The object of the manuscript is to convey your story to the editor, and if all goods well, to the typesetter. No story was ever sold because the manuscript looked good, but many stories are rejected because the manuscript is faulty or offensive in some way.
The ideal manuscript looks as if it were typed by a perfect typist on an IBM Selectric typewriter with a carbon film ribbon and the Courier 10 typing element. This is the ideal in the sense that such a manuscript is nearly universally acceptable. Some or even many editors will like manuscripts with other appearances, but no one will be offended by a perfect Selectric manuscript.
But not many writers are perfect typists and IBM no longer produces Selectric typewriters. And no one who has worked on an electronic word processor will willingly return to a typewriter. Nonetheless, the Selectric appearance is what to aim for.
My first draft of Travels with Lizbeth was typed on an upright manual Royal typewriter by the light of three oil lamps. I remain unconvinced that the choice of the right word processing system is the key to writing success. I still think, as I wrote in the first edition of this book:
A writer who begins working with a typewriter need not feel he is at a disadvantage. Most working writers learned their craft on a typewriter. Computers are the least help for the things a beginner most needs to learn.
If you own a typewriter which produces acceptable copy, begin with that.
After a discussion of the ideal manuscript, we will return to the issue of what to use to produce it.
The manuscript.
Something more than half of the beginners' manuscripts I see are seriously defective in form. Some are so badly misshapen that they could not possibly go through the publishing process, even if an editor were willing to look at them. I no longer see much erasable bond---the unusable paper immortalized in Misery---because that is a mistake only someone with a typewriter is likely to make. I see more and more manuscripts produced in camera-ready form or with other errors that can only be made with expensive desktop publishing systems.
Odd typefaces are unacceptable. Courier 10 is available on many word processors, and it is what should be used if it is available. The ordinary pica face of typewriters without interchangeable typing elements is acceptable. Elite typefaces such as the old typewriter Elite and Prestige are second-best to a pica face, but are acceptable.
Unacceptable faces include script, Old English, Orator or any other face lacking a true lower case, faces smaller than elite (more than 12 characters per inch), faces with unusual curlicues such as Contempo, faces in which the tails of letters like g and y do not hang down from the line, and old dot matrix faces in which the individual dots that form the characters do not touch.
Sans serif typewriter faces such as Tempo and Letter Gothic are probably acceptable. Many editors will read, and some prefer, proportional typefaces like Times Roman. Proportional spacing, however, may pose problems for some editors who use certain formulas to estimate how much space a story will require when set in type. As the object is make the manuscript as widely acceptable as possible, proportional faces are not recommended.
A good way of discovering whether a word processing program was really devised for professional writers is to see what its default typeface is. If it comes up in Courier 10 or a similar pica face it really was meant for professionals.
The manuscript should be exactly double spaced.
The whole of the manuscript should use the same margins and tab settings. These should provide a 60-space line centered on the page or with slightly more space on the left, and paragraph indentations of 5 spaces. Most fiction writers will not need other tabs except for one in the center of the page if the machine does not have automatic centering.
Margins of at least one inch (excluding headings) must be allowed on all sides of the text, including the top and bottom. The theoretical maximum number of text lines per page is 27, but when headings (headers) are used, as they should be, the manuscript is more attractive if it uses 25 lines for text and allows extra space between the header and the text.
Except for the first and last pages of a chapter or story, every page should bear the same number of lines, counting embedded blank lines. If the manuscript is typed, however, retyping is not necessary if a page or two are a line short or a line long.
The manuscript should be ragged right. The right margin should not be made to come out even or nearly so. Features which automatically hyphenate words, return the carriage when a hyphen is struck near the end of a line, or insert spaces of varying size must be turned off. That is, the manuscript is left justified only. The left side is even except for paragraph indentations.
Never end a line with a hyphen. If a word or an expression contains a hyphen carry the whole expression to the next line no matter how uneven this makes the right margin. To do this on an electronic word processor, consult the documentation to learn how to enter a hard hyphen. Use hard hyphens only and turn off features that automatically insert hyphens in words at the end of a line.
Manuscripts must use only one side of the paper. Nothing may be entered on the back of a page.
Do not make extra space (do not double space twice) between paragraphs. If you wish to indicate a break in a story or a change of scene by having extra space ("leading") in the printed version, center the pound sign (#) on an otherwise blank line.
Make no attempt to get paragraphs to come out even on a page. Carry the last two words of a paragraph to the next page if the typing comes out that way. For those with word processors this means: turn off widow and orphan control features and protect block features.
Center your title and capitalize important words in it. Use exactly the same typeface that you use for text and do not underline your title. Do not use all capital letters for your title unless the title is an acronym or there is some other special reason for the unusual capitalization.
Every page of the manuscript except the first should have a heading line (also called a header or a slug line). This line should not vary in form. The header for a short story should be in this form:
Eighner/Elements/page x
That is, your surname, slash, a very short form of your title, slash, the word "page" and the number of the page.
The header goes in the upper left corner of the manuscript and its form and position should be the same on both odd and even pages. If you wish, you may use a slightly smaller typeface for the header.
In a book, the short title is the short title of the book and does not vary from chapter to chapter. Page numbers for book manuscripts should not be entered in the header but should entered without the word page in the same line as the header in either the center of the page or in the upper right corner.
