There is a Standard Manuscript Format, and most editors at least conform to this standard. However, Standard Manuscript Format is in some ways a relic of the typewriter. Although there is good rationale behind all its features, the necessity for complex formatting and file compatibility can be an issue.

A Plain Text Manuscript Format would have advantages for both writers and editors. In addition to simplicity, universal compatibility, and superior archiving, a plain text manuscript presents several other advantages. The file can be easily viewed in any preferred font, transfered to an e-book reader, pasted into the body of an email, and formatted for electronic or print publication.

A Plain Text Manuscript Format can be considered universal because it can be created or read on any computer with virtually any software. It can even be accessed from a command prompt, created on a typewriter or handwritten in a notebook. The features of the proposed format are outlined in the example below. Please note: this is a proposal only, and a suggestion for writers who wish to use plain text for their personal composition, editing, and file storage. If you are submitting a manuscript for publication, you should always follow the editor’s guidelines for manuscript formatting.

Joe Writer
4 Contact Info
City, NY 10010
(212) 555-5555
joewriter@mail.com
www.joewriter.com

200 words

PLAIN TEXT MANUSCRIPT FORMAT

by Joe Writer

At the top of the file should be the writer’s name and contact information. Two lines below that, the estimated word count. Four lines below that, the title in all caps. Two lines below that, the byline. The body of the manuscript should start four lines below the byline.

All text should be left justified with no indentation. Add an empty line between paragraphs for readability. Each paragraph should represent a single line of text. Word wrapping will make the text readable and printable. To add an extra line for a section break insert the number symbol like so:

#

To indicate italics, text should be surrounded by underscore marks. For example you might mention a magazine, such as _Asimov’s_ or _The New Yorker_. This will make it easy to search for italicised text and replace with italics for actual publication.

Use only a single space after punctuation. This will keep the text clean and consistent. A double space is not needed, and not preferred if using the electronic text for publication.

To indicate an em dash–puctuation that sets off a phrase–use two hyphens. To indicate…an elipses, use three periods.

Define the end of your manuscript with three number symbols on the last line of the file, like so:

###

That’s all there is to it. Since text files do not contain formatting information, it is not necessary to specify a font, margins, headers or page numbering. Two notable drawbacks to this Plain Text Manuscript Format are the lack of line spacing to allow for editing marks and the lack of page numbers for referencing areas of text. This is a legitimate concern. Solutions include saving and editing as a .pdf or adding desired additional formatting for a print copy. If printing the document, a text editor can print with page numbers and additional header information. A word processor can add formatting as necessary.

Part III of this series will detail how to covert plain text manuscripts to Standard Manuscript Format and other tips to working with plain text.

Plain Text for Writers, Part I: An Argument for the Use of Plain Text

The camaraderie is always inspiring, and the Saturday night readings were amazing. I heard some really great stories by some seriously talented writers, all written within the previous 24 hour period. It’s like hearing a new anthology, fresh off the press.

NaNoWriMo is this month and people all over are attempting to write 50,000 word novels. I can’t help thinking we should have a National Short Story Writing Weekend as well, when people could collectively try their hand at writing stories in a 24 hour period. There’s something exhilarating about the experience of creating fiction with a deadline.

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or this:

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Good luck reading your brilliant work. In contrast, a .txt file (plain text) can be opened in a readable format by any text editor or word processor on any platform. It can even be accessed from a command line.

Without getting too political (software companies control the decoding of your information), or philosophical (WYSIWYG is not what you think), or ideological (plain text is free text), the following will argue for the use of plain text for writers on the basis of its simplicity and content oriented focus, cross-platform compatibility, and benefits for long term archiving.

Writing is the logical and artful arrangement of words to express thoughts. It is not choosing fonts, indentations, headers, footers, gutters, and margins. Formatting is best done when preparing a document for a specific purpose or publication. Writing in plain text offers a simple environment focused on the task at hand. Your manuscripts will stay clean and free of unnecessary code. Plain text can be easily pasted into other applications, and can always be formatted later using a word processor.

Everybody knows there are compatibility issues with word processors. Even software that claims to be compatible with .doc or .rtf, for example, sometimes have issues. Writers need to know that they can access their files from any computer or device, use the text in other applications, and share them without worrying about compatibility issues. No other file format is as cross compatible as plain text.

Now more than ever, master documents are likely to be stored in electronic format. Not only are plain text files more compatible than any other file format, they take up less disk space and avoid a lot of the data storage problems encountered with other file formats. Say you need to access a short story you wrote on a computer in 1985? If you saved it in plain text, it’s no problem. Want your files to be readable in the year 2185? Again, save them in plain text.

Alas, there are some obstacles to using plain text as a writer. The first is finding a good text editor. Most word processors can save documents in plain text, so you could really use anything, but a text editor is designed to work with plain text. Most text editor are made with programmers in mind though, and many lack features that are important to writers, like spell check and word count. There are some good free ones though, and some even better commercial ones. I recommend NoteTab Pro for a feature rich environment and Q10 for simplicity.

Acceptability is also an issue. Standard manuscript formats are based on typewritten manuscripts and can only be formatted using a word processor. Unless plain text formats are adopted, editors are still going to want manuscripts as an .rtf in standard manuscript format. This means it’s necessary to format the text file before sending it out. An extra step, but it’s easy to do, and worth it for the benefits of working with plain text.

Plain Text for Writers, Part II: A Proposal for a Plain Text Manuscript Format

Additional Information:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plain_text

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Text_file

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Text_editor

Thanks to everyone who signs up. There will be more exciting changes soon and I look forward to bringing you some great stories in the coming months.

Paper books will surely persist for a long time to come, but book stores may not. The book industry is changing quickly. I’m not sure anybody really knows what it will look like ten years from now, but it’s likely to be very different.

Will the downfall of big chain bookstores allow smaller stores to flourish again, or are we seeing the end of brick and mortar bookstores all together?

Sounds of the Night, put out by Sam’s Dot Publishing, presents science fiction and fantasy tales “seasoned with sensuality.” Sam’s Dot Publishing’s other magazines include Aoife’s Kiss and The Martian Wave.

“Watching the Snow Fall” is in a series of stories about swordsmen on the island nation of Nara, a setting based on medeival Japan. Matsuo Hara lives a quiet life, until a cruel turn of events forces him to choose between his heart and his obedience to the feudal lord he has sworn to serve. This one’s a love story, but it ends in a bloodbath.

I wrote the first draft of “The Gift” at weekend writing retreat. Previously I had lugged along a laser printer to these things, but the printer being out of ink, I left it behind, editing my work on screen and using a kindle for the Saturday night reading. Despite the lack of paper, all went well.

Of course, I figured I would print it out when I got home for further editing, but that didn’t happen. I ended up re-reading it and making editing notes on the kindle. With the final changes and corrections entered into the computer, it’s ready to submit, mostly via email.

The question remains if the editing process can be as efficient or effective without paper and pen, but I think it worked well for this project anyway. Some writers have pretty much gone paperless with their work. I’m not sure I’m ready to make that total commitment, but I have to admit I cringe every time I shell out $70 for a printer cartridge. And with this recent success, perhaps I’ll be doing that a little less.