Taken from The Chicago Manual of Style Online

Your New Best Friend, The Document Map

by Susan Gillett Domokos

You’re sitting in your chair, estranged from the rest of the household. (Not because you can’t stand the normal noise of your family, i.e. bellowing partner, screaming kids, blaring television, etc., but because they can’t stand the oddly vacant, zombie-like look that pervades your face every time you sit down to prove to the world that you’re a literary genius, and have therefore shoved you off into a nicely made up broom closet, with a single yellowed bulb swaying gently above your head, to be CREATIVE…)

Yes, there you sit. All alone. Plot twists you thought of at 3 a.m. in the morning taking the next train to Albuquerque (or worse, boarding the space shuttle for exploratory missions to the farthest reaches of the universe). You’re just wishing for a friendly interrogation or something, so you can actually get some thoughts in your head, other than all the stuff you need to do before tomorrow morning, the unfolded linen in front of you, or that your thighs are too fat.

Welcome to the life of a writer

If you HAVE chosen this solitary, yet strangely excruciating life, you need all the help you can get. So apart from doing your online grammar classes (what’s a preposition again?) here’s some not-to-be missed information and guidance on a wonderful feature in Microsoft Word, that promises to make booting around your lengthy manuscript (yes, yours) a dream.

I’m talking about the Document Map.

This is a feature that will enable you to navigate to any spot in your manuscript instantly. Even if you have a manuscript of a thousand pages, (Ha!) you will stay organized and be able to locate whatever section or passage you want. When you consider the alternative of scrolling through reams of pages, you’ll see the value in removing that frustration (at least) and getting on with the business of BEING CREATIVE.

So let’s get on to it.

What will I see on the screen when I use the Document Map?

When you utilize the document map, you will see two columns on your screen. On the left hand side will be a narrow column with the first words from different headings in your manuscript appearing in it. This is the “map” area. On the right side, the wide column, will be your document. These two columns can move independently of each other.

Where to start?

• In the Ribbon, got to the VIEW menu.
• Select Navigation from the SHOW options.

Start in your open document. Click the Document Map icon. (This icon looks like a magnifying glass on top of a Word document/form with a blue bar on top. It’s usually found by default on the standard toolbar (file, edit etc.) beside thes how/hide and the zoom box [100%, etc.]) If you move your cursor over the icons and wait a couple of seconds, a screen tip will appear, saying “Document Map”. So far, so good.  (Really, you knew you were brilliant…)

• What will happen?

As already mentioned, the headings in your document will show up on the left side of the screen. When you click on those, they are hyper-linked to the corresponding spots in your document. If you click on Lesson 2, voila! You’re immediately transported to that spot in your document. (Beam me over, Scotty!) Yay.

Now, all this is pretty simple. Right? And as a rule of thumb, just remember that Word shows what it considers the HEADINGS, or outline-level paragraphs in the Document Map. Yes, techy-talk I know, but what that really means to you is that sometimes Word will NOT show what you want it to show, and this is where you need to take control of the situation, and make it do so. (Enjoy the control…you won’t get that with your publisher, or agent…at least not for a long while!)

To do this, you will have to format the chapter headings in your document to show up, AND you can also choose to format particular bits, probably beginnings of scenes to also show up, so you can navigate also within the chapter. (Remember this is all about making it easy for yourself! You’re a writer, you should be using your time and creative genius to pen those magnificent masterpieces, or…. You’re a writer and you need all the help you can get. (Whichever statement works at the moment – take your pick.)

Soooo, to format the chapter headings, how do I start?

• Find the Style Menu in the Ribbon -To do this, you take advantage of another cool feature, and that’s the Style Feature. [Depending on your version of MS Word]  The Style box is on the standard toolbar again, usually to the left of the font box. (Typically you see this displaying the word “Normal” inside it.) If you click the drop down arrow on the right of this box, a whole list appears under it. Those are your default styles included by Microsoft Office. Such as “Heading 1, Default Paragraph font” etc. (There are tons more default styles than those that show up. If you want to see the entire list, hit “shift”, then the drop down arrow on the style box, and use your “down” or “up” keys to scroll the entire list. And that’s before you make up your own!)

• Format the Headings – Once you’ve found the style box, here’s how to format your chapter headings: Select the heading in your article (i.e. “highlight” it). For our purposes, let’s say it says “Chapter One.”Click on click on the heading style [Heading 1 for your title, Heading 2 for your Chapter Title, Heading 3 for your Scene number].

The formatting or appearance will also have changed, so if you want, you can change heading back to proper Manuscript style,  Select the heading again (i.e. “Chapter One”).  Apply the desired font (Courier New, or whatever you use), center it, and change the font size to 12.

Now this will take care of your chapter headings. Easy. And now, they all show up within the Document Map, so you can hyperlink to any chapter you want instantly.

There is also a way to have the Document Map pick up subheadings within your chapter; ie. if you want it be able to immediately go to, say, a point of view change, without having to scroll through the whole chapter. Here’s the key. (Discovered by me on a Sunday morning that started out peaceful, went to raving lunacy as I tried to figure this out, then thankfully quieted down again.)

Say you want the beginning words of your paragraph “Gloria sighed as Adrian moved closer” to show up in the Document Map, and you figure if you select those words and format them to be heading 2, (the next level down) they will show up. HA! Fooled you! (Or rather Microsoft did…aren’t you used to it by now? :)) They won’t show up. Why? One of the vagaries of the document map I found is that you must select the whole paragraph for it to work. Every time you hit the enter key, Word considers that a paragraph, by the way. (So the words “Chapter One” are considered a paragraph, cause you hit “enter” after it.) Conversely, if you format the first 3 words of your paragraph to heading 2, Word will make the formatting changes to the first 3 words, but it will NOT show up in the document map. (Again, now that I’ve told you this, you will not have to waste a mindless hour and a half in front of the computer screen yelling, WHY? and pouting, but can apply that mindless hour to your plotting or editing or writing or being meaningful with your dh [dear husband] or whatever. So, here’s how to fix it.