There is much disagreement about whether book manuscripts should be paginated at the center top or at the top right. My best suggestion is that novels should be paginated in the upper right corner. But in story collections or any other book in which whole sections or chapters may be rearranged before publication, put page numbers at the center top. The purpose of putting page numbers in the center is so that when the final order of the book is fixed the editor can more easily renumber the pages, using a stamping machine designed for that purpose.
When a page must be inserted between page 123 and page 124, the page is 123A. Make a circled note near the page number of page 123: "Page 123A folos." Make a similar note on page 123A: "Page 124 folos." If necessary page 123B may follow page 123A, and so forth. Never insert slips or tape or clip insertions to a page. Insert only standard size pages even if the inserted page bears only a few lines.
A few insertions are acceptable in a book manuscript, and many books will have insertions by the time the editing is complete. A short story produced on a word processor, however, should not have insertions.
The journalistic practice of typing "---more---" at the bottom of each page except the last is not used in fiction manuscripts unless there is some special likelihood of error, as when a page of a few lines is inserted in the manuscript. All such notations, when used, should be circled in pencil.
Chapters should always begin on a new page. Those with word processors should look up the keystrokes for a hard page command, which will force the word processor to begin a new page. Leave an inch or two of extra space at the top of a new chapter. Center the chapter title on a line and skip an extra line after it before beginning the text of the chapter.
How the dash and the ellipsis should be entered in a manuscript are matters upon which some editors disagree sharply. This is my best advice and if you run into an editor who tells you differently, simply say "I'm sorry, I was ill-advised."
Make a dash by entering two or three hyphens. I use three hyphens, but whichever you use, use them consistently. If you use a word processor, make the dash out of hard hyphens. Do not use the dash special character that your word processor may provide; it is too small for editors to mark up the dash as they must.
Do not leave a space before the first hyphen or after the last one and do not put spaces between hyphens. Do not end a line with a dash, but carry the word that precedes the dash to the next line if necessary (this will happen automatically on word processors if you have entered the dash as I suggest).
Form the ellipsis with three periods separated by spaces. Space before the first period and after the last one. If you work on a word processor, enter hard spaces between the periods to keep the ellipsis from being broken at the end of a line.
Make a note of any editorial static you receive on these points. If you have entered dashes and ellipses as I suggest and you work on a word processor, you should have little trouble in using your search-and-replace function to tailor your manuscript to fit the demands of editors who prefer different forms of the dash and ellipsis.
Do not use large or ornate typefaces for the first letter of a paragraph. Do not set the first few words of a paragraph in small capitals.
Editors may decide to do these things to improve the appearance of the printed work, but the author has no business suggesting such things.
Do not indicate italics by using an italic typeface. Indicate italics by underlining. Do not call upon boldface, small capitals, or other typefaces.
Why does a dog lick its dick?
Because it can.
Because they can is probably why some new writers send their computer rodents to get an italic face, turn on their automatic hyphenation devices, right justify their manuscripts, and enter whole passages in Barnum & Bailey type. Editors speak to them as we speak to dick-licking dogs: "Stop that this instant!" New writers who persist in doing such things as sending out camera-ready versions of manuscripts never get to be old writers.
Have a good reason to request special typography. Authors have a right to call upon italics. Harry M. McNaughton has advised reader of his Proofreading and Copyediting:
The use of italics for emphasis is not controlled and our novices can be allowed to wallow in them. Used sparingly the practice has some value and is quite proper but it tends to insult readers' intelligence and sound homosexual.
My goodness, Miss Agnes! Some editors of gay periodicals agree that italics are not butch enough and will change italics to all capitals or delete the italics. Frequent requests for italics, especially for single words or phrases, indicate that the writer has doubts about his ability to place the emphasis in its proper place. Many gay magazines are set in gothic faces that do not show italics well.
(Forget the popular misconception, if you have it, that "gothic" means something like Old English or German Text. In the printing and publishing business "gothic" means a sans serif face similar to what is taught as printing in the primary grades.)
Magazine editors want control over the general appearance of the book (as they call their magazine) and think the use of many unusual faces is a complication they do not have time to be bothered with. They will often have special uses for boldface and small capitals and other variations in type and they will not want to use these inconsistently simply because you think they would look neat in your story. As an attention getting device, unusual typography loses its effectiveness quickly and calls the reader's attention to print as print, breaking the spell that a work of fiction should cast.
Occasionally there are good reasons for unusual typography. In some editions of Dracula different typefaces are used to represent the different handwritings in the documents which are supposed to compose the novel. I have asked, with varying degrees of success, for specimens of business cards to appear in a work of fiction. In Classified Affairs (Boston: Alyson, 1984) John Preston and Frederick Brandt had far more call to this sort of thing, and I defer to Preston on the point: "Announce a change in type style with a centered notation enclosed in brackets. Like:
[All that follow should appear as a classified ad.]
"The bracket announces a message to the editor. . . . Then another centered bracketed notation announces the end of the instruction."
Between the brackets, of course, enter your text in the normal body type of your manuscript. In most fiction there is no real necessity for reproducing leaflets, newspaper articles, and documents as they might have appeared. A novice should find another way of handling such material.
Authors should feel entitled to call upon any character used in the boldface entries of an American dictionary (but not, of course, the special characters of dictionary printing that are found in the pronunciation guide). Magazines do not always have all of these characters, and even some book publishers who have them will not bother with them.
