From: "Mark Wallace" Newsgroups: not.telling References: <%J5Da.317$v16.90@news-binary.banana.com> Subject: Re: dialogue Date: Wed, 4 Jun 2003 15:44:52 +0200 Lines: 120 X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.50.4807.1700 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2600.0000 Name-Removed-to-Protect-the-Innocent wrote: > "Mark Wallace" wrote in message > news:bbjc46$9vh8r$1@ID-51325.news.banana.de... >> Name-Removed-to-Protect-the-Innocent wrote: > >>>>> and should paras or lines of text be indented? >>>> >>>> Paras. If a single line is all there is to a para, indent it. >>>> Use 12 point Courier and indent five spaces. >> >> Size counts, too. Courier 12 is perfect; Courier 14 is way too big; >> and Courier 10 is way too small. >> You should also leave /at least/ a one-inch border, all round, and >> double-space all lines (even blank ones). >> >> Oh, and don't put blank lines between paras, BTW. That's only >> needed for unindented text. Blank lines are for section breaks. >> >> -- >> Mark Wallace > > I'm not sure if this will paste as it was copied but is this a > reasonable interpretation of the advice above, (the text in the > original is now courier 12 pt and there is double line spacing > between lines)? > > Alison wiped her nose, then frowned in annoyance at the smear of > red staining the crumpled white paper. She stuck out her bottom lip > and puffed at the strand of hair clinging wetly to her forehead. > With a start, she realised that her vision was becoming > clouded and narrowed. Alison swivelled in the wheeled typing > chair, aiming to toss the soiled tissue into the bin. She threw, but > missed as a swirl of dizziness and nausea engulfed her. Her fingers > whitened ....... and her lips just formed the word, "Robert". > > On the evening after Alison collapsed, John McLean gently pulled > a sheet over his youngest daughter's face. ........ Yup. That's fine. > A couple more questions, in a manuscript, should you begin a new > chapter on a new page or just use a section break and then the title > of the new chapter? I normally use page breaks in my own work, but it's not necessary. > Should the title then be centred, in bold, or is > there another convention for that? Left-justified is normal for short chapter titles (a centered number is frowned upon), and only put it in bold if you're in the mood to do so. If you use long chapter titles, pick whether you want them centred or left-justified. > Changing the font to Courier upped the page count from 306 to 413 but > that should come down a bit when I have been through and eliminated > all the blank lines between paragraphs. It will still bump up the > postage but anything that increases the chance of getting the > manuscript accepted I can live with. That's the point, precisely. > Any other general tips for formatting that will increase the chances > of getting the right stamp? [thinks] Big one: DO NOT RIGHT-JUSTIFY! Leave a ragged right margin. Same reasons as given for using monospaced font. Always double-space after a terminator (full-stop, exclamation mark, colon, etc). Also, don't hyphenate at line breaks. If a word doesn't fit, move the whole thing to the next line (this doesn't count for words that contain hyphens; you can line break them after their integral hyphens). The front page. Put your real name and address in the top, left-hand corner and the word count (more on this, later) in the top right hand corner. Go half way down the page (the space above is needed for comments to the typesetters), and put the title, in caps, centred and bold. Beneath that, also centred but not bold, put "by" and your pen name (do not skip the "by"). If your pen name is the same as your real name, put it both at the top and in the byline. Skip a line, then start the story -- yup, on the front page Word counting: Count how many characters there are in a line (including spaces and punctuation), divide by six, and multiply that by the number of lines in the story. Since you're producing a full-length MS, you then round it to the nearest 5,000. That is your word count, no matter what the word-processor tells you, and that is what your payment will be based on. Use a header in the top right corner of each page except the front one, with your surname, a prominent word from the title, and the page number (e.g. I've got this: Wallace / Waking / 93, at the top of page 93 of "The Waking Time"). That;s enough that if the whole thing falls off a desk, someone can put it back together. Note that the left top corners are usually snipped off during setting, so don't put anything there. I think I was asked about italics before, and answered the question, but I'm not sure I made clear what I meant by "italics". In an MS, italics are underlined, not italicised. If you want a word in italics, underline it, don't click the italics button. Another point I missed, having read back what I've already said, is that section breaks should be indicated with a symbol centred in the blank line. That is normally a hash "#", but two slashes are almost as frequently seen ("//"). Um... Brain-lock. If I think of anything else, I'll post it later.