Formatting, grammar, spellcheck

[pbray]

Lesson One. How to shoot yourself in the foot, before you even get it in the door.

Standard manuscript format is important. The overall basics are:
- Bright white paper
- 1 inch margins all around
- Double-spaced
- 12 point Courier (preferred) or 12 point Times New Roman font

Yes, Courier is a boring font, and Times New Roman isn't much better. But these fonts are readable, and in particular Courier works well for those involved in the editing and production stages of the manuscript.

When you send in your manuscript printed in Brush Script on scented purple paper, you are not making your manuscript stand out from the pack. Instead you are sending the signal that you don't understand the industry, or worse that you do understand the rules but have decided that they don't apply to you. In either case, the editor/agent will take away the impression that you are going to be difficult to work with. These are busy people with lots of demands on their time. If your manuscript is hard for them to read, then they won't bother.

Once they've started reading, you need to keep them reading. This is where spelling and grammar come in. When the reader encounters a misspelled word, it can jerk them out of the story as they pause to try and decide what the author meant to say. Just running spellcheck isn't enough-- spellcheck won't catch the difference between who's and whose, their or there, or allusion versus illusion. Run spellcheck, then carefully edit your manuscript before running spellcheck a final time to make sure you haven't introduced new errors. Frequent spelling errors are a sign of a sloppy author, or someone who doesn't care enough about their story to invest the time needed to clean it up.

The same goes for grammar. Poor grammar is a red-flag for "this author doesn't know her craft" and can often prevent the reader from following the storyline. Only your mother or best friend are going to take the time to struggle through your bad grammar to try and figure out what you meant to say. An editor or agent is simply going to toss your manuscript aside.

To explain it in a different way, it doesn't matter if you're the next Stephen King or Nora Roberts. No one is going to discover your talent if you can't convince them to read your story. Give yourself the best chance possible by taking care of the details so your manuscript makes a good first impression. Format, spelling, grammar should all be clean so there's nothing to distract from your writing.


Tomorrow, I'll talk about starting your story.

Comments

[jennifer-dunne.livejournal.com]

Actually, the best thing I've ever found for this is the plastic pouches they sell in office supply stores... Smead Inn Dura top-opening translucent envelopes hold 200 pages. You can squeak a full manuscript into it, if you're careful.

The pages don't move around, and don't get the ink smeared on them from the tyvek envelope they're sent in, and don't get that dented/ripped thing from a too-tight rubber band. Plus, unlike binder clips, in my experience these stay with the submission, and are usually returned (MUCH the worse for wear) by the editor/agent.

[fancythat2.livejournal.com]

Would the editor/agent find that acceptable from a newbie author?

"tyvek envelope"?? I thought the manuscript went lose and bare (that sounded terrible) into a Manuscript box.

Hmmm...Could you two add a How to Package Your Manuscript segment?

[pbray.livejournal.com]

If you are sending in a partial manuscript (usually three chapters and a synopsis) it's too small for a manuscript box and thus putting it in the plastic folder and tucking that into a Priority Mail (tyvek) envelope is the way to go.

When I was submitting shorter works (65-75,000 words) I sent them priority mail either bound by a single rubber band, or inserted into a plastic folder and then put in the envelope.

Now that my manuscripts run over 400 pages, I mail the manuscript in a box. You can buy boxes at office supply stores, but I've found recycled Amazon.com book boxes are usually the perfect size.

[fancythat2.livejournal.com]

Aaah. Light bulb on, thank you.

Does it help to send your manuscript in a smiling box? : )

What about double sided printing?

[ellen-denham.livejournal.com]

When I print out drafts for myself or my readers, I always do them double sided just to save paper and not have so much to lug around. But what is the consensus about doing this for editors? My assumption would be just stick to single-sided to be on the safe side, but a thick novel will certainly will make less of a doorstop if printed double sided.

Re: What about double sided printing?

[fancythat2.livejournal.com]

I'm not published but...
Everything I have run across about submitting your manuscript says NO to double sided printing.

Re: What about double sided printing?

[(Anonymous)]

Single-sided only if you are submitting to editors and agents. Double-sided is just too difficult to work with from a production standpoint so it's simply not used. Don't worry about the doorstop effect, since every other novel is also doorstop length this is what they are expecting and they aren't going to count it against you.