Accents---both acute and grave accents occur in words that are now English. On a typewriter do not use the apostrophe key to form accents because it will not make it clear which accent you mean; enter them in black ink by hand if necessary. Consult the documentation of your word processor to learn how to enter accented characters.
Cedilla---an acceptable substitute can be formed at the typewriter by overstriking c with a comma. "Façade" and curaçao" are fairly common English words that require this character. On some word processors you can compose special characters using a special command and the same keystrokes you would use to form the character at the typewriter. For example, in WordPerfect 6.0 you use Ctrl-a, which is the compose command, and then c and a comma to form the cedilla.
Umlaut---an acceptable substitute can usually be formed by overstriking with the double quote key. The old saw was that "Brontë" was the only English word or name requiring the umlaut. But "Führer" is now in the main word list of the Collegiate and no doubt there are others. In its alter ego the diaeresis, the umlaut is appearing more frequently in highbrow magazines like The New Yorker where it serves to remind readers when adjacent vowels are separately pronounced as in the word "coöperative."
Tilde---common in Spanish names and in words adopted from Spanish such as "señor." Enter it by hand if necessary.
Macron---the bar that indicates a long vowel sound. It is not required by any English word I know outside of tradenames. At the typewriter, a raised hyphen will work.
Carat---still used in some words and expressions from French such as "tête-à-tête," but no longer commonly entered in words like "rôle" or "hôtel." Enter it by hand if necessary.
Do not attempt to enter characters from Greek or Arabic or any other language that does not use the Roman alphabet or mathematical symbols in a fiction manuscript.
On old typewriters lowercase l is used for the figure 1, but a circled marginal note should name any character when there is a genuine danger of confusion. The names of letters are spelled phonetically: el for l, oh for o, em for m, and so forth. On old typewriters the exclamation point is formed by overstriking the period with the apostrophe. This last is a good way to form the exclamation point if you tend to overuse it because you may reconsider in the time it takes to make the extra keystrokes.
Although left and right quotes look different in print, use the same double quote key to enter either the right or left quote. Use the apostrophe key for apostrophes and right or left single quotes. If you word processor does have left and right quotes and different keys for the apostrophe and the single quote, you may want to enter the correct characters, but if you are using Courier 10 as I have suggested, the distinctions between these characters should not be evident in the printed copy.
Paper used for manuscripts should be white, opaque, 8 1/2" by 11", with edges as smooth as possible. This last is directed at those tempted to use the cheapest kind of tractor-fed paper which leaves nasty nubs whenever it is torn apart. Copier quality papers are now universally acceptable. Papers of 16, 18, and 20 weight are acceptable, but many people prefer the feel of 20 weight paper.
Erasable paper, onion skin paper, colored paper, the paper sold in drugstores as typing paper, and newsprint are unacceptable. Letterhead paper must not be used for manuscripts. You may want to have a nicer kind of paper for letters that you write in your business and that paper might be off-white or natural. I suggest that a letterhead, if used for letters, contain only your name, address, and phone number, and that you avoid quill pen logos and titles.
However formed on the paper, letters must be black.
No other color is acceptable. Ink ribbons, if used, must be retired to draft work once they begin to form gray characters. Since a writer wants only black, multicolored ribbons are wasteful.
The first page of a short story should contain the author's true name, address, and social security number in the upper left corner. In the upper right corner should be the caption "fiction," the approximate word count of the piece, and the rights offered if not the standard first serial rights, each on a separate line. The first page is not numbered. The author's title, in ordinary body type with important words capitalized, is centered on a line about a third of the way down the page. On the next double-spaced line is centered the word "by" and the name under which the story is to appear. The next double-spaced line is skipped and the story begins on the following line.
The title page of a book manuscript is much the same as the first page of a short story except that no text is entered on the title page, and the caption "fiction" is replaced with an appropriate caption such as "a novel" or "a story collection."
The other special pages of a book manuscript are discussed later in this chapter.
Equipment for producing the manuscript.
There are three options in equipment for producing the manuscript. The best one is probably the one you have already. If you have one of the devices that will produce acceptable manuscripts, begin writing with it. If you do not have one of the devices that produces acceptable manuscripts and you cannot afford any of them, write with a pencil and a pad of paper until your circumstances improve.
The typewriter.
A serviceable manual typewriter can be obtained second hand for twenty or thirty dollars. Electric typewriters are more expensive, but you should not pay extra for memory typewriters or spell-checking typewriters. These features are not powerful enough to provide the advantages of real word processing.
The things to watch out for in a typewriter are unacceptable typefaces, the inability to double space (some will only one-and-a-half space), and special ribbons and typing elements which may no longer be easy to find. Be sure, of course, that all the keys work.
Typewriters with separate lift-off correction ribbons are acceptable. When the correction ribbon is part of the ink ribbon, the typewriter is unacceptable because the supplies will be excessively expensive. If you have such a machine, however, you may choose to use it.
While typewriters can be used to produce perfectly acceptable manuscripts, they cannot produce disk files. A few magazines require disk files and many prefer and pay extra for disk files. (But all still want a paper---or hard copy---of the manuscript too.)
Small dedicated word processors.
Dedicated word processors are computers that are designed only for word processing. They are smaller than a general purpose computer, and in some the typewriterlike printer, the computer screen, and the keyboard are built together in one piece. The price of such a machine is intermediate between that of an electric typewriter and a modest new computer system. Such a word processor may or may not produce disk files that are acceptable to the magazines that want disk files.
