Formatting Your Manuscript: Indents Explained
You may have spent months, even years, writing your story and be tempted to leave formatting until the very last minute before you publish. But formatting isn't just cosmetic: it affects how your story reads on the page, how professional your book looks to your readers and how easily your editor or proofreader can spot errors.
Here, we look at some important formatting choices.
Paragraph indents
Conventionally, fiction manuscripts use a first-line indent to show the start of a new paragraph – not a blank line between paragraphs, and not a manual tab character. This can differ from non-fiction writing where it is common to signal paragraph breaks by showing an extra space.
In a novel, an indent (typically 0.5 inches or 1.27cm) signals the start of a new paragraph. But using manual tabs to set indents at the layout stage, other than being time-consuming, can cause problems as they don't behave consistently across different software. Therefore, it's best to set the indent through your paragraph styles instead, so it's applied automatically and consistently.
One exception worth knowing: the first paragraph of a new chapter and the first paragraph after a scene/section break are conventionally not indented – whether it opens with narrative or dialogue. The indent is there to signal "new paragraph following on from the last one" so it doesn't serve the same purpose at the start of a new chapter or section, where there's nothing to follow on from. This is a small detail, but it's easy to forget (and easy to apply consistently once you know to look for it).
How to set this up in Word: a beginner's guide
If the thought of setting up styles in Word fills you with dread, you're not alone. But honestly, it's really not that difficult, and the good news is that you only have to do it once per project.
Step 1: Format a paragraph the way you want your normal body text to look
Click into any paragraph in your manuscript (not the first paragraph of a chapter or section). Set the first-line indent by going to Layout → Paragraph (or Format → Paragraph on some versions), and under Indentation, set Special to "First line" with a value of around 0.5" or 1.27cm. Click OK.
Step 2: Save this formatting as a style called "Body Text"
With your cursor still in that paragraph, go to the Home tab and find the Styles gallery (the row of boxes showing "Normal", "Heading 1", etc.). Click the small arrow in the bottom-right corner of that gallery to open the full Styles pane.
At the bottom of the Styles pane, click the "New Style" button (it looks like a small icon, often with an "A+" or a blank page symbol). A box will pop up:
Under "Name" type Body Text.
Make sure "Style based on" is set to whatever your current style is (usually "Normal").
Click OK to save it.
You now have a style with your indent built in that you can use throughout your manuscript for all standard paragraphs.
Step 3: Create a second style for chapter and scene openings
Click into the first paragraph of a chapter or new section (the one you don't want indented). Go to Layout → Paragraph and set Special to "None" – this removes the first-line indent for this paragraph only. Click OK.
With your cursor still in that paragraph, open the Styles pane again (Home tab, small arrow in the corner of the Styles gallery) and click "New Style". This time:
Under "Name" type something like First Paragraph.
Leave everything else as it is.
Click OK.
You now have two styles: Body Text (indented) and First Paragraph (not indented).
Step 4: Let Word switch back to Body Text automatically
This is the part that saves you the most time. Rather than manually clicking "Body Text" every time you finish an opening paragraph, you can tell Word to switch automatically as soon as you press Enter.
In the Styles pane, find First Paragraph in the list. Right-click it and choose "Modify".
In the box that appears, look for "Style for following paragraph" – it's usually a dropdown near the bottom of the box.
Change this dropdown to Body Text.
Click OK.
Now, whenever you click into a new chapter or scene opening and apply the First Paragraph style, Word will automatically switch to Body Text – with the indent – as soon as you press Enter to start the next paragraph. You only need to remember to apply "First Paragraph" once, right at the start of each chapter or scene.
Step 5: Apply your styles as you write or edit
From this point on:
Click into any normal paragraph and select Body Text from the Styles pane if it isn't already applied.
Click into the first paragraph after a chapter heading or scene break and select First Paragraph.
If you're formatting an existing manuscript rather than starting from scratch, you can use Find and Replace with "Find whole document" search options, or simply go chapter by chapter – most novels don't have so many chapter or scene breaks that this becomes a huge task.
It's worth setting this up once, early in a project, rather than fixing indents by hand throughout — especially in a book with frequent scene breaks.
Chapter breaks
There's no "correct" way to format a chapter break – some authors like to start each new chapter on a fresh page, some include a chapter number, some include a title, some use a mixture of both. What is important is that whatever choice you make, you apply it consistently throughout the entire manuscript.
A few common conventions:
Chapter number only ("Chapter One", "Chapter 1" or just "One")
Chapter number and title (common in some genres, less so in others)
A page break before each new chapter, so it doesn't run on from the previous page
Whichever style you choose, it's worth deciding early and noting it on your style sheet as this is exactly the kind of detail that gets flagged if it's inconsistent, and it's a very easy fix to make once, rather than chapter by chapter.
Scene breaks
Within a chapter, a scene or section break signals a shift in time, place, or point of view, and therefore, it needs its own visual signal – usually a blank line with a centred symbol such as an asterisk, a horizontal small-cap "oOo", or simply extra lines. Without this, readers can feel jolted by a surprising jump, wondering if they've missed something.
Orphans and widows
You may be familiar with the terms "orphans" and "widows" – I'm sure you'll have heard your editor or proofreader mention them! These terms refer to lines of a paragraph that end up stranded at the top or bottom of a page, separated from the rest of their paragraph.
An orphan is the first line of a paragraph left alone at the bottom of a page, with the rest of the paragraph continuing on the next page.
A widow is the last line of a paragraph left alone at the top of a page, with the rest of the paragraph on the page before.
Orphans are generally considered acceptable in book layout and are common enough that most publishers don't worry about them. However, widows are usually avoided where possible, since a single short line at the top of a page can look like a mistake or leave an odd gap in the visual flow of the text.
This is very much a layout-stage concern rather than something to fix in your working manuscript, but it's useful to know the terms – particularly if you're self-publishing.
Why this matters before proofreading
Formatting really does affect the quality of your final book: inconsistent formatting is distracting for readers and can make even a beautifully written manuscript look unpolished. It also makes life harder at the proofreading stage, since inconsistencies in layout can make it harder to find the genuine errors underneath them.
If you're not sure what formatting conventions suit your book, it's worth asking your editor or proofreader before you finalise your manuscript – a quick chat early on can save a lot of reformatting later.
Getting ready to send your manuscript for proofreading? Feel free to get in touch.
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