Betsy, I think that's a different plan.
Unless you're a former CEO of course...
'Smile Time'
A place for Buffistas to discuss, beta and otherwise deal and dish on their non-fan fiction projects.
Betsy, I think that's a different plan.
Unless you're a former CEO of course...
suh-NERK!
Woohoo, time to bring out the toys!!!
Most of the manuscripts-- short stories (and poetry, but those are single-spaced, of course)-- I see have serif fonts, double-spaced.
I don't care what font someone submits in, as long as it's not too fancy or unreadable. But, Jesus, I hate single-spaced MSes. It's practically impossible to edit.
Most publishing houses are really tight about that one, Liz. It does make sense; when you're reading through a slush pile, looking for a gem to rec, you want the content to stand out. All the deliberate attempt at quirky does is make the editor grind his or her teeth.
Waaaay back in the mid-seventies, I worked for a small childrens' educational publishing house here in SF called Troubador Press. The big thing was the illustrations, but we had the form letter that went out to everyone we were considering: "blah blah fishcakes all text doublespaced".
We were less picky about typefaces as I remember, because it was the age of the IBM Selectric and there were no home computers.
I just thought I'd share this here. Just got done talking to Case Management Gal, who asked me about writing. Me:Yes, I've had articles published but no fiction as yet. Don't know why...tough beast. She: What stops you? Me(thinking) If I knew that would we have this conversation? No. You'd be referred to my publicist.
erika, remind yourself that J.D. Rowling wrote the first Harry Potter book while on welfare.
Slap me down if I'm being sappy; I just cling to examples of people like me who succeeded. (e.g. Harriet Doerr, whose first novel, Stones for Ibarra, was published when she was 80.)
Yes, she is "as a god" to me at the moment.
Betsy, no slap, but more stories like that would be encouraging. I'd heard that about Rowling but forgotten.
Jeanne Ray was 60 when she wrote Romeo and Julie, a delightful novel about two middle-aged florists long separated by family hatred. Part of the reason she wrote it was that she was tired of not seeing people her own age in books.