Buying a new dedicated word processor cannot be recommended. For the same money a fully functional computer can be bought second hand. Computers made just a few years ago are now considered obsolete and are being replaced by their owners. But many of these so-called obsolete systems are more than adequate for a writers' needs. Consult a friend who knows about computers to assist you in making the purchase to be sure you get everything that ought to go with the computer. The friend, if a real computer buff, will probably want you to get a new system or a bigger and faster computer than you really need. Insist that you just want something cheap that you can process words with.
With the second hand computer you should get the operating software and a word processor that is appropriate to the system. Insist on this. Newer versions of the operating system and word processing software may be too big to run well on an old machine, and you may have difficulty finding the older versions elsewhere.
In used computers, look for kinds that are still represented in the new computer market: either a PC-type machine or a Macintosh. Beware of evolutionary dead ends, such as Texas Instruments and the Tandy machines using floppy disks the size of LPs. Look for a machine with a hard disk drive, even a small one. Be sure that the printer can produce acceptable copy. Some 9-pin printers can produce good quality print, but these were relatively expensive in their day, so the chances are that a second-hand 9-pin printer is not acceptable. Ask to see a sample print out. Check to see that characters really seem to be formed of lines and curves, and that individual dots are not visible.
Computer systems.
There are two viable sorts of computer systems available: 1. PC-type computers, based on personal computers originally developed by IBM but now supplied and supported by very many companies, many of which produce machines superior to those offered by IBM; and 2. Macintosh computers, all of which are made by Apple or its licensees. There are a few computers which belong to neither class (such as Amiga), but they seem to be evolutionary dead ends and should be avoided by someone who knows little about computers and wants primarily to do word processing and to produce disk files that can be widely read. Beware of machines sold by electronics hobby shops. These may claim to be PC-compatible, but some of them are not very compatible.
Macintoshes are easy to learn to use---or so I am assured by everyone who has one. The drawback of Macintoshes that most bothers me is that once you are committed to a Macintosh you are committed to one supplier, the Apple company. You may see what I mean if you pretend you need a new or better printer for your Macintosh. Look at the ads in the newspapers and see how many choices you have.
I do not pretend the following is objective. This is the advice I would give a friend who was going into the writing business and who had the money to spend:
For about a thousand dollars you can get a new PC-compatible computer without a printer. You can get an excellent 24-pin printer for less than $300 or a laser printer for less than $800. If you cannot afford a real laser printer, get a top-of-line 24-pin printer. Avoid printers with "jet" in the name. Jet ink never really dries. (If you own a jet printer you can live with it for awhile. Make xerographic copies of your manuscripts to preserve them.) A good 24-pin printer will produce copy that looks about as good and which will remain on the page. Most new PC-compatibles come with Windows. If you are afraid to delete Windows, at least disable it. Get WordPerfect 6.0 for DOS and install it. This will cost about $600 if you do not already have a WordPerfect license. You may want to get a FAX/modem that is compatible with WordPerfect so that you can send FAXes from your computer. When business picks up you may want a spreadsheet and a database. Ignore the Microsoft programs that claim to be spreadsheets and databases. Get Lotus and dBASE.
That is my advice. Of course I am the sort of person who likes computers, who reads documentation and runs tutorial programs, and who is not afraid to experiment with different options until I discover how to do things they way I want them done. If you are not that sort of person, and many people who are attracted to writing are not, you may want to get a Macintosh or you may want to run Microsoft Word under Windows. In the latter case, be sure your machine has enough memory. Windows can be installed on a machine with as little as 2 megabytes of memory, and some systems come this way. To run Windows effectively you really need at least 8 megabytes of memory, and more is better.
In any event, unless you have someone to set the system up for you, you will have to learn something about computers in order to produce a manuscript like the ideal one described above. The machines which are easiest to use---Macintosh and PC-compatibles running Windows---make it easy to do the things that most people want to do. Unfortunately, most people do not want to produce professional-looking manuscripts. Most people want to write notes to their friends in Barnum & Bailey type with flowered boarders, and this is all too easy to do with a Macintosh.
The best computer, of course, is the one you already know how to operate. If you have experience with PC compatible or a Macintosh at work or school, you will probably be happiest with a machine of similar kind, and the advantage of familiarity might be great enough to justify getting an Amiga or a Tandy. Likewise, the best word processing software is the kind you know how to use.
Corrections.
Corrections in a short story manuscript should be made electronically. For many corrections it will be possible to reprint only the page with the correction---be sure the new page starts and ends where the old page did, and simply insert the corrected page in place of the old page. If there are many corrections on many pages or if a correction seriously affects the appearance of a page---making it much too short or too long---running out a complete new copy of twelve to twenty pages should not be too great a burden.
No one will expect you to run out a new four- or five-hundred page book manuscript to accommodate a few corrections. If the corrections cannot be made by reprinting single pages, new pages can be inserted as has been described.
Corrections to a typewritten manuscript can be made by covering the error with well-thinned Wite-Out and typing in the correction, when the correction will fit the space. (Do not use powder tapes to cover over mistakes, and never strike over an error without covering up or erasing the error first.) When the correction does not fit the space, minor corrections can be made by hand.
Even a writer who works electronically should know how to enter corrections by hand because he may one day get to review edited pages of his book.
