Forgetting the Rules

[irysangel]

Every writer (aspiring or otherwise) knows that there's a specific 'rules' set that goes with publishing. You use 12 point font. Your query letter should be no more than 250 words. Your synopsis should be short (unless it should be long...). Double-space. No adverbs. No fragments. Correct grammar. Be polite in queries. Contact info in the header.

Comments

[shanna_s]

I once referred to Standard Manuscript Format in a conversation with a former editor, who was pretty high up in a major publishing house, and she asked me what that was. Meanwhile, I had submitted my manuscript to an agent in SMF, in Courier and all that, and she changed the font to TNR to submit to editors because she said a lot of the ones she knew hated Courier.

So it would seem that a lot of the things that writers stress over getting exactly right is stuff that the editors don't necessarily care much about. As long as they can read it and it doesn't smell funny, they really don't seem to care.

[carrie_ryan]

And trust me, smells do seep onto the paper. I just got back documents from a client and they REEKED of smoke -- made my entire office smell of stale smoke.
-Carrie

[shanna_s]

That was something I heard from an editor. At a conference she said that if you smoke, to please take your manuscript to Kinkos to copy or print it. You may not notice the smell because you're used to it, but paper absorbs the smoke smell, and opening the envelope is like getting hit with a blast of smoke in the face if the paper has been around smoke. If the editor in question is sensitive or allergic to tobacco smoke, she's not going to be able to focus on your book while her eyes are burning and she's fighting to breathe. Even if she's not that sensitive to it, if she's not a smoker, it will be an unpleasant experience, and you don't want reading your manuscript to be an unpleasant experience

[elialshadowpine]

Aside from allergies, migraine triggers. The additives in cigarette smoke are a major trigger for me, and I've had severe migraines from just clothes worn by somebody in a smoker's house.

If I were an editor, it'd have to be a damn good MS for me to even consider looking at it after that. Especially if it were bad enough to land me in the ER for a migraine shot.

[alanajoli]

So true! When I worked in-house, we had a couple freelancers who smoked like chimneys. We actually contemplated giving them deadlines a day or two early so they'd have time to air out in an empty cube!