Hi Hamaniacs!
For this week’s Writing Tips series, I’m focusing on how to format your manuscripts appropriately. Editors and agents want manuscripts formatted in a specific way and I’ve heard many of them say that they just throw away any submission they receive if it isn’t formatted properly. There is a universally accepted format and editors are used to reading and critiquing manuscripts that fit this format. It’s just the way their brains are trained and they get so many submissions all of the time that if a writer can’t be bothered to take the time and/or can’t figure out how to properly submit their work, then they are likely an amateur not worth their time. So do yourself a favor and follow these guidelines.
FORMATING SPECS
Except for the first paragraph in a chapter, every paragraph should be indented.
12pt Times New Roman font
Double Spaced
Indent 0.5” (In Microsoft Word you can adjust the default here: Page Layout>Paragraph>Indentation>Special>First Line>0.5”)
POV switch in scene marked with an extra space between paragraphs
Scene change within chapter marked with # or *** on its own line
However, this is just scratching the surface. For an even more in depth look at properly formatting your manuscripts with examples, check out this link: https://www.scribophile.com/academy/how-to-format-a-novel-manuscript
Happy writing!
Tyrone the Porcupine Hobo
Very helpful. Who would have guessed.