It has recently come to my attention that there are some new writers out there that aren’t sure how they should be formatting their manuscripts.
So this post is going to be dedicated to explaining the
basic nuts and bolt of fiction formatting – basically how the text is laid out.
It’s important to stress that we are referring to fiction formatting, because formatting
for fact based essays follows a different set of rules.
So, here we go:
Font
There is no standard font that you have to use, but as a
general rule, if you’re writing for print, you should use a ‘serif’ font, and
if you’re writing for a digital medium then you should use a ‘sans-serif’ font.
Serif fonts are ones with little tails and flicks at the end
of the letters (such as Times New Roman or Georgia) and Sans Serif fonts are
those without (such as Arial and Verdana).
This is because the font affects the readability of text,
and for reasons too technical to go into, that is the way that works best.
Personally, I like to use Courier New, which looks like what
comes out of a typewriter, because it just looks more writerly.
Also, don’t make the font too small – it’s not just painful
for people whose eyesight isn’t perfect, it’s uncomfortable for people with
20/20 too.
Paragraph
Don’t leave line breaks (vertical space) between paragraphs.
They should be snug above and below each other, with the exact same amount of
space as there is between lines of the same paragraph.
Indents
New paragraphs should be indented by about a finger’s width
– except the first one of a chapter (I know, who comes up with this stuff? But
that’s the way it is buster, so get used to it).
Line spacing
Use 1.5 or double line spacing. Otherwise the text ends up
looking too dense and people’s eyes get lost while trying to read it.
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