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SCIENCE FICTION WRITER  ROBERT J. SAWYER  Best Novel Hugo and Nebula Award Winner SFWRITER.COM > How to Write > Manuscript Format Checklist   Manuscript Format Checklist   Copyright © 1997 by Robert J. Sawyer All Rights Reserved Manuscripts being submitted to editors should be in the standard format expected by the publishing industry. Although some idiosyncratic variations are occasionally seen, this format is accepted universally at virtually all magazines and publishing companies, and is designed to facilitate the process of line editing, copyediting, and proofreading. Only deviate from it if you've received specific instructions to do so. I'm providing a complete sample manuscript, in Adobe Acrobat PDF format. You'll need Adobe Reader (available for free from www.adobe.com) to view or print this file. I'm also providing the following manuscript-format checklist:   Header / Footer Material:   Printed on one side of white 8.5x11-inch 20-pound paper; pages not stapled or bound. Author's real name, address, phone number, and email address in upper left of page one. Approximate, rounded word count (based on ten words per 6.5-inch Courier 12-point / 10-pitch manuscript line) in the upper right of page one. Notice that this is a "Disposable Copy" if you only want the editor's reply but not the actual manuscript returned (saves on postage costs for your SASE). Title and author's name (or pen name) centered about halfway down the first page. A page header identifying the author, story, and page number on each page after the first, flush with the right page margin: Sawyer / Uphill Climb / 2. On the last page, an indication that this is actually the end of the story: "# # # # #," "The End," or "—30—."   The Actual Story:   One-inch margins on all four sides of the page (use a 6.5-inch ruler line for text). Monospaced (not proportionally spaced) Courier 12-point / 10-pitch — ideally a decent, dark Courier, such as this free one from Hewlett Packard, not the anemic "Courier New" that comes with Windows (although many writers now submit manuscripts in Times Roman, or another serif proportional font, even though that makes copyediting harder). Ragged right margin (not right-justified). Hyphenation turned off. Double-spaced lines (24-point leading). Paragraphs indented one-half inch (five 10-pitch spaces). Two spaces between sentences, if using a monospaced font such as Courier. Punctuation inside of quotation marks. Em-dashes shown as two hyphens -- like so -- if you can't, or prefer not to, show actual em-dashes. A new paragraph every time you change speaker. Emphasis and foreign phrases shown by underlining rather than italics (although this rule seems to be falling by the wayside). Scene breaks shown by a number sign (#) centered on a blank line. Spelling checked (using American spellings for U.S. markets, Canadian ones for Canadian markets, and British ones for U.K. markets) and manuscript manually proofread.   More Good Reading   Rob's "On Writing" columns Notes for the Copyeditor Essay: WordStar — A Writer's Word Processor

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