Use a dark pencil to make corrections. If you are working with edited pages, use a dark color that differs from the colors the editors have used. But if you are entering corrections on a manuscript that has not been edited, use an ordinary number 2 pencil. In any event, make corrections firmly.
Indicate all corrections within the typewritten lines, which are what the typesetter's eyes will follow. (Later, if you work with proofs, you will have to make a mark in the margin to indicate every correction. In correcting copy, which is what you are doing now, only some corrections will require marks in the margins, but all must be indicated in the line.)
Do not obliterate material you want to delete. Draw a single firm line through material to be deleted. When a large block is to be deleted draw single lines through the material and draw a closed line around the whole block. To delete a single character draw an oblique slash, like a solidus through it. If the character is to be removed, put small arcs, like sideways parentheses, at the top and bottom of the slash. If the character is to be replaced with a space, make a number sign (#) at the top of the slash, using the slash as one of the legs of the number sign.
To restore deleted material, put dots under the material to be restored, write "Stet." in the margin, and circle the word "Stet."
To add italics, underline the material once. To remove italics hang little slashes, like legs, from the underlining so the result looks like a skewed comb missing most of its teeth.
To insert material draw a vertical line through the type line at exactly the place the insertion is wanted. Commas and periods are indicated in a caret below the line. A period is indicated by a small circled x. Other insertions are indicated in an inverted caret or bracket above the line. Several words may be written in a long bracket above the line, but they must not bend around corners or run down the margins. Do not paste, staple, pin, or otherwise attach insertions. Retyping may be necessary.
In making handwritten corrections, a hyphen that is to appear in print (a hard hyphen) is represented by two short parallel lines that resemble a short equals sign. This symbol can be entered in a caret above the line if only the single character is wanted, and should be used for the hyphen in any longer written insertion. The number sign (#) represents a space. To insert a space, use the vertical line that indicates the place of the insertion as one of the legs of the number sign.
To change a single character to another, draw a slash through the character and write the correct character over the slash (unless it is a period or comma).
When adjacent characters or words are simply transposed, the material to be interchanged is enclosed in the arms of a long sideways s. Whole phrases within the same line can be interchanged in this way, but this cannot be done when three elements are in the wrong order. Circle the notation "tr." in the margin.
To change a capital letter to lowercase, put a slash through the letter and circle the notation "l.c." in the margin. To change a lowercase letter to a capital underline it three times.
Small capitals are represented by double underlining and boldface is indicated with a single wavy underlining. Do not enter these indications on your manuscript, but if you have edited pages you may need to know these marks to see that these indications have been used consistently. For example, if the editor has indicated small capitals for the abbreviation AWOL in most places, he surely meant for it to appear that way in all places in the text, and you should double underline any occurrence of AWOL that he missed.
Circling material indicates that it should not be set in type. All notes to the editor and to the typesetter should be circled. A circle around a figure like 7 in the line of typewriting means the number should be spelled out, and circles around abbreviations and contractions also mean they should be spelled out. On the other hand, a circle around a spelled out figure means it should be set as a figure. In your manuscript you do not know what the editor's policies regarding figures and abbreviations are, so do not circle such things.
The number sign (#) you used to indicate where extra space was wanted between paragraphs will be circled in edited pages. That does not mean the editor has decided not to allow you the extra space. It only means the number sign itself should not be set in type.
Arcs or bow-shaped marks indicate material is supposed to be skipped over and that the space it occupied is to be deleted. Deletions always should be struck through, but sometimes the bows are added too, to guide the typesetters eyes and to indicate that the next part should follow immediately. Little arcs above and below the line are used to remove small unwanted spaces, such as some writers will put around dashes. When words that have been typed separately are to be set as a compound word, the small arcs, top and bottom, are use to remove the unwanted space (to close up).
A curved line from the end of a paragraph to the first letter of the next paragraph indicates the paragraphs should be set as one and sometimes the notation "run in" or the symbol "no " is circled in the margin. The notations are also used in case the material to be joined is on the following page.
The paragraph symbol is used in the line of typewriting just above the point that a new paragraph is wanted.
Although the proof-reading marks given in a table in every standard dictionary are not exactly the same as copy editing marks, some editors use the marks more or less interchangeably. This table may clarify any indications you see on edited pages.
Do not mark up your manuscript for typesetting.
Any very complicated or extensive error should be corrected by retyping. Retype the first few pages several times if necessary to make them as neat as possible.
Parts of the book manuscript.
All pages of a book manuscript, except the title page, should bear a heading line that has been previously described. The first page of text is page one and the pages that precede it are not numbered. The forms of the pages composing the front matter should make it immediately obvious what these pages are. In the event that one of these preliminaries goes on for more than a page, enter a caption in the heading line like "contents---page 2," "acknowledgments---page 3," and so forth.
The copy supplied by the author for a book of gay erotica or for most other kinds of fiction are:
The title page. The title page is mandatory. Do not include blank cover sheets or half-title pages. The author's true name, address, and social security number go in the upper left corner, each on a separate single spaced line. In the upper right corner goes a descriptive caption like "a novel," "a story collection," or "two novellas." Below that goes the approximate word count. (This estimate can be made by counting five typical pages, dividing by five, and multiplying by the number of text pages in the manuscript. There is no point to making this an exact number. Round the word count reported by your word processor if you have one.)
