Manuscript - Tumblr Posts
How to Make Your Book Look Like a Book
I’ve just discovered something wonderful. When I self-published Chrysanthemum, there was a lot of formatting work that I had to do before I submitted it. And seeing my document take on the formatting and page structure of a book was… awesome. Out of curiosity, I tried the same thing for my current WIP, and seeing it in proper book formatting gave me butterflies.
So I’m here so share some tips! (Using Google Docs.)
Note: I’m writing this specifically for people who want their document to look like their book as it’s being written or for self-publishers. If you’re planning to publish traditionally, find your publisher or agent’s submission standards and follow those.
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My writing style is unfortunately just me going “now how many family-unfriendly innuendo-metaphors can I fit in this scene”
(Answer: more than there ought to be, especially during the climax, which could honestly be an innuendo all in itself if you choose to read it as such)
Does anyone,,,,want? To hear about my characters and wip?
GUYS!!! GUYS I FINALLY FINISHED MY FIRST DRAFT OF THE GUILD OF USELESS SUPERHEROES!!
50k words. over a year of writing. over 6 months of making memes about my characters instead of writing.
it’s finally over.
now to edit....
now that I’ve got the first draft of TGOUS done, I might start work on Magical Maniacs (high fantasy d&d inspired) or Parasols and Protocol (urban fantasy about a vampire detective)- which one do you guys want to hear about more?
melinoe; goddess of justice, ghosts, and funeral rites
or
melinoe; the gods salvation and ruin.
— i vowed i would always be yours if we survived the great war
the great war by taylor swift
moodboard for my current book: shades of shattered glass
a little writing session to get this draft done
new year, new reads!
i love a good reread
a little look at my current reads —
sorry for the hiatus!
Me: The first draft of my manuscript is trash.
The Internet: Every first draft is trash.
Me: The first draft of my manuscript is worse than trash.
WE LOVE OPEN ACCESS AND REMOVAL OF BARRIERS TO LEARNING!!!!
Exciting news for people who love reading research about manuscripts but don't have money!
Formatting your Manuscript
If you’re planning on one day turning your manuscript in to literary agents and publishing houses, you need to make sure it’s formatted correctly. In many cases, your manuscript will be skipped over if it isn’t done to industry standard, so here’s the basics that you’ll need if you don’t want to be ignored. Before I get started, please know that this is aimed specifically at fiction manuscripts. If you’re writing non-fiction or a memoir, the expectations will be different, so it would be wise to Google what you need.
The Basics
Make sure your font is 12 point Times New Roman, Courier New, or Arial. These are the only three fonts you are allowed to pick from.
Your spacing should be 1 inch on all sides of the text. This is the default on most word processors, but double check your settings just to be sure.
Your text should be double spaced.
All of your indentations must be a half inch. Do not press indent. Instead, drag over the top arrow on the ruler to have every new paragraph automatically indent.
The Title Page
The top left-hand corner of your title page will have all your personal information. They want to see your name, address, phone number, e-mail address, the novel’s genre, and word count.
Your novel’s title is allowed to be between 20-24 point font if you want. Bold is also an option, but not necessary.
The title will appear halfway down the title page.
“A novel by [your name]” will be about three quarters of the way down the page.
The Next Pages
If you have a dedication, it will be on its own page.
If you have some sort of verse or quote, those will also need their own pages.
Do not include a page for acknowledgements.
The Chapters
Chapter titles will be 12 point font. No bolding or italics.
Chapters will start from one quarter to halfway down the page.
An easy way to format chapter headings is to press enter five or six times
Make sure you always start your chapters the same way every time.
When you start a new chapter, make sure you use a page break to bump the new chapter onto a new page. This will keep it in place so that it will never budge, no matter how much you cut out or add to the previous chapter.
Page Numbers
Page numbers will start with 1 on Chapter 1 of your manuscript. Page numbers will not appear on the title page or dedication page.
Page 1 will be labeled in the footer of Chapter 1. It should be centered.
Page 2 will be in the header of the next page.
From page 2 onward, your headers will be labeled like this:
If you insert a section break after the title and dedication pages, it will make it easier to insert the page numbers.
For the most part, this is the most important of what you’ll need to know for formatting your manuscript. I used this video as reference, so I’m trusting everything it says is true because it was made by an author who has several novels published, and because it was uploaded this year, it should be up to date.
But just remember, whenever you go to turn in a manuscript, make sure you check the website of the agent or publisher you’re trying to contact. They might have specifications that differ with the ones stated in this video, and you should always do whatever you can to abide by what they want.
𝐃𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐈 𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐧
𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐚 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞
𝐈 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐟 𝐢𝐧 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐃𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡
𝐓𝐨 𝐬𝐡𝐮𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧
𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐬 𝐦𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐥
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Yuja Wang
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Lang Lang
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