Publishing: Chapter Design

   In my last post I talked about fonts. I'm sure someone out there didn't use any of the fonts that are suggested, but the fonts I gave were suggestions and most used, as long as you can read the font really easy you won't have a problem. You want it this way so when a literary agent, or editor reads your manuscript they can actually read it.
   Anyway, today I wanted to talk about chapter designing (or chapter placing). I have a Mac so I will be giving examples through my computer.

   Okay, so since you couldn't use a fun font for the complete writing for your novel why don't you put the fun font in the chapter design? Whenever you finish writing a chapter you always put, Chapter (certain number) at the top of the page, right? But what about the first sentence of that new chapter?

   What I do sometimes is highlight the first sentence, or the top row of words, and make them a different font that matches the font I've been using for, Chapter 1, 2, 3, etc.

   Example:

                                                               Chapter 1

   I went to the shelter today and bought a dog. His name is LUI. He is a mutt. He chases his tail, plays with his toys, and sleeps in his bed. He has big ears that stick up on the top of his head and a tail that curves and is furry.

   Me again

   That was an example of how you could place your chapter. But see how the CHAPTER 1 has the same font as the first sentence? You want the chapter placing to look nice so that the literary agent, or publisher, editor, that you sent it to will take you seriously, and think that you are a professional. You want that WOW factor when someone looks at your manuscript and sees what a nice job you've done on it. (You would not be rejected because you did a bad job or whatever on designing your chapter placing. If you are rejected it is because they didn't get hooked in the sample pages you sent them, or your manuscript doesn't go with what they're looking for. There are a lot of reasons why a literary agent, or editor would reject your manuscript, but it would not be because your chapters don't look right).
   If you want more examples and ideas on how you should place your chapter you can open a book on your bookshelf, or go to a bookstore, open to a chapter and look at how this author designed their chapters. You can go basic, or all out and make it look really cool :)

   Another thing you could do is use a Drop Cap.