How to Survive and Return from Formatting Hell

I'm Baaack...

When my editor, the fab Mistress of Multi-Tasking Angela Kelly, pointed out that my manuscript had a few double spaces between words, I investigated. And was appalled.

In my *completed* and *polished* ms, there was way over a hundred double spaces.

It was easy to figure out how it happened. No doubt, I had misplaced the cursor when moving a line or paragraph.

Other concerns arose however.

• Sentences that magically jumped down a line or two that needed re-attached or pulled up.
• Hidden Text, the cockroach of the word processing world.
• The mechanics of em dashes and en dashes. I know where to place them and the difference but Word program sometimes twiddles its digital fingers, dithers around, and creates the wrong symbol.

Now that I am hyperaware of these problems, fixing them is easy but time consuming.

! Note: before attempting these fixes, copy your manuscript and practice on it rather than the original!

Inserted Lines. There are two ways to find formatting symbols in Word program. Hit the formatting symbol ¶ at the top center of your screen. Or click on the Window icon at the top left, click on Word options then hit Display. This will show the formatting.

The Fix. After you click on the formatting tools, all kinds of things will pop up. The paragraph symbol is ¶. If you hit enter twice or inserted a section from another ms, you will see where the sentences jumped or lines inserted in the text and can edit them.

Hidden text. Faint dots underlining the word represent hidden text. This became a problem when my editor and I exchanged the ms back and forth, converting it from Word to Word Perfect and inserting comments as we went. Remove them by using Find and Replace.

The Fix. Hit Find. Under format, click on Font. Click on Hidden then OK. Highlight All and work your magic.

Em Dashes. When my Word program didn’t convert the dashes to em dashes, it meant I had to physically do this.

The Fix. Click on Find, Special and (in my case) en dash. Replace with em dash. This does the job, but since Word placed spaces before and after the dash, I used a different technique for most of them.

Try this. Where you want the em dash, type the word. Then hold down on the Alt key and type 0151 then the next word. This places the correct symbol—in that spot. No spaces before and after. And no double dashes to muck up the format.

Double spaces. These are represented by two or more dots. I committed this sin not only in the middle of text but at the beginning of some paragraphs as well. It is easy to fix in the sentences. Not so much at the beginning of a paragraph.

The Fix. Hit the formatting symbol ¶ or Word options to see them. Use the Find/Replace by hitting the space bar twice then Highlight All. Replace All with a single space.

The spaces before the paragraphs required more labor, a page-by-page inspection.

Dig out these formatting errors since who knows?

Maybe a prospective agent is looking for these goof ups in your manuscript and using that as a guide.

Got any more horror stories?

Mangled Manuscript Monday

It happened again. My deer-in-the-headlights reaction to *the* question.

“So what are you doing now?”

“I’m retired,” I muttered.

I could have said, “I’m a writer of fantasy with three manuscripts under my belt, a fourth started, and numerous short stories hovering in my documents.”

But as soon as the words leave my mouth, ‘I am a writer’, I know the questions that come next. And the ‘face’ of the speaker. They don’t quite roll their eyes. At least, not right away.

“Oh? You write books? Like Tom Clancy?” –raised eyebrows

“Um, no.”
“Like Louis L’Amour?”

“No.”

“Stephen King?”

“No. I write fantasy. Like Patricia Briggs.”

*silence*

“Like Jim Butcher.”

*crickets chirping* “Well, good luck with that. Hey, what about Desperate Housewives on TV, why not write that stuff instead.”

*facepalm*

For Pete’s Sake, Don’t…

As a writer and blogger, I’ve stumbled down many an alleyway mostly due to naiveté.

Now I recognize how stooopid they were, those instances of Doh! and I cringe.

In order to help the writers just leaving the starting gate, I have three big Don’ts.

Since most writers have little time to dink around with long posts, here is

Monumental Advice Number One

Tell no one that you are writing/have written a book. If you have a spouse who supports you, it’s okay to tell them (she said grudgingly) but use digression.

By keeping your writing career mum, you will avoid these Questions.

“So where is your book? I keep checking the NYT bestseller list but *insert the snark here* haven’t seen your name.”

“I saw this ad about publishing your own book. They call it a vanity press. Why don’t you use them?”

“It’s been three months since you finished the book and still not published? Wow. “*insert pitying expression*

Advice Number Two:

Do not disparage agents, agencies, or your fellow authors on your blog. Self-inflicted wounds, i.e. shooting yourself in the foot, lose their charm after the first direct hit. No good can come of offending your potential clients and backers.

Last of the Three For-Heaven’s-Sake-Don’t-Do-This Rules

Posting rejections, the number of queries sent, the extra pages requested might seem like a good idea. But do you really want your followers to see this? Anytime I consider posting my stats, I refer to the Number One and the inclination dies.

Do you have any deep regrets since starting this business? I’d love to hear more from writers who committed the First Mistake, their friends and family’s responses, and how they dealt with them.