A couple formatting questions - Writers Forum

merighthere · 04-19-2006, 07:09 PM

Hi,
If you are to have say, three lines of lyrics of a made up song (no copyright problem), how should it be formatted? Should it be centered and separated by "#" above and below? Italics (underlined)?
The other question...how do I create a header in Word to to show surname/title keyword/page as Shunn's ms format shows? There are other choices of headers but not that in header/footer. In "insert, autotext, autotext", there is an "author,title, page #" but how do you format it to yours and put it in the upper right corner. I need to add this header to all pages(not the first) after the story is written.
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks,

Ken

mammamaia · 04-19-2006, 07:34 PM

Quote:

If you are to have say, three lines of lyrics of a made up song (no copyright problem), how should it be formatted? Should it be centered and separated by "#" above and below? Italics (underlined)?

that depends on where you're using it... if in a short story, or chapter of a novel, you can indent on both sides, but don't 'center' it... and italics aren't necessary...

Quote:

The other question...how do I create a header in Word to to show surname/title keyword/page as Shunn's ms format shows? There are other choices of headers but not that in header/footer. In "insert, autotext, autotext", there is an "author,title, page #" but how do you format it to yours and put it in the upper right corner. I need to add this header to all pages(not the first) after the story is written.

first, go to 'file' menu and open 'page setup'... click on the 'layout' tab... check the 'different first page box... then click 'ok' at the bottom...

next [before you start--or now--not after the story is written!] click on 'view' and select 'header and footer'... header box and outline will then show on your document... put cursor in header outline, then hit tab to take cursor to middle of page... type 'last name / title key word(s) / page #...

close header box... your header will now appear on all pages but the first, and your page numbers will change automatically, as you write...

merighthere · 04-19-2006, 08:13 PM

First, thanks again for your advice, maia.
It is a novel. I tried the way you said to put the header in, but...will it not count up page #'s if it's already written or am I entering it wrong? It put headers on every page after the 1st, but it doesn't count up. You said don't do it after you've written it, but it's too late because it's written. Will I have to paste the whole story in a new Word doc after formatting the header?
Oh, Shunn shows it aligned to the right.
Thanks again,
Ken

WAIT!!!...I hit "insert page #" on the header/footer tool bar that pops up and it put the pages in sequential order. You always have good advice....thanks

merighthere · 04-19-2006, 08:35 PM

You place a # to indicate a blank line. But does that include between "Part I" or "Chapter 2" and the main text of the story? Again, this is a novel. It is what I gather from instructions I've seen, but Shunn's example does not use them there.

Thanks,
Ken

mammamaia · 04-20-2006, 07:17 PM

you can, but it's not obligatory...

it's most needed just when you have a line break in text, where it could be a mistake, hitting the enter key twice, instead of really wanted...

in other places, such as you mention, it's clear that there's going to be a space between titles and text, etc., so adding the # is not as needed...