I sure do hope I have this in the right thread, but can anyone help me with how I should set up my stories? I usually double-space, but I noticed a lot of people here don't but use shorter paragraphs, and that's how I wrote Ariza Overtaken on here, and I prefer that. The reason I'm asking is because my creative writing teacher told me when you enter a story into a contest or get it published, double-spacing is crucial. How do you guys write your stories? Should I continue to double-space or write it how I prefer?
On the site, just make sure you insert a blank line between paragraphs, because pasting from a Word document leaves all the paragraphs scrunched together. Make each paragraph a single inle of text, and let the software do the word wrapping. Also, you are best off using the default post font and color, which is thge most readable for most members. If you are submitting manuscripts to a publisher, you should follow their format recommendations, which will invariably include double spacing.
Double spaced, normal font (usually Courier or Times Roman), one inch margins max, etc. Like Cogito said, check the guidelines. Sometimes, for example, an online market may prefer single spaced but with a blank line between paragraphs. One of my short stories published (in print) required me to put *'s around italicized words for my submission...so it's *important* to check. If you have a main file for your story, it's easy enough to modify to a market's/publisher's needs. Terryu
Thanks guy! It's hard for me because I don't have microsoft word. I did have it, then some guy who could "fix my computer" deleted mainly all of my files, microsoft word included, and I haven't yet been able to put it back on there. I remember I had to write a paper in my english honors class, and she didn't take off any points but told me my paper wasn't properly formatted and if I was taking AP courses that they're strict on that, and with college aswell, and I'm planning on taking AP Lit in my senior year, so I'm bugging my parents on getting it for me
Really. http://www.openoffice.org/ Open Office is the entire office suite -- word processor (Word), Spread sheets (Excel), Presentation (PowerPoint), and database. If you want JUST a word processor, another MSWord clone is abiword. http://www.abisource.com/ Never spend money on software that you can spend on shoes. Abiword is also free.
I'd say... all of them. That's been the case for quite some time. Even as recently as the 1940s, a clean typed copy was needed for submissions. Just because "manuscript" means "written by hand" doesn't mean they ever are any more.
I am unsure exactly what your question is asking. If you're intent was to ask if there are any publishers who accept handwritten work, what was said on that topic. There are not any publishers that I've come across that accept handwritten work. Terry
