Need Urgent Help - Calling All Authors

Okay, I'm writing a novel for teens from about 12. The plot is very crazy, not very believable actually. It's about a 12yr old kid who thinks that girls belong to a society who are plotting against boys.

Now I want to know a few URGENT things:

1. What is the proper format to submit a manuscript (eg. the chapter headings and such)?

2. How long should the average chapter be? One book I have is 2 000 words, the other book is about 200+ per chapter.

3. And lastly, how do I know where to place a chapter and where to place a paragraph?

Need urgent help on this one please,
Thanks
EsC

Excerpt chapter or no real.

I don't think it matters... do what you want.

I send publishers scanned un-edited pages that I hammer out on typewriters... sometimes they like, sometimes not.

Don't follow a formula - and if you have to follow one, make it up yourself.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ElmStreetCrusader

Okay, I'm writing a novel for teens from about 12. The plot is very crazy, not very believable actually. It's about a 12yr old kid who thinks that girls belong to a society who are plotting against boys.

Now I want to know a few URGENT things:

1. What is the proper format to submit a manuscript (eg. the chapter headings and such)?

2. How long should the average chapter be? One book I have is 2 000 words, the other book is about 200+ per chapter.

3. And lastly, how do I know where to place a chapter and where to place a paragraph?

Need urgent help on this one please,
Thanks
EsC

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Hey, EsC.

1. See Crawford Kilian's suggestions on the matter of manuscript format. (Actually, the entire article helped me a great deal; if you have time and haven't yet, definitely give the article and a couple of Kilian's books a reading!~)

2. In all of my novel attempts, my chapters have settled around 5,000 words, or about twenty pages double spaced. But there is no rigid limit or minimum: a chapter should contain one or a number of scenes, and therefore should essentially tell a little "mini" story of its own.

So a chapter should be long enough to make it's point.

3. ...? I don't understand the question xD Sorry I can't be much more help!

~tamias

well, if you are aming at 12 y/o, 2000 pages is not very appealing. maby if it was me whn i was 12, but other kids in my class bragged about reading 400 page books in several days.
if you aim for preteens, under 200pg a chapter is good :)

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Originally Posted by guitarboy

well, if you are aming at 12 y/o, 2000 pages is not very appealing. maby if it was me whn i was 12, but other kids in my class bragged about reading 400 page books in several days.
if you aim for preteens, under 200pg a chapter is good :)

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xD wow. Words, not pages.

I've always found 20 to 40 page chapters are enough to keep me occupied as long as there are at least 17 - 21 chapters.

Just write it first, then worry about it.

Hmm, famous quote or something.

A novel isn't good when you can no longer add anything, but rather when you can no longer take anything out.

In other words, a short novel that gets the point across is far more valuable than a 3000 page snob book bogged down with useless crap.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Tamias.Squirrel

xD wow. Words, not pages.

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ahh, sorry XD im not the sharpest blade :p also, i wrote that when i was half asleep, hence reading when half asleep.
what is it about?

As for the last question, a paragraph break is usually pretty natural. When one thought moves on to the next, when someone new speaks in a dialogue, when a description is finished, when an action starts or finishes; there you put a paragraph break.

I personally like chapters that end with some sort of cliffhanger if you're not switching scenes. Otherwise, chapter break when switching scenes or perspectives, though this can be done in the same chapter, for instance a pair of related scenes in the same chapter followed by a new scene change, then a cliffhanger, etc.. Ultimately it is a personal choice in many ways. Read more books to find a style you like, and follow or adapt it.

Submit the first 3 chapters or 50 pages, whichever is shorter.

The format should be Courier New (editors want monospaced fonts) and double spaced.

The chapter heading should be neat the top of the page and the first paragraph should be two lines below it.

For me an average chapter is between 2,000 and 10,000 words long, but I write for adults, the younger your target audience, the shorter the chapters should be.