So in case you don’t have time to read it (Seriously, make time) or you’re not sure where to find these settings, here is a bit of a guide on where to start when formatting your doc file using MS Word.
#Creative writing manuscript title page how to#
And in many cases, people aren’t sure how to change the settings.
#Creative writing manuscript title page full#
I’ve shared this website to so many people, but rarely do they read through all five pages of the manuscript for full instructions on how to format. ALWAYS follow the publisher’s submission guidelines first, and default to Shunn format when no guidelines are given. If a publisher says they want a different indent, or different spacing, or they want the manuscript hand-written in blood on a stone tablet, then that’s how it should be submitted.
If a publisher does not specify how they want the document formatted, this is the format that should be used. Most publishers and editors will request that you submit your file in Shunn format, or some variation of it. The words in the manuscript are the instructions on how to properly format your file. Don’t just skim over the look of the manuscript and think you’ve got it. I had the privilege of attending a formatting workshop early on in my writing career, and I’d like to share a very important guide that all writers should read and follow. Here, I’ll focus mostly on formatting for a short story submission, but there is more information on the other types of work on the Shunn website link below. There are different ways to format whether submitting a short story, novel, poetry, blog post, etc. So it’s best to know how to properly format a document so the work can have its best shot at being read and accepted. And these fixes are time-consuming and often not worth it for the editor/publisher, no matter how excellent the story is. But the reality is, if a manuscript is not formatted the way they request, it will require a lot of work on the editor’s part to fix it, especially with regards to using the “first-line indent” option instead of hitting “tab” for paragraph indents. Some editors and publishers will auto-reject a submission for seemingly petty things. The above image is a screenshot of the Shunn format document.
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