Really no chance of Millicent’s missing the spacing tricks here, is there? See what I mean about those familiar with standard format’s enjoying a distinct advantage at submission time? But how could it not be, when the results are so obviously different from a manuscript adhering to standard format? Compare this page 2: Sadly, the writers pulling off this sort of trick often believe they’re being subtle - or don’t know that fudging in order to include more words per page than other entrants is a knock-you-out-of-finalist-consideration offense. Especially in a contest entry, in order to fit desired text into a limited number of pages, something that has occurred to so many entrants for so many years that many literary contests simply disqualify any entry that doesn’t follow its formatting rules. Since that generally comes as a big, ugly surprise to writers who have never had the opportunity to see a professionally-formatted manuscript, the temptation to fudge is quite understandable. ![]() Once you know how a page is supposed to look, even minor deviations distract the eye. Visibly different from across the room, isn’t it? As we’ve been discussing, since U.S.-based agencies send out their clients’ manuscripts in a specific format, a submission presented in any other manner just doesn’t look right to those of us who read for a living. If you’re having trouble seeing the details, try holding down the COMMAND key and pressing + to enlarge the image. With the following page 1, riddled with fairly common deviations from standard format. If so, slip your tootsies into Millicent’s moccasins and compare what you would have expected a page 1 to look like: Inevitably, the cosmetic aspects of a submission affect how someone who works with professionally-formatted manuscripts will respond to what’s on the page.ĭon’t believe me? Perhaps you missed our recent brief visual tour of a properly-formatted manuscript. Like anyone else in a position to read an average day’s complement of submissions, our Millicent sees an incredible amount of good writing presented as though presentation couldn’t possibly matter.Īs I’m hoping today’s grim opening image will remind you, that’s just not true. That doesn’t mean, however, that a screener or contest judge might not get the urge to indulge in a little educational mayhem. She’s got hundreds of submissions to read. She simply doesn’t have the time to do any of that. She’s not going to take a ruler to your margins, either, in all probability, or call you on the phone to yell at you because Chapter 2 began on the same page as the end of Chapter 1, any more than she’s likely to tell everyone in the literary world that for some reason best known to yourself, you’ve evidently decided that Microsoft’s defaults have come to dictate formatting in the entirely unrelated publishing industry. ![]() Oh, our old pal Millicent the agency screener isn’t going to burst into your studio, wrest the keyboard from your trembling hands, and forcibly insert indentation into your paragraphs. I would hate, after all, for any of you lovely people to fall into the oh-so-common pre-submission trap of believing that because implementing one or more of these rules will take some time (and thus slow the egress of your manuscript from your writing digs), any of them may be treated as optional. Today, I would like us to focus our collective minds firmly on the practical while we continue our chat about how to present a book manuscript in a professional manner. In retrospect, I wish I’d documented what the locals considered sundry, as opposed to requisite.īeginning to sense a theme here? Excellent. If you look closely in the background, you’ll see that there’s also a liquor-and-sundries store. ![]() The wee tourist trap where I took this is stuffed to the gills with practical people, evidently.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |