Stupid Question For the Day

[queenoftheskies]

I promise I'll only ask one today. (Or I'll try to only ask one today.)

I know I look like an idiot for asking, but it's better than doing something wrong.

And, since I've seen both sides of this coin recommended, I don't know which to do.

You know the "widow/orphan" control in Word?

In proper manuscript format, should it be on? Or should it be off?

Do we want all paragraphs kept together even if it causes a large margin at the bottom of a page?

THANK YOU, THANK YOU for your help!

Comments

[magicnoire.livejournal.com]

Turn it off.

[ogre-san.livejournal.com]

I vote for "off" as well.

[kimberlycreates.livejournal.com]

As far as I know, the only time a publisher worries about widows and/or orphans (if at all, some don't) is at the typesetting stage. So I wouldn't worry about it, unless *you* personally want it on.

[msisolak.livejournal.com]

Turn it off.

But then I write everything in manuscript formatting, so I don't have to reformat at the end. :)

[lookingland.livejournal.com]

leave it off ~ less chance for ms weirdness and as tiellan says, that's for the publisher to worry about at the press stage.

: D

[marksiegal.livejournal.com]

Turn it off. You'll get the same number of lines on each page, which can be important for editors who calculate word count by the page. Also it looks cleaner at a glance.

[ellameena.livejournal.com]

I have seen editors totally lose it over this subject. Turn it off, please.

[sksperry.livejournal.com]

Of course the trick is in getting it to *stay* off. *g*

[jmeadows.livejournal.com]

I have my default set for off, but I still have to go back and turn it off every time. So yeah. :D

[dragovianknight.livejournal.com]

That's because Word knows what you want better than you do.

[sksperry.livejournal.com]

Hmmm....I guess it asked my wife. *g*

[spaceoperadiva.livejournal.com]

I turn it on to save paper. I hate it when I end up with one line on one page. So far in my submitting I haven't had anyone scream "turn that off, you fool", but maybe that's just because I haven't submitted enough yet.

[mmerriam.livejournal.com]

I keep it turned off, but then i also create my work directly in manuscript format.

[peartreealley.livejournal.com]

It's okay. I didn't even know what you guys were talking about until I gatherered the context ;)

Bad writer. Maybe that's why I get all those rejections ;)

[time-shark.livejournal.com]

Off, off, off.

[ter369.livejournal.com]

In proper manuscript format, should it be on? Or should it be off?

Do we want all paragraphs kept together even if it causes a large margin at the bottom of a page?

Turn it off.

Professional manuscript format should have 25 lines per page (on full pages), with one inch margins on all four sides. Your header (title/yourlastname/page#) should appear on every page at the 1" margin, top right corner (in case the reader puts a clamp on the top left). Therefore, your top text should begin at the 1.5" point.

First pages of a chapter should begin half way down the page. The entire manuscript should be double-spaced, with each new paragragh indented five spaces on its first line.

I can link you to how to account for professoinal word count, which is not your software's count.

I'll stop now, because you may know this etiquette; but I've been contacted after midnight by writers who had to get an MS into the mail in the morning, and the margins were making them crazed.

I work in manuscript format, which helps me keep to word count and reminds me to underline all to-be-italicized/bolded words, etc.

[aberrant1.livejournal.com]

Oh, I have a question. I know on a short story you turn off headers and page numbers on the first page. Is it the same for novels? If so, do you turn off headers on the first page of every chapter?

[ter369.livejournal.com]

Is it the same for novels? If so, do you turn off headers on the first page of every chapter?

No, leave the headers on. Chapter breaks may change over the editing process, too.

[canadiansuzanne.livejournal.com]

I vote for "off". It messes too much with pagination for my liking.