Novella Thesis... Some Advice Please.

InkNut

Hi all,

I'm writing an 18/20,000 word novella for my thesis in Communication studies. I was hoping to get some advice in terms of style and format etc. as my thesis supervisor is generally unavailable these days.

My main problem is not knowing the correct way to format a creative writing project. I'm talking about margins, line spacing and an ideal font that will give it that novella feeling to read, rather than it look like more of an academic essay. At the moment, it's 1.5 line spaced, in a Cambria font and doesn't have any chapter headings as I was told a novella usually doesn't have chapters and I should use white space to show the end of one part of the story and the beginning of another.

Also, while writing dialogue should two different characters words not be on the same line? This is an example of how I'm writing dialogue at the moment.
“Let’s just say I was dumb enough to get caught up in a few things I really shouldn’t have.” I said.
“What kind of things? You can tell me, I won’t judge you. It’s not like I don’t have a past myself.” She replied.
“You, a past? Hardly. You seem perfect.” I responded.

Is this the correct form? Should two characters words never be on the same line? Or is it ok to do so? And is it completely necessary to always put the likes of "I said/he replied/she asked" after every line of character dialogue, even if there's only two people in the conversation and it's obvious to the reader which character is saying what?

Any advice/help would brilliant:)

Philip

Kinski

InkNut wrote: »

I'm writing an 18/20,000 word novella for my thesis in Communication studies. I was hoping to get some advice in terms of style and format etc. as my thesis supervisor is generally unavailable these days.

Can I ask where you're doing this? Is your supervisor a creative writer?

nervous_twitch

RE: Dialogue - I think you pretty much have it down. Separate lines for each speaker so as not to jar the reader too much. It gives a clear indication of whose voice it is. I would say it's absolutely unnecessary to add a verbal qualifier to every piece of discourse; if anything, it's really distracting. It's OK to throw in one or two, to keep the reader on track, or if you're trying to illustrate a character's reaction, but I would generally keep them minimal. Also, don't be afraid to stick with 'said' - I think it sounds a bit contrived when authors look as if they have a thesaurus to hand. She replied/responded/screamed/cried/whispered; they're all fine, but more often than not, we just say things. Be careful as well, if you're adding a verb at the end of your dialogue, the speech never takes a full stop.

i.e "It's not like I don't have a past myself," she replied. Comma then lower case.

As for your first query, I've never really changed formatting too drastically, but maybe someone else can help you out here. I would just stick to a nice, easy-to-read font with ample spacing and standard margins, with clear paragraph breaks throughout. Hope this helps.

InkNut

Kinski wrote: »

Can I ask where you're doing this? Is your supervisor a creative writer?

I'm doing it in DCU. My supervisor has never supervised a creative writing thesis before and can't really give me the solid tips I need. As far as I'm aware, he is not a creative writer but I could be wrong as I would imagine I wouldn't be assigned a supervisor who doesn't do any creative writing. The one decent creative writing supervisor can't supervise due to an injury.

InkNut

nervous_twitch wrote: »

RE: Dialogue - I think you pretty much have it down. Separate lines for each speaker so as not to jar the reader too much. It gives a clear indication of whose voice it is. I would say it's absolutely unnecessary to add a verbal qualifier to every piece of discourse; if anything, it's really distracting. It's OK to throw in one or two, to keep the reader on track, or if you're trying to illustrate a character's reaction, but I would generally keep them minimal. Also, don't be afraid to stick with 'said' - I think it sounds a bit contrived when authors look as if they have a thesaurus to hand. She replied/responded/screamed/cried/whispered; they're all fine, but more often than not, we just say things. Be careful as well, if you're adding a verb at the end of your dialogue, the speech never takes a full stop.

i.e "It's not like I don't have a past myself," she replied. Comma then lower case.

As for your first query, I've never really changed formatting too drastically, but maybe someone else can help you out here. I would just stick to a nice, easy-to-read font with ample spacing and standard margins, with clear paragraph breaks throughout. Hope this helps.

