Proper manuscript format for the 21st century
I wrote the original version of my manuscript formatting guide in 1993, modeling it after a much older two-page guide I received from Damon Knight in 1985. Back in those days, even for those who'...
Odds and EndsA collection of 17 posts
Composing a cover letter
A reader writes to ask: I am going to FEDEX my short fiction story to [a certain American] magazine, who were the only gracious ones to send me a response to my e-mail query (out of...
Word counts for proposal submissions
A reader writes to ask: I am submitting a short story collection, but the publisher requests just the first 50 pages. How do I handle this in terms of what I would write for word count?...
Uncorrecting the ellipsis character
A reader writes to ask: I've been writing in Microsoft Works, which I believe is similar but not identical to Word. When I type an ellipse by typing three periods in succession, the program...
Ending your manuscript
A reader writes to ask: Please-does anyone out there know how to end a manuscript for a short story or novel? Do you skip a line and write -END- (margin left) or THE END (Centered) or....
Confusing book design with manuscript formatting
A reader writes to ask: I came upon your blog when asking a question about short story indentation at ask.com. I don't know if you'll ever read this, but if you...