Centered on the page go the author's title, with important words capitalized, the descriptive caption again, and the byline each on a separate, centered, double-spaced line. The author's pen name, if used, goes in the byline, but his true name should appear in the heading. If the author wishes to include a copyright notice it goes in the lower left portion of this page.
The acknowledgments page is mandatory if applicable. This is not the wordy expression of gratitude sometimes called "acknowledgments," that really belongs in a preface or an author's note. This is the record of the previous publication of material that appears in the book. In the printed book this information usually appears on the back of the title page in tiny type, but in the manuscript it is entered on a separate page under the centered title "Acknowledgments," and is double spaced in the same typeface used for the body of the work.
If the author has sold only serial rights to magazines in which the material has previously appeared or if magazines that bought all rights have returned the unused rights to the author, then the author has the book rights to the material and the acknowledgment notices take the form:
"Lesbian Nuns on Bikes" first appeared in Leatherdyke Magazine, November 1999.
"Jocks" first appeared in ManTime Magazine, March 1999, as "Pro Jocks In Heat."
Portions of chapters one and two first appeared as "The Confessions of Lance Thudd" in Blueballs Quarterly, Spring 1999, in slightly different form.
But if the works of other people are used or if you do not have the copyright to material of yours that you have included in the book, then each use of such material requires a full recitation of the owner's original copyright notice (and you will have to provide your publisher with properly executed permissions to use the material).
If you have material of both kinds in your book, remove the citations of works requiring permissions to a separate page. And, of course, if none of the material in your book has ever appeared in print before, you should have no acknowledgments page.
Card page. This is the list of other books you have written. Some publishers are mean enough to list only the books that they have published: "Other books by Freddie Fumblefart from GayBOOKS!!!" The meanest sort of publisher lists only the books he has published and makes it appear that these are all the books you have written: "Other books by Freddie Fumblefart" Of course if some of your other books are very well known and highly regarded, the publisher will want to list them so that the reader knows you are that same famous author.
In the finished book the card page may go in any of several places. Often it comes before the title page. But in manuscript, nothing comes before the title page. Simply type "Also by" and your name and list on separate double-spaced lines your previously published titles.
Dedication.
The dedication is optional. Some publishers will squeeze the dedication onto the back of the title page. In the manuscript center the title "Dedication" on the first text line of the page and enter the dedication below it. The fashion is to make the dedication as simple as possible, perhaps no more than the word "to" and the name. Recall that the book will almost certainly not appear until at least a year after the dedication is written and that the dedication will remain with book at least so long as the first edition is in print. The sentiment behind the dedication ought to be at least as enduring.
Epigraph.
The epigraph is optional. The epigraph is a brief quotation. It may be a verse that contains the words that gave rise to the title of the book. It might be words from a speech or a poem or other inspirational matter. Sometimes it is an imaginary quotation from a character in the book which may or may not be repeated somewhere in the text.
The epigraph goes on a separate page in the manuscript. Sometimes there are several quotations; they all go on the same page. An epigraph requiring more than a few lines is likely to be tedious. In the finished book, the epigraph may appear in an unusual fashion, such as flush right and ragged left. But type it normally, double-spaced. Include the source of the epigraph on the line following.
Be sure to consider whether the epigraph will require permission as it surely will if it comes from a popular song. Not every work will benefit by having an epigraph, and unless a epigraph is wisely chosen, it may seem an affectation.
Contents. The contents page is mandatory if applicable. Novels no longer invariably bear a contents page; certainly it is silly for them to do so if the chapters are not titled.
Center the word "Contents" on the first text line of this page. Double space twice and list double spaced the titles of the stories, chapters, or other parts of the book.
You cannot know the page numbers of the parts in the finished book. Do not type in the page numbers of the manuscript pages. Pencil and circle the manuscript page numbers in the left margin. If you see this page in proof, the spaces for the page numbers will be filled with zeros. If the numbers are filled in, you have got page proofs, not galleys.
Preface. A preface is presumptuous in a first work of fiction and is seldom called for in any novel except those novels in which the preface is part of the fiction. The preface may be replaced with an author's note if there are those who must be thanked. Brevity is essential.
A good story collection ought have a theme, and a publisher may want a few words from the author to strike the keynote. This brief passage may be called a preface.
Center the word "Preface" or the title "Author's Note" on the line you would use to start a chapter. The preface is supposed to be the author's work and does not bear a byline. At the bottom of the text it is customary for the preface to bear the author's name, the place of composition, and the month or season that the work was completed.
In fiction, an introduction is a work of commentary by someone other than the author of the book. While you are living, your fictional works probably will not have introductions, again excepting the case where the introduction is part of the fiction, in which case it will be written by you and attributed to a fictional character.
Real introductions are not your responsibility, but will be separately commissioned by the publisher if they are desired.
The first page of text is page one. Leave extra space at the top of this page as you will for the first pages of other chapters or parts. Begin each chapter or part on a fresh page. If you have a fairly slender book to begin with, it is silly and tasteless to divide it into "Book I," "Book II," et cetera unless you are imitating a classical text.
Chapter titles are very useful in composing a book, but you may or may not choose to title chapters in the finished book. Whether titled or not, chapters are numbered. Use an Arabic number followed by a period. Numbering short stories is pointless unless they form a short story cycle. Short stories are very likely to be rearranged in the editing process.
