Slug line question

[Rhush]

Do I need to seperate my text from my slug line on every page with a space, or is it ok to just have the text on the next line after?

[katdad]

The term slug is the title of an article. Do you mean chapter titles? If so, doublespace after each chapter title.

Don't however get obsessive about spacing unless you're submitting to a specific venue who has sent you their spec sheet. Just ensure double spacing throughout with nice wide margins and such.

[Rhush]

Well, this question originates because I'm using Cynthia Laufenberg's-Foramtting and Submitting Your Manuscript, and it instructs to use these "slug lines" at the beginning of every page of you fiction manuscript. Ex. Rhush/IN TIMES OF PAST. But it never informs you as to how many spaces to travel down from these "slug lines" before beginning the chapter heading. Ex. Chapter 1. It is defantly referanced in the novel section where it runs over the formatting. What do you think?

[tjosban]

I believe that goes into the header. Your name, title and page number. Then the Chapter would start like any other page because the header itself is separated from the regular text.

[maestrowork]

That goes to the header. If you're using something like Word, just open the header and put your name, a brief title to identify your ms and the page number (you can insert page # field in Word) in this format : LAST NAME/TITLE/page#, preferrably right justified.

Obviously if your title is long like "Harry Potter and the Secret Chamber" you shouldn't put the entire title there. "CHAMBER" would be adequate.

[James D Macdonald]

You're talking about running heads? One space between the header and the text wouldn't be wrong.

Your work will be double-spaced anyway, though, and the header will be right-justified, so I wouldn't sweat it. There's not much chance the header wil be confused with the text.

[preyer]

how truly strict are editors? besides double-spacing, numbering your pages with your last name and title, is the average editor going to blow a gasket if say the margins aren't perfectly to their liking, i mean beyond taking adequate care with that? are they going to snub you if you have a page or two that's a little different colour or a different weight? for a book that they're willing to possibly buy, will a few minour inconsistencies be your undoing or will they cut you some slack on things like hand-numbering a few pages?

[SRHowen]

your ms and your cover letter are your resume to the editor in question. Would you leave errors in a resume?

Shawn

[maestrowork]

Preyer, if you can avoid doing that and just follow industry standard, why not? I'm sure if you don't know better, and just send your ms. in pink paper with narrow margins, some editors might not mind. But why take a chance?

[preyer]

for an example of what i was getting at was when you're printing out 800 pages to be sent in, it's perfectly reasonable to assume that sometimes you'll run out of a ream of paper and use the remnants of another stock which may be slightly different. or let's just say you screw up and your margins are a little longer or shorter. are these automatic death knells? or if you run out of ink on the last few words of a page if it's okay just to print them in. that kind of very minour thing. pink paper, yeah, i'd discard right off the bat, but shouldn't we expect an editor to be a reasonable person, too, and that triffling inconsistencies shouldn't signal a person's level of ability or desire to be published as opposed to a person not being wasteful or frivolous? true, there's an industry standard, and we should strive to meet those expectations, but at the same time we're human and despite our best efforts will screw up sometimes. a resume-length thing is one thing, but stretched out over the better part of a thousand pages, well, there's no fair comparison there, eh? heaven forbid there may be a coffee drop on the corner of one page that you can hardly see?

[katdad]

"slug lines" at the beginning of every page
Ah. She means "header" but apparently doesn't know proper terminology for printing or formatting in electronic docs. The term "slug" is quite different in print terminology.

Your header should contain your name, the name of the work, and the page number on the far right. You may also wish to include your email and/or phone:

"Ulysses" by Jamey Joyce ....(etc)........ Page 238

After each header, doublespace to start the text. Put the double space in the header itself so it will be automatic.

By the way, you wrote "defantly referanced". I hope your novel employs better spelling. Be careful. Typos can creep into a manuscript and spoil an otherwise engaging evaluation. And remember, there's always one more tpyo.

[maestrowork]

Preyer, the editor don't care about you. They care about the ms and the words printed on it. Standard formats mean the writer is all business. The editor doesn't have any emotional attachment to you, and they read hundreds of ms. every year. Make their job easier, and improve your chances of success.

It's all about professionalism. The editor doesn't know you, or care to know you. He or she only judges your work on the words written and how it's prepared. If it's pink paper with narror margins with a small coffee stain on it, it tells them that the writer doesn't even respect their own ms to give it the best presentation. Why should they?

There are ALWAYS exceptions. But when in doubt, do the safe thing.