Hello all, writing with a quick question on formatting and style. Specifically wondering about the use of indents. Most popular novels (Crichton, Patterson) seem to use indents for each new paragraph whereas YA novels (Twilight, The Hunger Games) do not and I'm wondering about the difference. Not using indents certainly looks cleaner on the page and so is this considered easier to read? Any and all thoughts greatly appreciated.
Probably in the eye of the beholder (or editor). Indenting looks right to me, and that's what I do in my writing, but I don't remember noticing that the author of The Hunger Games didn't, so ...
in your mss that you submit to agents/publishers, every paragraph must be indented... that includes the first one of every chapter, and after line breaks... what you see in published books is just how the book publisher styles the text, not how the author submitted the ms... it's a matter of 'house style' only...
Before submitting a manuscript read the manufacturer's guidelines. They will be very specific, not just to indent paragraphs, but also which format code to do it with. The reason paragraphs are indented in a manuscript is because one also double spaces the text. A paragraph indent solves the problem of a large space between paragraphs when the text is double spaced.
