I’ve popped my Frostbite manuscript into the hands of three friends to ravage.  This is the mostly-finished version, the version I already had a critique group go over.

One of the interesting parts of the critique group I belonged to were the different reactions people had to my manuscript.  Several offered intelligent and thoughtful feedback on the story itself.

Others focused on things that didn’t actually matter to the story’s overall well-being.  These people found it important to lecture me about spaces between sentences or paragraph breaks or the word “damn.”

Those of you interested in writing, listen to me and listen well.  Don’t waste all of your time obsessing about every single minutiae you’ve heard.  Don’t stress about whether it’s one or two spaces between sentences (most say one, I use two and don’t give a “damn” about something so insignificant).  Don’t freak out about whether you need to center your title or how to align text or if it should be one or two spaces between scenes.  Concentrate on writing before anything else.

As Miss Snark, literary agent, said over and over and over again before she retired her blog: Stop obsessing.  Write well.

Now, some people will still ask how to format a manuscript.  This is what I’ve found out, but I haven’t looked lately so don’t assume this is everything you need:

• Double space anything over a page long.
• Page Header: Your (real) name, title, page number.
• Do not staple or bind.  Leave loose.
• 1-2 spaces between scene changes.
• Indent paragraphs, no extra spaces between paragraphs.
• Default margins.  (3/4″ - 1″ [1.9cm - 2.5cm])
• 12-14 point non-fancy font.  The goal is readability.
• Regular white 8.5″ X 11″ (22cm X 28cm) printer paper.
• One side of page, not double-sided.
• Do not justify text.  Leave default “align left” — edges should be ragged.
• Printed with an ink-jet or laser printer. Clean, dark letters.
• 1/4 or 1/2 page between chapters.
• Free of stains and rips.
• Cover page: (Real) name, address, phone, word count, title.
• Cover letter.  (We’ll discuss this later.)

I say real name because you might want a pen name.  Don’t worry about that until later.

I start each new chapter on its own page, and I center and bold the chapter number, but it’s not required to be that fastidious.

The manuscript should be finished and checked for grammar and punctuation.  If you want to have a shot at success, it should also be a good read, but that’s more subjective.

The most important thing is that your writing is good and the agent/publisher likes it.  The debate over spaces between sentences is so far down on the list of “important,” it might as well not exist.