Double space twice after the line that contains the chapter or story title and begin typing text.
Fiction almost never has back matter, but usually the last page of the text is the last page of the manuscript.
Mailing the book manuscript.
Book manuscripts should not be sent until they are expected. When they are expected, they are sent as loose pages in a box, like the box that typing paper comes in. Do not bind a book manuscript. The top page in the box should be a cover letter showing, at the very least, the person to whom the manuscript is sent (usually the person who requested it), your name and address, and a prominent statement indicating that the manuscript has been requested.
The return envelope should be a large padded mailer; it is very likely that if the pages come back, they will come back without the box. If possible, fold the return envelope and put it on top of the manuscript in the box. Tape the top and bottom of the box together with as little tape as possible. The box should be placed in a large padded mailer or can be wrapped in Kraft paper and sealed with strapping tape.
Sending manuscripts.
Short story manuscripts should be sent by first-class mail. Although there is a special parcel-post rate for manuscripts, it offers no advantage for story-sized manuscripts.
The weight of the paper is the weight in pounds of 2,000 sheets of 8 1/2" by 11" paper. That is, 2,000 sheets of 20-pound paper weighs 20 pounds; 2,000 sheets of 18-pound paper weighs 18 pounds, and so forth. Therefore, 100 sheets of 20-pound paper weighs 1 pound, which is 6 sheets to the ounce. By including an allowance for the envelopes, the weight of the manuscript can thus be figured without a scale.
The first-class rate is less for additional ounces. A writer should keep stamps of two denominations: the one for the first ounces and the one for additional ounces. Do not stick three first-class stamps on a three-ounce manuscript, but affix one first-class stamp and two stamps in the denomination for additional ounces.
The large envelope in which the manuscript is mailed should be clearly marked "First Class Mail." Although priority mail is a form of first class mail, if you mark an envelope "Priority Mail," you must affix priority postage which is more than the first-class rate for manuscripts of 12 ounces or less.
Some writers, especially those who send photocopies or who can easily run out another copy of manuscript with a word processor, find it cheaper to mark their manuscripts "Disposable" and include a letter-sized SASE for the editor's report. The editor, if he does not accept the manuscript, discards the manuscript and returns a rejection slip in the letter-sized SASE. Such savings are slight in any event, and to save anything at all, at present rates, the writer must be able to make new copies for less than 4 per page. But the psychology of this process seems wrong. The writer should consider his manuscript valuable and should want it back. He should avoid creating the impression that it is worthless if a particular editor does not want it. The last image an editor has of a manuscript should not be of it in the wastebasket, but should be one of a manuscript that he might see again, printed in a competing publication.
Sending a FAX across the country is now cheaper and surer than mailing a letter, if you own the FAX machine. Contracts, checks, and manuscripts cannot be FAXed. But much editorial correspondence is now done via FAX including, sometimes, last minute corrections to proofs and other emergency queries. No beginner should initiate a correspondence with an editor by FAX. But as a writer's career advances the advantages of having ready access to a FAX machine increase.
Book manuscripts should not be mailed until they are requested. When a book manuscript is requested, the savings available by sending it at the special parcel-post rate should be weighed against the delay and risk of loss entailed in parcel post. The writer should consider priority mail if she can afford it. Second-day service from private express companies are considerably cheaper than their overnight services but afford the same security and certainty of delivery.
An author who is returning edited pages or proofs should not hesitate to employ a reliable---that is, a private---express service. Second-day delivery from a private express service is available at a reasonable rate considering the peace of mind the author gains in the bargain. The United States Postal Service will not guarantee delivery within any specified time which shows that they understand the quality of their service very well. Private services are more expensive, but this is a case of you get what you pay for.
A good editor saves an author considerable embarrassment. The editor's job includes correcting the author's manuscript without damaging variations in usage which are considered literary style and without altering the voices of the narrator or the characters. Some editors are not so good as others; an author must make the manuscript as consistent and as nearly perfect as he can. If an error in print reproduces an error in manuscript, the author may blame no one but himself.
All large type belongs to the editor. The editor may paraphrase portions of the text to be set in large type (pullouts), write blurbs (or in the case of a book, solicit blurbs from others and select among them), and retitle the piece as he sees fit. Especially in titles, a courteous editor may advise the author of a change. That is only a courtesy; the author must promptly consent. The editor determines the size and style of type for the large type and the text. The editor may and should make changes in the copy to conform it to the editorial style of the periodical or the publishing house. Finally the editor makes changes to fit the work into the space allotted for it.
If the editor cannot print the writer's work, he should decline to by it. The editor ought not to rewrite whole passages and certainly should not alter the substance of the work. Yet such things happen. An author has a justifiable complaint---though whether voicing it is wise is another matter---when the heart of the work is violated, but the author must not criticize the editor for doing the things that are the editor's to do. The author should consider the possibility that the editor is correct and that the result is an improvement. Like some authors, some editors are fools and some are meddling busybodies. But the good that editors have done has accumulated a treasury of merits that we may indulge them a few evils.
The author's manuscript is the copy. What is done with it is copyediting. If the material is a book that is to be published by a large house the author may be given the chance to review the edited pages, although this is unlikely in gay erotica. The edited copy is sent to the typesetter. In theory the typesetter sets the copy exactly as it is presented to him, even if he perceives obvious errors. Also in theory, the edited copy never presents the typesetter with ambiguities: the typesetter never has to make a decision. A replica is made of the typeset text. This is called a proof. What is done with it is proofreading.
