in my own head. A significant change is usually point of view or setting and it should be signaled to the reader by centering three asterisks *** between the last line of the previous text and the first line of "change". It is very important that you use three asterisks, not two and not four, and that it's centered. The typesetter uses this as a signal for their formatting so use it correctly in your manuscript. The important part to remember is that hard breaks should only be used for a significant change, which invites the question of whether or not the change should be the start of a new chapter instead of a hard break. I, personally, dislike hard breaks very much. I use them on occasion, but only if the significant change results in too short a chapter. I dislike reading books with lots of *** because though I'm being warned of the change, I question if it was really necessary. Specifically, when you are in one scene and the *** signals jumping between POV characters still in that scene I find it usually wasn't the best choice. I prefer that each scene belong to one POV character, usually the character who has the most to lose in that scene--but that is only my opinion and not an element of craft. Any time you use a hard break, ask yourself if it should be a new chapter. If the answer is no, make sure you really need to make the significant change. If the answer is yes, then be sure to format it correctly with three centered asterisks.

Sometimes, you'll see an extra line between paragraphs. This is typically referred to as a Soft Break but is sometimes called a Section Break as well. Often, the use of soft breaks is a style issue with individual writers and is used to signal a less-significant change. That means that you're in the same POV character, same setting, and the 'focus' of that portion of the plot is also the same. Most often, soft breaks work well to show that time has passed. Whenever it is used, you should question yourself to make sure it's necessary. Because it is such a strong visual cue to the reader, you want to make sure that you use it correctly.

The final break is a Page Break. A page break should only ever be used to start a new chapter, AND even that is questionable. Many editors and agents want the Chapters to be continuous and not break at the end of a page. If you do want to make a page break, don't simply hit the return key until you get to a new page. If you should add anything above those empty returns, they will push those returns down as well, throwing off your alignment. Instead, if using Word on a PC go to the end of the text in that chapter and then push the ctrl key and the enter key at the same time. On a Mac, press the apple key and the enter key located next to the apple key on the right side of the keyboard, not the return key. This will take you to the first line of the next page. You can also add breaks through the 'insert' drop down of the menu, but it's much easier to use the shortcut. Be sure to check submission guidelines to make sure that page breaks for new chapters are acceptable. If they don't say anything, then you can assume it's allowed.

Proper formatting is a cue to your editor that you know what you're doing and anything that increases their confidence in you is a very good thing. Happy Writing!