The Big Tool Box

Using Microsoft Word to write a novel is like buying a 450 piece tool set to fix a cabinet hinge. It will get the job done, but all you needed out of the set was the screwdriver. Still, every writer I know - with one or two exceptions - uses Word. It is by far the most common piece of software in the workplace and is becoming so in the home. So, when someone decides to write that novel that has been eating at them for years, Word is the tool they will most likely use.

The problem with this is that Word was designed as a business tool and as such takes a little tweaking to make it into a creative writing tool. A new blank document in Word opens formatted to write a business letter not a manuscript. The font, margins, and paragraph spacing are all wrong.

Manuscript format at it's most basic is: Courier font 12 point, one inch margins, and double spaced lines of text. Seems simple enough, but many people don't know how to set them. So here are the basic settings to get you started.

If you are using Word for Windows click on the "File" menu and select "Page Set Up…" Here you can set your margins. Set Top, Bottom, Left, and Right to 1 inch. Then click on the "Paper" tab and make sure that your paper size is set to "Width" 8.5 and "Length" 11. While you're there you might as well go ahead and click on the "Layout" tab. Under "Headers and footers" check the box for "Different first page." I'll talk about headers and inserting page numbers at another time but for now click "OK" to save your settings.




















Times New Roman may the de facto business font, but editors still love Courier and therefore so should you. From the "Format" menu choose "Font…" In the "Font:" box type Courier. You should now see a listing of the Courier fonts installed on your machine. If you installed the Dark Courier font that I recommended in a previous post you should see it listed here. If you haven't installed it you can choose one of the others, such as Courier New. Make sure that "Regular" is selected under "Font style:" and 12 is selected under "Size:" and that nothing is checked under "Effect". Click "OK" to save the settings.



















Once again click on the "Format" menu and this time choose "Paragraph…" In the "General" section make sure that "Alignment" Is set to "Left" not "Justified". If you don't want to have to hit the tab key at the start of every new paragraph click on the "Special:" list box and select "First line". Make sure that the "By:" box is set at 0.5. Look for the "Line spacing:" list box under the "Spacing" section and set it to "Double". Click "OK" and you have set the basic body style for your manuscript.



















If you already have text written, select it before you make these changes and it will be converted the correct format.

There are many other little settings that will need to be adjusted or turned off to maintain standard manuscript format, and I will cover those later. But for now, you can begin writing your masterpiece.

Smarter Than Your Average Dog

In light of evidence to the contrary, I must retract my statement in a previous post that dogs can't read. I stand corrected.

Dark Couier Font

The Courier fonts that come with Windows are anemic. When printed out they are way too light. Do a favor for anyone who will be reading your manuscript by installing a darker font.

HP offers and excellent one for free. The download and instructions for instillation can be found here.

This font is for Windows only. The standard one that comes with Macintosh is plenty dark enough.

Heinlein Wisdom

Robert A. Heinlein, one my favorite writers, had five rules for writing.

They are:

1. You Must Write

2.Finish What Your Start

3.You Must Refrain From Rewriting, Except to Editorial Order

4.You Must Put Your Story on the Market

5.You Must Keep it on the Market until it has Sold

All good advice. However, Rule 3 usually takes some explaining. Heinlein may very well have been confident in sending out first drafts--he was Robert A. Heinlein after all--but most of us could not get away with that. First drafts are almost always too rough to be seen by anyone except your dog. Since dogs can't read, they are just impress that you have words on paper. Most people agree that what Heinlein was trying to say was "Don't rewrite endlessly."

I struggle what that one a lot. The fact is it can alway be better, but at some point you just have let it go. Knowing when it has reached this point is the hard part. A simply one line rule can't tell me when it is time to stop. Still, keeping the rule in mind does help.

Novelist Robert J. Sawyer has a good article on these rues with his take on them and adds a sixth. Well worth checking out.

Now I'm off to polish up that first chapter a bit more. Or maybe not.

Writer's Hygiene

Writing is not necessarily something to be ashamed of, but do it in private and wash your hands afterwards. - Robert Heinlein