If an error in material is missed by a reader, that same reader is very likely to miss the error however many times he reviews the material. For this reason the author should never edit his own copy. By the same token, the person who edited the copy should never attempt to proofread the work. In reality, these rules must be violated when the publisher's staff is small.
The object of proofreading is to correct the typesetter's errors; to indicate on the proof what must be done to make the type agree with the copy. Doing this correctly requires two persons: one to hold the copy and to read it word for word, pronouncing the names of the punctuation marks and indicating capitalization, italics, and the spelling of unusual names, and another to follow the proof and to mark corrections on it as necessary. Where the proof does not match the copy the typesetter is at fault, and this is called a printer's error (PE). The printer is obliged to correct printer's errors at his own expense.
Invariably errors in the copy itself are detected in proofreading. The typesetter cannot be blamed for an error in type if it reproduces an error in the copy. A correction of an error that appeared in the copy is called an author's alteration (AA), and the printer will charge for making such changes. The cost of some minor corrections should have been included when the publisher estimated the cost of typesetting. Proofreaders should not hesitate to make occasional, minor corrections.
If the author has the chance of reviewing proofs, she will usually have an allowance for author's alterations---often 10% of the original cost of the typesetting. Making changes, however, is much more expensive than setting type to begin with. The author's allowance of 10% will not allow her to change 10% of the text. It should allow her to correct misspelled words, to insert an occasion omitted "not," or delete a duplicated word. The author will be charged if the cost of her alterations exceed her allowance.
The author must not attempt to revise in proof!
An excuse for making a substantial change in proof is to remove a libel or to correct an error in a recipe which if followed would produce a lethal bomb instead of chocolate cake. Less serious errors of substance must be lived with once the work is in proof.
Unfortunate turns of phrase must remain in the book. The author must live with a poorly chosen word if it is spelled correctly and not libelous. If the author husbands here alterations allowance carefully she can afford such occasional lapses as having called a character by the wrong name in a few places.
Proofreading marks are given in a table that can be found in most dictionaries. Notice that each mark consists of two parts: a mark made in the line of print and a symbol entered in the margin. Both are necessary. A mark in the line of type will certainly be overlooked if there is not a symbol in the margin. When material must be changed, it is not enough to insert the correct material. The deletion of the incorrect material must be indicated as well.
The transposition symbol should not be used unless the parts to be transposed are immediately adjacent. If the error is more complicated, delete and insert. Unlike changes in the copy, insertions in proofs may be written down the margins and often are more legible if so written. Do not attempt to write insertions between the lines of type.
Bad garbles are often the fault of the typesetter. If a garble is extensive, and some may run for many lines, the author should not attempt to correct it but should circle the offending material and enter the marginal note "folo copy." The author should watch carefully for duplicated matter: a common typesetting error that is easily missed.
When a line in the early part of a paragraph is changed, usually all of the remainder of the paragraph will have to be reset. Transpositions in a single line can be corrected by resetting only that line. Spelling corrections requiring only the substitution of a correct letter for an incorrect one can often be made by resetting only that line. Any substitution is likely to be cheaper when the material to be inserted is the same length, or nearly, as the material to be deleted. Deleting material from the end of a paragraph is usually an inexpensive change, as is deletion of exactly one line as set.
In theory, the author should have the edited pages in order to read proofs properly. Otherwise he has no way of knowing whether a variation from his manuscript is the result of the copyediting or is a printer's error. The author may written "salon" but "saloon" appears on the proof. The author wrote "trapezius" (a large muscle of the neck and back), but the galley reads "trapezium" (a bone of the wrist). Whether the author has edited pages or not, he should recheck such variations. Perhaps there is a good reason the proof reads "callus" where the author wrote "callous."
An author who is fortunate enough to be given proofs should take care to return the proofs on time.
Corrections are made by the typesetter and the changes are checked. Then all is well if the text exactly fits the space allotted for it. If it is short by a little, slight adjustments in the white space may resolve the problem. But if it is long, the editor must shorten the text in a way that requires as little new typesetting as possible.
Most books are made up of signatures of sixteen pages. The publisher is unlikely to allow thirteen blank pages in order to accommodate three extra pages of text. Moreover, editors will want to remove widows and orphans: paragraphs which break badly so that only a few words are carried to a following page or a very short word appears alone on the last line. Sometimes the spaces between words will line up on a page or in a column so a long valley of white seem to flow through the text. Careful editors will make adjustments to eliminate this valley.
The author will not be consulted when these kinds of final adjustments must be made. The editor must make these adjustments quickly. Often no good solution is evident and the editor is compelled to choose the least objectionable of unattractive alternatives. The wonder is not that authors are sometimes displeased, but that editors ever find agreeable solutions at all.
In many respects literature is a collective art: a performance frozen in ink and paper. The literary work bears the personal imprint of its author to much greater degree than a drama or a motion picture or a ballet. Yet the author of a literary work must rely on people of many crafts to produce his work.
A beautiful book is a work of art. The editor is no less an artist than a director or a conductor, a typesetter no less an artist than a violinist, a bookbinder no less an artist than a set designer. The author must respect his collaborators, acknowledge them, and even at times defer to them. His work is idle scribbling without them, as all who were born unpublished should remember.