Thanks, I appreciate the info. I'm glad to hear I don't have to add the verbal qualifier every time as I felt it was wrong while writing the story. Would you suggest 1.5 line spacing or double? I'd ideally like to hand up the story in the most presentable way possible with as much relevance to the writing industry as possible.

nervous_twitch

I guess it could be argued that most published prose actually sticks to single spacing; for an academic project though, I'd probably go with 1.5, considering somebody is probably correcting it?

Kinski

InkNut wrote: »

I'm doing it in DCU. My supervisor has never supervised a creative writing thesis before and can't really give me the solid tips I need. As far as I'm aware, he is not a creative writer but I could be wrong as I would imagine I wouldn't be assigned a supervisor who doesn't do any creative writing. The one decent creative writing supervisor can't supervise due to an injury.

Ouch...you're brave to proceed without a proper supervisor.

As regards formatting etc., I don't think there are any hard and fast rules, and many writers break conventions if they feel it serves their purposes (for example, Cormac McCarthy eschews quotation marks when writing dialogue because he doesn't like to "clutter" the page with punctuation marks.) But in your case it's probably best to be conservative.

1.5 or double-spacing is probably the best way to go, just to aid readability. I'd also recommend leaving ample margins, as that's where the corrector will be writing comments. Ask to see previous examples of submitted work, if you haven't already.

InkNut

Kinski wrote: »

I'd also recommend leaving ample margins, as that's where the corrector will be writing comments.

I just have the standard margins at the moment that are there when you open a Microsoft Word document. How much white space would you suggest to incude between story parts? Or do you think chapter numbers are ok to include in a novella? I've heard it's not the norm anyway.

Cheers for the help:)

indough

if you are trying to write it in manuscript format then I would advise using 12 point courier new, double line spacing and a one inch margin

PurpleBee

Isn't the point of the formatting of the thesis mainly to make it easier for the person correcting it to read? I was under the impression that double spacing is preferred for that reason...

It's a shocking indictment of the system in DCU that you have to come on here to ask such questions. I did my thesis for Communications Studies there too and had similar problems, I hope it all goes well for you.

InkNut

indough wrote: »

if you are trying to write it in manuscript format then I would advise using 12 point courier new, double line spacing and a one inch margin

Yeah I've heard about the manuscript format with courier new font. I actually like that font for creative writing, although I'm aware it's just the easiest font to put it in for publishers.

InkNut

PurpleBee wrote: »

Isn't the point of the formatting of the thesis mainly to make it easier for the person correcting it to read? I was under the impression that double spacing is preferred for that reason...

It's a shocking indictment of the system in DCU that you have to come on here to ask such questions. I did my thesis for Communications Studies there too and had similar problems, I hope it all goes well for you.

Yeah it seems whatever I say to my supervisor he just nods and smiles saying "that's grand yeah". As if he just doesn't have the advice I'm looking for. I hear he is correcting it too, along with the external examiner of course. I've basically just had to do the whole thing by myself with no real guidance. Hopefully I'm going in the right direction with it anyway:)

indough

InkNut wrote: »

Yeah I've heard about the manuscript format with courier new font. I actually like that font for creative writing, although I'm aware it's just the easiest font to put it in for publishers.

yeah but the reason they use it is because it's the easiest to read, that's why i suggested it really. it's the same standard for screenwriting too so i reckon there must be something to it

Kinski

InkNut wrote: »

I just have the standard margins at the moment that are there when you open a Microsoft Word document.

I'd increase the margins to about 2cm.

How much white space would you suggest to incude between story parts?

Enough for the break to be obvious at a glance.

Do not submit it in Courier New! Use Times New Roman or similar.

PurpleBee wrote: »

It's a shocking indictment of the system in DCU that you have to come on here to ask such questions. I did my thesis for Communications Studies there too and had similar problems, I hope it all goes well for you.

They sound like teh suck.