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FOLLOW THE RULES: an article on following the rules of the playground -- because if you don't, we won't let you play in the sandbox.
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Most of the folks I know who hate standard ms fonts--and the reaction was stronger when Courier was the only acceptable option--couldn't seem to get past the fact that the ms looks so bad to them in that font. When how it looks to them doesn't matter--it's whether it looks OK to the person reading it.
But then, I never really minded Courier. It'd be a dreadful book font, but an ms isn't a book, and those couple years typing before I discovered word processing (and finished a college paper before midnight, and never looked back!) were just enough to make it something I could deal with looking at.
But then, I never really minded Courier. It'd be a dreadful book font, but an ms isn't a book, and those couple years typing before I discovered word processing (and finished a college paper before midnight, and never looked back!) were just enough to make it something I could deal with looking at.
Exactly -- there's a reason why there's a difference between ms. fonts, screen fonts, and book fonts. (Actually, a lot of books are just being done in Times New Roman these days, and no one seems to care.)
So I guess this loops around, because people who don't follow the rules don't get to play in the sandbox.
I totally dig this and agree with you--and I'm as big a rule-breaker, which is why I didn't enter that many contests. Wasn't worth my while to follow all the damned rules and why waste my time and/or money?
However-- don't you think that some of the screaming frustration expressed by so many comes from seeing manuscripts that openly break rules (whatever the rule du jour happens to be) get noticed/published/receive acclaim?
I'm just playing a little Devil's Advocate here.
I totally dig this and agree with you--and I'm as big a rule-breaker, which is why I didn't enter that many contests. Wasn't worth my while to follow all the damned rules and why waste my time and/or money?
However-- don't you think that some of the screaming frustration expressed by so many comes from seeing manuscripts that openly break rules (whatever the rule du jour happens to be) get noticed/published/receive acclaim?
I'm just playing a little Devil's Advocate here.
You know, I don't know of that many mss that broke the rules that ended up published anyway.
Certainly I do not have any stories of people submitting on pink paper or sending me the entire ms. unsolicited who I published.
I know that Suzanne Brockmann's story of how she got her first book published is totally unorthodox, but I tend to see that as the 1% exception rather than the 99% rule, especially since she wasn't involved in the community of writers the way someone entering the Golden Heart contest is.
Certainly I do not have any stories of people submitting on pink paper or sending me the entire ms. unsolicited who I published.
I know that Suzanne Brockmann's story of how she got her first book published is totally unorthodox, but I tend to see that as the 1% exception rather than the 99% rule, especially since she wasn't involved in the community of writers the way someone entering the Golden Heart contest is.
If it were just about good screen fonts, Verdana would be the way to go. :-) (Am actually liking Verdana more and more printed, too--but it's real strength is still on screen.)
Actually, a lot of books are just being done in Times New Roman these days, and no one seems to care.
Now that makes me a little grumpy. It's not that good a font, to my eye--and these days, it looks like someone just dashed things in it off on their computer, unless it's done really well.
Actually, a lot of books are just being done in Times New Roman these days, and no one seems to care.
Now that makes me a little grumpy. It's not that good a font, to my eye--and these days, it looks like someone just dashed things in it off on their computer, unless it's done really well.
At fifty dollars I think this lesson was a bargain. We're too ready to grant extensions and exceptions. Only consequences change behavior and as soon as this writer takes ownership of her own mistake you can bet that she's going to pay much closer attention to submission guidelines.
::sheds a wistful tear for Garamond and Palatino and Caslon Old Face::
I loathe the look of Courier--don't ask me why, I just do. But do I know how the game is played and, more than that, I don't want to piss off the editor and the copyeditor, who are my Friends, I compose in Palatino and, before I submit the ms., change it over to Courier. The whole point of manuscript format is to make your writing as easy to access as possible so that the editor and copyeditor and all other divers hands can do what they need to with it, the better to print it up and sell millions of copies.
I am a dinosaur and until very recently edited an honest to god *zine* -- you know, the old-fashioned things where fanfic gets put onto dead trees. And yes, that's edited, not just published. The things I learnt sitting on that side of the slushpile were extremely useful when it came to sending in my own submissions, both fanfic and profic. Editors who ask you to format your manuscript a particular way, or to send it to a specific address or... have reasons for wanting things done that way, usually good reasons. I am firmly in the camp that thinks that writers who bitch about stupid pernickety pointless submissions requirements should be sentenced to serve a minimum of one week as slush reader at whatever publication they're bitching about.
