SCBWI's Blueboard - A Message & Chat Board
Writer's Room => Picture Books (PB) => Topic started by: Arona on August 12, 2016, 05:44 AM
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Not sure if I've posted this in the right place.
In a verse-style ms,
For each new line,
I capitalize the first letter of the first word.
One person pointed out that that's not how it's done anymore, but no one has.
These days,
only the first letter
of a new sentence
is capitalized.
This is what one person
said.
While I've seen this in some published books, I haven't read that it's the new rule for manuscripts.
What do you do? Do you have any resources that list this as the new method?
I just formatted
a new manuscript this way.
Some sentences are short.
Others are long.
It looks wonky.
It looks like I forgot to capitalize the second line.
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I do not capitalize the first word of the next line unless it is the beginning of the sentence. So I agree with what your one writing friend told you. I was told several years back that capitalizing the first word of every line was an old-fashioned practice. I don't have any specific resources to confirm, but I think I was told this either by an instructor in a class I took once or a paid, professional critique.
And, just as an added thought, it's always good to try to meet "current practices" in formatting, but it really comes down to the writing. If you write a fabulous, "I must have this" piece of writing, I don't think capitalizing/not capitalizing a word in a line would change an agent/editor's mind.
I look forward to hearing others' thoughts!
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I do it the wonky way.
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:thankyou both.
Wonky way it is.
It won't look wonky, though, once I get used to it.
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I also don't capitalize the word the first word on the line, unless it's a new sentence. It does look funny at first.
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I think I may be the person who originally gave you this info. I got it from the poetry boards over at Absolute Write where many well-published poets hang out. It no longer looks weird to me, but be aware that Word automatically capitalizes the first word of a line. You'll have to double check before you submit.
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:lol4 It was you, Debbie!
I hadn't remembered that gem until I began seriously formatting a ms for critique. :goldstar to you for being the only one to mention it.
Check your PMs.
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\be aware that Word automatically capitalizes the first word of a line. You'll have to double check before you submit.
You probably can turn off the automatic capitalization. In Office for Mac, the path is Preferences/AutoCorrect, uncheck "Capitalize first letter of sentences," Save.
The path in a Windows version of Word might vary but I'd be surprised if it's not there somewhere.
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Thanks, Anne. I hadn't even thought to snoop around for that.
Windows becomes intuitive the first time you backspace to make the first letter a cap...but only lasts until you type a period.