This is the original version of “Proper Manuscript Format,” exactly as I wrote it in 1993, and approximately as it would have appeared on the web in late 1995. It’s much more proscriptive and smart-alecky than later versions, not to mention filled with advice that you should not under any circumstances heed today. I present it here for historical purposes—and my own amusement—only. (Click here for the current version of this guide.)
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Shunn / Format / 5
Two single lines below your title, you should place your centered byline. This may seem like redundant information, since your name is already in the upper-left corner of the manuscript, but it is not. The name in the corner is the person to whom the publisher is going to make out the check. Your byline is the name that will receive credit for the story when it appears in print. These are not necessarily the same. As one example, perhaps your name is J. Scott Bronson and you publish fiction under the name Everett Stone. Perhaps you are a married woman publishing fiction under your maiden name. Perhaps you publish fiction under the name Bob Jones, but your bank will only credit checks to your account if they are made out to Robert Q. Jones. Even if both names are the same, they must both still appear. Your byline will be "by Joseph A. Snotnose" if you publish your fiction under the name Joseph A. Snotnose, and this is what you should center two single lines below your title. Do not omit the word "by," and do not center the word "by" on its own line. Begin the text of your manuscript four single lines (or two double lines, same diff) below your byline. The beginning of every paragraph in your manuscript, including the first, should be indented five spaces from the left margin. Not one, not four, not six, not ten, but five. Also, you should not place blank lines between paragraphs as separators. The indentation is sufficient to indicate that a new paragraph has begun. You should place a header in the upper-right corner of every page of your manuscript except the first. This header will
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Last updated 12 October 1995



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