Standard Manuscript Format

Before submitting your stories make sure they are in the standard manuscript format. This is described in many, many "How to Write" books -- and I strongly recommend that you read at least one such book. Pared down to the bare essentials, the rules are as follows....

Your manuscript should look as though you typed it. Neither handwritten manuscripts nor ones that use a dozen amazingly nifty fonts are likely to be well received. If you are using a word processor try to select a non-proportional font (one where every character has the same width).
Do not justify the text. By this I mean don't select the option from your word processor that makes every line of text end exactly at the right margin. Remember, you want your manuscript to look as though you typed it, even if you are printing it on the world's most expensive laserwriter.
Use high quality 8 1/2 x 11 inch white paper.
Only print on one side of the paper.
Do not staple the pages together.
Use wide margins -- at least an inch all around the text.
Double space the text.

Show new paragraphs by indenting the first line of the new paragraph by five spaces. Thus:

This is the end of one paragraph.

     And this is the start of the next paragraph.  Note

that the text is double-spaced, and non-justified.

The top of the first page: Put your name, address, and telephone number at the top left of the first page. Put the word count to the nearest 100 words at the top right of the first page. Something like this:
```
Jane Smith                                  3200 words
123 Home Lane
Writers' Ville PA 15206
```
The rest of the first page: The story's title and your name should appear a little less than halfway down the first page. Then leave a couple of blank lines, and start the story. The title and your name should be centered:
```
                   GREAT STORY

                       by

                   Jane Smith
```
Put the page number, your surname, and a keyword or two from the title on the top right of every page after the first one. Something like this:
```
                                Smith/Great Story/20
```
To show a scene break, leave a blank line, then have a line with a single asterix centered in the middle, then have another blank line. Thus:
```
With a whimper, Bob died.

                      *

     It was a dark and stormy night, very dark, very
```
Do not use italics. To show text that should be italicized in the final published version of the story, underline that section of text.
At the end of your story, leave a couple of blank lines, then write "THE END" or "###" centered on a line.
And that's all there is to it.

Standard Manuscript Format

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