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#FORMATTING MANUSCRIPTS IN MICROSOFT WORD FOR PRINTING FREE#

Although that method works, it’s too pat, too easy, and it’s distracting to some readers. What’s the best way to show the transition from one era to another?Ī: The easy way out is not always the best way-simply to put the date at the beginning of a new portion as a subhead, a chapter title, or under the chapter title. Q: I’m writing a book that spans a long period of time.

#FORMATTING MANUSCRIPTS IN MICROSOFT WORD FOR PRINTING FREE#

If you’re not sure what standard manuscript format (sometimes simply called SMF) entails, email me and ask for my free report on standard manuscript format. Again, it’s an estimate, but it will tell you and your publisher whether the count is within acceptable guidelines.

When a manuscript is in correct format, it averages about 250 words a page, so you can multiply the number of pages by 250. The old way to estimate word count was first to be sure the manuscript was in standard manuscript format, which it should be, anyway. In most cases Microsoft Word gives an accurate enough word count, which is all a publisher needs. How do I calculate an acceptable word count for my story?Ī: I’ve heard the same rumor from writers, but I’ve never heard it from a publisher. Q: I’ve read that the word count generated by my computer is not accurate from a publisher’s viewpoint. Ellipses indicate hesitant speech in dialogue, and in narrative, ellipses indicate words missing from a quotation. Boldface type is okay, but not required, to use in chapter heads, section heads, or perhaps chart labels.Įllipses do not emphasize a word.

Titles of works, plays, movies, books, paintings, and vessels, although song titles are in quotation marks, not italicsĪn author may choose to use italics to indicate thoughts, although Chicago style no longer advocates their use in such a case.Īs for the other formatting possibilities, bold text should never be used in running copy.

Italics are to be used only for the following: Instead use italics where they are meant to be used. As for attempting to emphasize a word, strong writing indicates emphasis by itself without resorting to italics, although italics may be used on the rare occasion for emphasis. Instead we can now generate italics on our computers, so forget underlines entirely. Underlines, however, have absolutely no place in today’s computer-generated manuscripts-not for emphasis, not for titles, and not for anything else. In those days, therefore, underlines were used to emphasize the occasional word. Q: What format should I use to emphasize a word? Italics, underlining, bold text, ellipses?Ī: Before the advent of computers, way back when dinosaurs roamed the earth and writers used typewriters, underlining words in a manuscript was a typist’s way of indicating words that should be italicized when a manuscript was designed for printing.