Ah, the importance of flexibility.
In general, manuscript formatting for publication is a pretty formalized practice. You use fonts and spacing and all the rest of it in the manner of Shunn. Aspiring writers get to know the rules and get comfortable with them. It's part of the process.
There are always exceptions, though. I recently sent a story off through email. When I looked through the submission guidelines right before sending it off I saw that they don't accept .docx files, which are now the default in Word. Even more of a surprise, you can't use headers with the page number, name, etc. I sent something to this place before and think I may have overlooked these rules the first time.
That's workable, though. The real nerve-wracking business is when they don't want attachments, just the document pasted in the body of an email. Sounds easy, but a 4,000 page story won't look good pasted in an email.
2 comments:
I can't say I had any familiarty with Shunn's formatting methods, but then there'd be no reason since I've never aspired to write fiction. It's quite interesting, though, to read how the text should be presented for best effect.
Nevertheless, it certainly sounds as though they've added even more complications to an already involved creative process. If you must submit a 4,000 page story as the body of an email I wonder what a novelist would be expected to do? Do they suppose the author will typeset the story for them so they don't have to do anything else?
In any case, I do hope they regard your story fit for publication.
It's a combination of what shows the work to best effect and what editors have gotten accustomed to. I have a feeling that the rules have gotten more stringent over time, but at least it's better knowing what they are.
Interesting question about novelists. If you're presenting a novel to a publisher and not self-publishing, it's probably a good idea to have some kind of representation so that they don't mess with you too much, although that might be harder than it sounds too.
I'll find out within a few weeks. It's a good story, I think, so fingers crossed.
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