I'm so glad you said this. I've always favored Times--Courier is just so very ugly--but a happy copyeditor makes a writer look good. It's all Courier from now on.
That's an interesting point to mention. I do technical reviews and editing but I am also an aspiring fiction author and I definitely have to shift modes between the two. If I'm really tired, it takes a conscious effort to do so.
I think that my non-fiction (read technical) writing is another mode entirely - at least for me.
- Maura
I think that my non-fiction (read technical) writing is another mode entirely - at least for me.
- Maura
The information about the Courier New font being easier on the editors is a great piece of information. If I have a choice where Courier New is one of the options, I'll take it over any other option.
I felt sorry for the one woman having lost her $50 but I think to have granted her an exception from the written guidelines would be a slippery slope. Often the only way you can keep people to the rules is to not cut them any slack. Otherwise I can just see the next person being upset because (as an example) she accidentally used Courier 10 instead of Courier 12.... One exception, no matter how minor, tends to breed others and soon you have no rules.
Great information again, thanks! If I find you at RWA in Atlanta, I'm buying you a drink - we can talk about cats or something :)
- Maura
I felt sorry for the one woman having lost her $50 but I think to have granted her an exception from the written guidelines would be a slippery slope. Often the only way you can keep people to the rules is to not cut them any slack. Otherwise I can just see the next person being upset because (as an example) she accidentally used Courier 10 instead of Courier 12.... One exception, no matter how minor, tends to breed others and soon you have no rules.
Great information again, thanks! If I find you at RWA in Atlanta, I'm buying you a drink - we can talk about cats or something :)
- Maura
I should like to see a font called Death.
Are all the i's dotted with little skulls?
Are all the i's dotted with little skulls?
I loathe Times New Roman. It makes my head hurt. It's tiny and squishy and hard to read.
Courier is much easier to work with on mss. Big and open and full of spaces to write corrections in.
Courier is much easier to work with on mss. Big and open and full of spaces to write corrections in.
I bet that actually exists. I mean, I would put money on it!
I have to agree with almost everything you commented on. Yes, the MS, should have been in format. (There is a reason for these rules. Easy reading, consistency.) If it didn't qualify, RWA should've return the money. Come on, its only 50 bucks, to this very large organization. It maybe next weeks groceries for the person. Who knows.
We are all human, and use it as an excuse from time to time for our mistakes. I worked in Law enforcement for 20 years and retired last year. I was one of those cops who sort-a-bent the rules to make things work a little easier for me and the criminal. (If you can believe that.) I considered it Karma...And actually it did work, when the time came. My slight act of past kindness was remembered, and usually it came at a very pivotal moment. Yep, I would have let the lady go on her ticket, because of the graduation, with a warning. "Don't let me catch you in this hood speeding again."
A lesson learned out of all this, the author will probably read the rules a little bit more carefully and check her work to make sure it's in format. Sometimes, as much as it hurts, often times its our mistakes that makes us a better writer, cop or whatever it is in our life where trying to be.
Lee
We are all human, and use it as an excuse from time to time for our mistakes. I worked in Law enforcement for 20 years and retired last year. I was one of those cops who sort-a-bent the rules to make things work a little easier for me and the criminal. (If you can believe that.) I considered it Karma...And actually it did work, when the time came. My slight act of past kindness was remembered, and usually it came at a very pivotal moment. Yep, I would have let the lady go on her ticket, because of the graduation, with a warning. "Don't let me catch you in this hood speeding again."
A lesson learned out of all this, the author will probably read the rules a little bit more carefully and check her work to make sure it's in format. Sometimes, as much as it hurts, often times its our mistakes that makes us a better writer, cop or whatever it is in our life where trying to be.
Lee
Yay zines!
I agree that people who bitch about "pointless" submission requirements should have to read slush. In fact, I am almost tempted to offer the shelves upon shelves of TDA slush to anyone who'd like to haul ass to the Flatiron building and read it, and see how long it takes them to run screaming from dot matrix-on-pink paper submissions.
I agree that people who bitch about "pointless" submission requirements should have to read slush. In fact, I am almost tempted to offer the shelves upon shelves of TDA slush to anyone who'd like to haul ass to the Flatiron building and read it, and see how long it takes them to run screaming from dot matrix-on-pink paper submissions.
I always want to talk about cats! Sounds like a plan. :)
I think you're right, and clearly you are a compassionate person, but I just don't agree about the money. Everything costs something, and it's not fair to let that person get off having to pay for the time spent on her mistakes.
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