Setting your story up?

[enchantedfire5]

This may be a silly question so I apologize for asking, but I am just wondering if there is any precise way to set up your story before sending it in? Do the top, bottom, left and right margins have to be set a certain way? How do you beging chapters, by just double spacing after your last chapter like this:

... it may not be long before we're called back to war."

Chapter Two

Seven years had passed and...

That was just an example. Or do you have to begin each chapter on the begining of a new page under your slug line:

Johnson/THE FINAL BATTLE 25

Chapter Two

Seven years had passed and...

Sorry if this is silly, but I just have no idea how to set it up proffesionaly. Any help would be apprecieated. Thanks.

[Siddow]

Up at the top of this board is a sticky titled "General Manuscript Formatting".

Another great resource is www.shunn.net/format/

[Willowmound]

The link: http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=26126

[enchantedfire5]

Thank you very much :)

[enchantedfire5]

they say you should set your indentation at half an inch, which equals 5 spaces , for all your paragraphs. Problem is that on my computer, 0.5" is beyond 5 spaces. Am I missing something here.

Anotherwords when I sent my computer tabs on 0.5" that equals about 8 or 9 spaces. 0.2" equals about 5. I'm confused.

[Chasing the Horizon]

Half an inch is 5 spaces in Courier New 12 pt. font. It would be 8 or 9 in a lot of other fonts, though.

[enchantedfire5]

So that's just it then huh? It's the font my computer is set on? So I should just keep it at 0.5" on my tabs. Ok thanks.