E. Tip of the Day: After finishing the draft of your novel, and before sending it to your editor, do a quick proof on it. Don’t forget to check for these things:
1) No extra spaces between words or sentences: it should be one space between words, and depending on your preference one or two spaces between sentences. I prefer to use one space throughout the manuscript. It makes global searches faster. 🙂
2) Missing punctuation: make sure every sentence has punctuation.
3) Misspelled words or missing words: spell check is helpful but doesn’t check for things like a missing “c” in “exited” when it should be “excited.” Your editor should do their job and help with this, however it’s great for the writer to get into a habit of checking these things.
4) Chapter Headings are consistent: do you want your chapter headings centered? Bold? A different font size? Three hard returns above the first paragraph of your chapter? Whatever you decide, consistency is important.
5) Paragraph indents, margins, and spacing between paragraphs is consistent: sometimes this can be tricky to fix after several drafts of revising, but if you begin your novel in a certain format with specific spacings, there shouldn’t be too many issues down the road for you. Be aware of this early on.
6) Your contact info is in the top left hand corner of the first page of your manuscript: This is nice to know, just in case your editor needs to contact you. 🙂
If you’re having trouble with any of these, let us know and we can help! 🙂
