Manuscript Preparation Addendum

In light of a few oversights that were kindly pointed out to me regarding my first post on manuscript drafting and formatting, I present the following clarifications.

First, a disclaimer I should have included before: everything I post on this site, unless accompanied by a citation of the original source, is a product of my preference and limited experience. Since I haven't actually published anything yet, please consult other, more experienced authorities before applying any of my writing advice to your own work.

The specific point I'd like to address is my omission of the ironclad rule stating that one should always check a publication's in-house submission guidelines before submitting a manuscript. The publisher's formatting preferences automatically trump anything I suggest.

A note on my use of  the Courier 10 pitch font for all manuscripts: after doing some research, I found out that the main reason this font became so popular is because it turns your word processor into a pretend typewriter. Also, Courier is a monotype font having a uniform width, making it easy to read and determine reliable word counts. A couple of people I know, and at least one professional author, have expressed their own (and their editors') distaste for Courier 10 pitch. Far be it from me to gainsay their superior wisdom. In fact, if I have bad luck with Courier, I'll gladly switch to Times New Roman for ease of use if nothing else.

Thanks for all the feedback, everyone.

As a final note, my screenwriting efforts have taught me that Hollywood is much less lenient on manuscript format than book publishers are. Novice screenwriters are advised to adhere slavishly to established guidelines, lest their scripts be discarded unread.

These rules don't seem to apply to Quentin Tarantino.