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[process] Manuscript formatting
Recently there was an outbreak of discussion on a mailing list I belong to, concerning proper manuscript formatting. This was more about double spacing after periods than anything else, but the Font Question entered into it as well. (For what it’s worth, I strongly prefer Times New Roman for sheer readability, but have recently been convinced to switch back to Courier for novel manuscript submissions, at least.)
Authorities Were Consulted, which resulted in helpful squibs from both Gordon van Gelder and Dr. Stan Schmidt concerning their opinions and experiences in the matter. Being an enterprising fellow myself, I sought (and obtained) the kind permission of both editors to quote them here on this blog as a public service for those of us who concern ourselves with the details of such issues.
Gordon van Gelder, when asked about his preferences, said:
“I don’t fuss much over manuscript format and the question of one space vs. two spaces is something that doesn’t cross my mind when I’m reading submissions, but I have to say that I do favor Courier and the manuscripts that I find the most readable are still the ones that follow the standard format (like this: http://www.sfwa.org/writing/vonda/vonda.htm).”
Dr. Schmidt’s comment was:
Since I don’t actually do the typesetting end of things myself, I recently asked Trevor the same question. He said he has no real preference between one or two spaces between sentences; we eventually use one, but he has a macro to change any doubles in manuscripts automatically. I also asked the production manager at Prometheus, for whom I’m currently writing a book, and her answer was similar: they prefer one, but consider it “too hard to enforce,” and too easy to change, to try to hold anybody to it.
In my own writing, partly because of those answers, I’ve pretty much switched over to one space. There’s another small reason, too: it saves a tiny amount (but it adds up) of time and wear and tear on your space bar (probably the most-used key on the board) and at least one digit.
As for font, I think most editors still have at least a slight leaning toward Courier, though at least in my case it’s extremely mild; I’m generally content with either. I’m not sure I believe that “theoretically”; if anything, I think I personally find Courier a little easier on the eyes. But there’s another reason why many editors prefer it: most of us at least occasionally find ourselves wondering about an author’s word count and wanting to do an approximate one of our own, and that’s easier with a nonproportional font.
While we’re in this ballpark, let me add one other editorial preference that most editors seem to share and that sometimes surprises authors. Computers also make it easy to do actual italics instead of underlining, but most of us would rather you didn’t, and continue underlining instead. Our computers can easily convert it in the final typesetting, but in many fonts underlining is much more obvious to the eye, and therefore less likely to be missed, than italics.
Finally, writer (and designer/typesetter) Stephen Stanley said this:
Double word spacing between sentences was a typewriter convention. The period key on a typewriter is one of the most often used. Along with the comma key.
Posted: 2:57 pm Tue June 19 2007 |
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