At long last, after more requests than it should have required, I've corrected a long-standing oversight and created a short story manuscript template for Microsoft Word. You can find it at this page: https://www.shunn.net/format/templates.html After you customize the template with...  read

I wrote the original version of my manuscript formatting guide in 1993, modeling it after a much older two-page guide I received from Damon Knight in 1985. Back in those days, even for those who'd made the switch to composing...  read

A reader writes to ask: Please-does anyone out there know how to end a manuscript for a short story or novel? Do you skip a line and write -END- (margin left) or THE END (Centered) or... I've seen both methods...  read

A reader writes to ask: At the recent meeting of our local writers group we got involved in a discussion about formatting. Several of us were having problems with the header/footer and page numbering aspect of our word processing program....  read

A reader writes to ask: What does the format look like for a novella? What's the first page look like? And, what do you do with chapters? The novella is a curious case. Not quite short enough to be called...  read