Basic Information for New Writers

New writers worry too much.  "Am I using the right paper?"   "Am I using the right font?"   "How should I format my manuscript?"

All valid questions that I'll attempt to answer.  If you, as a new writer, have stumbled on to this page and have a question that isn't answered here, please email me and I'll do my best to provide an answer.

Q: "How should I format my manuscript for submission to an agent or editor?"

First of all, every publishing house has slightly different standards.  However, an industry standard accepted by most agents and publishers is the following:

• 12-pt. Courier New font (Some will accept Times New Roman.)

• Double space (It's easier to read and allows agent/editor to make notes/comments for later discussion.)

• Single-sided printing (Text printed on one side of page only.)

• 8.5x11 white paper (Standard copy paper or an all-purpose paper is fine.)

• 1-inch margins on top, bottom, and both sides

• An appropriate slug line or bullet line should appear at the top of the page with your last name, title of the book, and page number.  (Example: Holmes/HELLFIRE   1)

• Center chapter headings about one-third of the way down the page and start each new chapter on a new page.  Rule of thumb: Single space from line 1 to line 15, insert chapter heading, switch to double space, skip on double-spaced line, start paragraph on line 17.

• Left justify your paragraphs and indent the first line of each new paragraph.  (Right-side margins should appear ragged, depending on line length.)

Basically, your manuscript should look something like this:

(Click picture to enlarge.)

Q: Everyone tells me I have a great story idea, but one person said I needed to show the story and not tell the story. What's the difference?

The difference is between narrative summary and immediate scene, and you want to write in immediate scene as much as possible. I think the best way to understand the difference is to actually show it.

Narrative summary example:

  John wanted an apple but if he walked to the kitchen he'd have to face Marcia. Deciding that an argument was worth not starving to death, he went the kitchen. Marcia accused him of cheating on her. He denied it as he grabbed an apple from the fridge. She said he claimed to be going to the office yesterday but when she called to invite him to lunch, she found out he had the day off. He'd lied and she wanted to know why. John started eating the apple and thinking of a way to keep her from getting even more angry with him. He could just tell the truth, but if he did, then his surprise of an engagement ring would be ruined.

Immediate scene example:

  John pulled an apple from the fridge and bit into it. The tangy sour-sweetness of the Granny Smith exploded over his tongue and the rumbling in his stomach ceased.
  "Where were you yesterday?" Marcia sliced an onion in half and the pungent aroma filled the kitchen. "You said you were going to the office, but when I called to invite you to lunch, DeeDee said you had the day off."
  The apple pulp lodged in his throat and he coughed.
  Marcia's knife made quick work of the onion, dicing it into fine pieces, as tears slid over her rounded cheeks.
  John couldn't tell if her tears and runny nose were caused by the onion or something else. The apple pulp finally dislodged from his throat and drew a deep breath. "I, uh..."
  "Were you with another woman?"
  "What? No!" His mind raced. What could he tell her? If he told her the truth, the engagement ring in his pocket that he'd intended to surprise her with later would look like a "I'm sorry I screwed up"-gift instead of an honest marriage proposal. "I was...was..."
  Bits of onion flew across the counter, hurled away by Marcia's frantic knife work. "You were what, John? Out with some floozy? What?"
  "Looking at a car," he said in a rush.
  Marcia's hand stilled and she turned to face him, doubt furrowed her brow and narrowed her jade-like eyes. "Looking at a car?"
  John nodded, keeping his eyes locked on the onion encrusted knife. "Yeah. I thought maybe we could buy a second one, then we wouldn't be fighting over who has to take a bus or cab."
  Her face and posture softened. "You're serious?"
  She's buying it, John thought. I may just salvage this yet. "Of course I'm serious. I just wanted to surprise you, that's all." He bit into the apple, grinned, and said around a mouthful of tartness, "Thupise!"

See the difference between these two examples? The first simply tells the reader what happened. The second shows the reader what happens as it's happening.

This is not to say that narrative summary is bad. In fact, it's good and certainly has its uses. It's a great way of showing something that happened to a character in the past -- a flashback. It's also a great way to move characters from one scene to another by compressing time. Time compression is fairly simple. All you have to do is end a scene with a character getting into a car, for example, and then start the next scene with a line such as "Four hours, two chili cheese hotdogs, and one bathroom break later, Eddie arrived at his brother's house." Pick up with immediate scene after this narrative summary line and you're good to go.

Q: I had someone read my story and they said I had a shifting point of view. What's that?

Point of view is the eyes through which a story is told. Long ago, in a publishing world far, far away, shifting points of view, or POV, within the confines of a scene were "fashionable" and readers enjoyed it. However, today's readers prefer one POV to a scene. The scene above -- where John is trying to answer Marcia's questions without giving away his real surprise -- is written from John's POV.

How do I know this? Well, for one thing, I wrote it...but the key is in the first line of the last paragraph. The reader hears John's internal thoughts but has no idea what Marcia is thinking. If I'd written it like this...

  She's buying it, John thought. I may just salvage this yet.
  He's such a lying sack of used kitty litter, Marcia thought. He's too cheap to really buy a second car.

...I would've created a shifting POV. I know what you're thinking, and yes, you can still choose to write in a shifting POV. However, it requires a deft hand, full knowledge of where those shifts occur, and why. If you're unsure, stick on one POV per scene.

Q: I'm writing a thriller and want to show both my hero and bad guy. Can I have more than one point of view in a book?

Absolutely! However, you should limit yourself to one POV per scene. If the scene starts out as being shown through the hero's eyes, don't suddenly switch to the bad guy. It confuses and frustrates the reader, and as a writer, you never want to give the reader an excuse to put your book down. We want them to keep turning the pages.

Have question that isn't answered here? Email it to me through the form provided on the "Contact" page and I'll do my best to answer it.

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