Fiction Novel Manuscript Format
Monday, March 7th, 2011 at
7:57 am
Beware First Time Authors / Welcome Fans Of Science Fiction And Fantasy.
A newly published author making his debut earlier this year is fast becoming popular world-wide. He shares his experience with a few publishers that he has dealt with and excerpts to you the readers for is published books and upcoming projects.
Warning for all authorsâ, wanting to publish their books with little resources and knowledge on the matter. This article is meant to assist you in what not to do, and how to better make your choice for a publisher.
Tagged with: fiction novel manuscript format
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Same as school, twelve font size, Times New Romans. And I’m pretty sure double spaced as well.
Good luck.
What format is required for a fiction novel manuscript?
What font and size do I use? Thanks, have a great day, and God Bless!
Okay, I’m a book editor and here’s what I hope to see when I receive a manuscript.
1. Neatly typed in Arial or Times Roman, preferably 12 point font.
2. Your name, address, email address and word count in the upper left hand corner of the manuscript.
3. Around the center of the first page, the title of your novel.
4. Start page 1 a couple spaces under that.
5. You don’t need to double space if you’re building an e-manuscript.
6. Number your pages — center bottom is a good place.
7. On each succeeding page, put your name and the book title in the upper left hand corner.
That ought to do it as far as manuscript preparation is concerned. Of course you are going to make _very_ sure you don’t have any typos, or spelling/grammatic errors in your manuscript, aren’t you?
Good luck!
Does anyone know the correct format of a novel manuscript?
I’m a little confused on how to start writing a book. I have a great (what I and some of my friends and teachers deem great) idea for a fiction novel targeted towards teenagers. I’m sixteen myself and was curious as to how I start my novel. I know a manuscript is involved and I’ve researched it but found a bunch of differnet information and examples that were very differnet. Can anyone give me a good example of a fiction-based novel manuscript? And I would appreciate it if anyone had any other information that could help me out here.
You’ve been given some questionable information. You most certainly do need to worry about punctuation, paragraph breaks, and other writing mechanics of every kind if you want to publish your work. Even if your entire story is in a casual, conversational tone filled with official mistakes people all make, there’s still a correct way to punctuate it, and a proper place to break paragraphs, for example.
Speaking frankly, I suspect your unwillingness to learn the tools of your trade dooms your efforts. Or at the least, dooms you to spending close to a thousand bucks per book to pay an editor who knows what s/he is doing and can make your manuscript close to perfect before you submit it anywhere.
A few tips which might help:
Character A says something. In the same paragraph, you can have thoughts, actions, memories, hopes, dreams, backgound, etc. on Character A. But you can’t have Character B’s reaction, reply, thoughts, actions, memories, etc. in the same paragraph as the words Character A says.
Readers start skimming at about the sixth line in the paragraph of a printed book, and nearly all are skimming by the tenth. For that reason, around the sixth line of each paragraph, you should be seeking a place to break.
Dialogue punctuation is not that hard. Kids master it at age eight or nine all the time. You don’t have to know the parts of speech (although I firmly believe every serious writer should) to do this correctly. Every book, magazine, and newspaper in your house is full of examples. Master this yourself.
If you decide to hire an editor, you need to determine his or her skill level. A college student’s skill set is very different, and a lot smaller, than a professional editor’s. The student can probably correct your punctuation just fine, and charge less.
first of all write your novel – formats are easy to change – when your novel is ready get yourself an agent – he will help you get your story in a form that publishers want
When writing fiction novels, how should the manuscript be formatted?
I’m interested in writing my own fiction stories in the hopes of one day getting published, but I need to know how to format my manuscripts.
I know that when writing screenplays, you must use a certain font of a certain size, and the margins need to be of a certain size. Are their similar rules for writing novels?
Essentially, I need…
– generally accepted fonts and sizes
– length of margins
– headers/ footers for page count, name, title, etc.
and any other relevant information to writing fiction novels.
What is the best format when writing a Manuscript for a novel?
I am trying to write a manuscpript for a fiction novel and I am unsure about a few things such as numbering chapters yes/no or just number the pages and chapters go in later. If anyone can help me i would be greatful. Thanks
I would also like to eventually write a screenplay from the same story.
Click the link below for a good description of novel format.
Manuscript format for a novel?
I have read through about half a dozen “idiot’s guide to…” books, and countless web articles on formatting a manuscript for submission. And, although informative, they do not answer my questions very well.
My problem stems from my being a good story teller and not a writer. I can sit at a table, gathering, or campfire and spin a yarn with ease. Mostly because you don’t use punctuation in speaking. You use tone of voice, inflictions, and hand gestures to help the story. Next, my grammar stinks! I talk well, I don’t write well.
Several friends have talked me into writing down a few of my stories and submitting them for publication (fat chance). I understand; TNR 12pt, I got it; double space lines, I got it. And, I have been told not to worry too much about punctuation as the “editor” will take care of that. I’ve also been told that once purchased or accepted by a publisher, they may even change, omit, or add words.
So my question is: How much do I have to worry about punctuation and paragraph structure? I understand the closer to proper punctuation the better. But I am also told that in a fiction novel, the rules of punctuation are often broken.
When I say format, what I mean is should I type it up with what each person, in a conversation, says starting a new paragraph, or just pile it all into one paragraph?
I don’t know adverb from tuna salad sandwich. And I am not going to take a class to learn. It was a disaster the first time through, I doubt it will be any better now. But I do understand the words I use, and I know how to put them together to put the listener in the middle of the world, or story, that I am telling about. I have been told that I tell stories the exact same way as people talk. And that is what makes them easy to follow. I don’t use proper sentence structure, I use common speak. And that is what I want to retain in my written stories.
With that, any suggestions on where to start? Should I just mimic the way a paper back novel is written? Are there people who can take my raw manuscript and straighten it out so it is presentable?
Help?