Aquarius
Writers' Guidelines - How to write

Preparing Your Article in a Word Processing Program

Professional page layout programs, such as those used by Aquarius, handle text differently than word processing programs such as WordPerfect or Microsoft Word. There is no need to try to format your article to how the finished job will look. Do not set your job up in “columns.” Please follow these guidelines when preparing text:

1. Set your alignment to “LEFT.”

2. Put only ONE SPACE after periods and other punctuation. Put quotation marks OUTSIDE of punctuation. (.” or ,”) Do not use a hyphen to represent a dash. Use two hyphens with a space on either side like this -- . Typeset copy is prepared differently from the way you learned to type, so this may take some getting used to. If you like, you may use your “search and replace” feature to replace all double spaces after periods with a single space.

3. Do NOT put hard returns at the end of each line. Let the text “WRAP” to the margins and use ONE HARD RETURN at the end of each paragraph.

4. Use ONE TAB for a paragraph indent. Do NOT use spaces to create a paragraph indent. OR, you may use NO INDENT and put TWO HARD RETURNS (ENTER) between each paragraph.

5. Please provide Aquarius with a “hard copy” (a printed copy) of your article. Write instructions and indicate words to be bolded, italicized, etc. on this hard copy. Do not put instructions to the graphic designer within the body of the text.  Save your word processing files as “text only” and don't use the “fast save” mode.

6. Do NOT type your copy in all caps. This includes headlines. Please type headlines with initial caps only.

7. If you are using a graphic or photograph with your text file you MUST include the actual graphic/photo itself as a separate file.  Or, you must submit scannable art (good black and white line art).

Thank you so much for your interest in writing for Aquarius. If we can be of any assistance to you, please email us (rather than calling) at aquarius-editor@mindspring.com