Being Single Sucks

Single spaced, that is!

So, having been moonlighting a bit helping edit a friend's literary mag and looking through some submissions, and having more than once gotten manuscripts passed to me by friends and acquaintances, I have more than once seen manuscripts typed in single space. Don't do it! I think a lot of editors just trash 'em if they come in like that.

I remember when I was in my late teens/early 20s and just starting to write fiction and looking into submission mechanics, and HATING the fact that you're supposed to double-space your manuscripts. I couldn't understand it for the life of me. (And over the years, I've heard people kvetch about it, just like I did.)

It's for editing purposes, dammit. Even editing your own work requires double space so when you print out that hard copy and attack it with your red pen, you have room to insert changes and notes and rearrange and all that good stuff.

As for submitting it to markets, it's just plain easier on the eye. If you want somebody to read it you want it as easy to read as possible, which includes of course using some boring old font like Times New Roman.

At any rate, I thought I'd pass that little tidbit along. It's one of my pet peeves and many people probably already know it's a rule, but I thought I'd get that one off my chest. (Paper clips, not staples, too! That's another one of those rules that may not make any sense but stapled manuscripts bug me too, even when they're my own.)

Thanks for reading,

LLB