I'm working on my first novel after being a technical writer for the Navy for many years. I've been writing in the same format as my technical manuals and I know it's not the right format for a novel. I am using 11 pt. Arial, single-space, with 1" L/R margins. For the purposes of estimating the page length of my novel, what font, line spacing, and margins should I be using?
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Page Formatting
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dpaterso
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Methinks Courier 12 is still the traditional standard, tho' some magazine and novel guidelines I've read allow Times New Roman 12 too. Use whichever you find easiest on the eye. You can't go wrong with 1" margins.
Just saying, I prefer writing in Verdana font, when I want to check pagecount or prepare a document for submission I can highlight the entire doc and change the font and style to double spaced Courier 12 in a couple of seconds. The marvels of the word processor.
<slaps head> Almost forgot! There's a thead in our FAQ section that covers mss. formatting:
FAQ: Cathy C's Formatting Manuscripts for Submission - All your questions answered!
http://absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=26126
-Derek
Just saying, I prefer writing in Verdana font, when I want to check pagecount or prepare a document for submission I can highlight the entire doc and change the font and style to double spaced Courier 12 in a couple of seconds. The marvels of the word processor.
<slaps head> Almost forgot! There's a thead in our FAQ section that covers mss. formatting:
FAQ: Cathy C's Formatting Manuscripts for Submission - All your questions answered!
http://absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=26126
-Derek
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