Question, Is there a feature on word that sets each new chapter to start halfway down the page? It's a bit laborious to go through each chapter and push the first line to the middle, and a bit inaccurate, as I might be off by a line or two.
Insert a page break. Depending on what version of Word you have, find the insert tab and insert a page break.
Is that standard practice? I didn't know that. In mine I have just started the new chapter on a new page. Plus I did start one or two lines below the very first line in the top.
But won't a page break just push the start of the chapter onto the next page, rather than starting it halfway down the page?
Oopps... Si senior. I didn't read! But I do know the answer. To move text half way down the page, use the paragraph formatting tab. Place your cursor right at the end of your current text, and insert spacing after to whatever is half way down the page.
Put a page break after the last word of the previous chapter to start the next chapter on the next page. Put your cursor at the beginning of the first paragraph of that next chapter and go into paragraph formatting settings. You have options for spacing before and after. Put "5 in" into the before, and it will move the first paragraph of that chapter 5 inches down the page. Do not highlight the full chapter or it will place 5 inches between each and every one of your paragraphs . Hope this helps.
Thanks for the quick replies Sundae and Raki. The page break works to get the next chapter on a new page, but the 5 inch paragraph formating seems to only apply for spaces between paragraphs. After the page break, changing the spacing doesn't drop it down because its not a matter of spacing between paragraphs anymore. Unless I'm missing something. Anyway I did it manually, but it might help for the future. Tesoro, I too wasn't aware of this, but my agent asked for the ms to be formatted this way. I'm not sure if other agents or publishers also prefer it.
Hmm ... I see what you mean. A solution, not the best: Add a single blank line above the first paragraph (at 12 pt font, double spaced each line is about 1/2 inch), then do the above mentioned trick with 4.5 in to get the 5 inch effect. It's a workaround ... not the best, I'll see if I can't figure out a better solution when I get some more time.
Ok, do not use a page break, use a section break. If you use Word 2007, click on page layout at the top, then the arrow next to "breaks" to lower the drop down menu, the entry titled "Next Page: Insert a section break and start the new section of the next page" click it. Then, use the above mentioned paragraph setting and it should work ... at least, I got it to. If you have your headers/footers different on the first page, your first page headers/footers will show on the first page of the new section.
Once you insert your required amount of space after your chapter ending paragraph, you will then need to revert the spacing back to 0pts (or whatever you had before) for the first paragraph starting out your new chapter. Otherwise, it will applying the five inch spacing after each subsequent paragraph from thereon which is not what you want. So when you start your new paragraph of your new chapter, change the spacing back to 0pts; this will have to be done at the end and beginning of every chapter. Anyways, it would be better to just do a search through your help feature to get detailed, step by step instructions that will guide you through everything.
You can create a heading style that places the desired amount of space above the text, and use it for the first line of your chapter heading, right after a page break.