Format the bits within your chapter to show up in the Document Map

Pick a paragraph or a beginning of a scene of POV change, the first line of which you would like to show up in the document map.

Select the whole paragraph. (“Highlight” it)

Click on the drop down arrow of the style box, and hit “Heading two”.

All done! Now the first few words of the paragraph will show up under Chapter X, in your Document Map. That’s great, but this has most likely changed the appearance of your paragraph too. And while it may look kind of cool, and funky, if you want the ms to look all neat and proper, you can then change the font etc. to your desired MS formatting. In other words,

Select (highlight) the paragraph again, and just change the font etc back to what you are using for the rest of the article.

Your bits will now show up in the document map, meaning you can immediately boot to those areas. Yay!

One last tidbit for all of you smart writers, if you’re interested. What if you don’t want to have to do the last step above, but just want the formatting to be what you want as soon as you apply the heading style? Well, how about creating a “style” of your own, so instead of clicking “Heading Two”, you click your own personal style, and it’s done?

To Create Your Own “Style”

[This is not recommended for manuals you submit electronically as publisher’s will not have your personally created styles available to them and it’s very frustrating to have to change styles in a manual — you don’t want to make them mad at you before they even get started. – Deanna Lilly]

Go the Format menu, and pick “Style” – (the “Style” dialog box pops up).

Then pick “New” – (the “New Style” dialog box pops up)

For “Name”, type a name you’ve chosen (I used Heading 2 MS), and,

It must say use the word ‘Heading’ as part of the style name, if you want it to show up in the Document Map.

It must also be a bit different than “Heading 2” or you’ll lose the default Word “Heading 2” one.)

For “Based on”, it can say “Heading 2”. “Style type” – should say “Paragraph”, then hit” Format” at the bottom of the dialog box.

Go to “Font”, make the desired changes, Hit “OK.”

Then, going back to “Format” at the bottom of the dialog box again, go to “Paragraph”, and make the desired changes (if you are writing an MS, you may be already using .3 as indentation, line spacing as ‘exactly’ 25 pt, etc. – just do what you are already using), and hit “OK” (this step is optional).

You’ll now be back at the “New Style” dialog box, and here MAKE SURE you check the box at the bottom that says “Add to template” (which means it will always be available for you in all your documents) before you leave this box.

Hit “Ok” in the “New Style” dialog box.

Hit “Close” in the “Style” dialog box.

Yay! (Check to see your new style listed in the Style box.)

Simply apply this style next time to your ENTIRE PARAGRAPH, and it will keep your normal manuscript formatting, but still show up as a “Heading Two” in the document map. Yay again!
If you need to, don’t forget you can right-click anywhere in the Document Map area, and select how many levels you want showing. And you’ll also get + boxes and – boxes beside your headings in the Document Map to expand the contents under “Chapter One” or collapse them. Lots of fun!

One last tip…Can’t help myself…. to select an entire paragraph within your document, just put your insertion point inside the paragraph, and triple click. Voila! All selected.

Hope this helps, all you fellow writers. Microsoft Word can be one of a writer’s best friends, and make life much simpler. And don’t forget, while you’re manipulating the software unmercifully, that you’re a pretty admirable person – lots of people SAY they want to write, or KNOW they could…but you’re one of the few that is actually taking the bull by the horns, and doing it!…with all it’s attendant learning curves in so many areas.

Till next time,
Sue Gillett

Ps. If you liked this article, send chocolate and masseuses who love what they do.

by Deanna Lilly

Now that the mechanics of achieving 250 words and 25 lines per page are out of the way, the manuscript is complete and perfect (you didn’t forget to remove the line numbers before printing and sending your “baby” to your editor) and at last the wait is over. Finally, you get the long awaited letter back. Your editor has fallen in love with your story BUT, she/he wants you to cut your 100,000-page masterpiece to 90,000 pages.

Panic sets in. You break out in a cold-hot sweat. 10,000 words?!? How am I ever going to eliminate 10,000 of my precious words? This is where the search or “FIND” function in your word processing program becomes YOUR BEST FRIEND. It’s too-easy to believe how quickly you can eliminate words. You probably already did this and are actually preparing your second submission from a novel you’ve hidden in the closet awaiting on a few, minor changes. As conscientious writers we always follow the word count guidelines — right?

Both MSWord and WordPerfect have the FIND function in the same place. Click on EDIT in the menu bar and trace down to FIND or FIND and REPLACE. (I prefer to use FIND so I don’t accidentally replace the words until I have figured out what I’m going to do in place of them.) Fill in the FIND dialog box with the following search criteria and start chopping those words out. In the process you will discover ways to make your sentences and paragraphs stronger.

To search for a partial word or ending such as “ly” you type ly and a space — that insures the find function looks for only words that end in “ly” but you may also have to search for “ly. ” (the period followed by a space) to insure you get the ones on the end of the sentence. Yes — this is very time-consuming — lots of searches — and most will cause a stop and rewrite. Just remember all this when you begin your next book and you will not only fly through the writing process but it will be almost perfect and take you less time to edit. Remember, this is not to say you need to eliminate all words with these endings, just reduce the number in the manuscript as much as you can.

HERE’S THE DIRTY LAUNDRY TO WASH OUT

1. Search for and eliminate as many adverbs as possible – (all “ly” endings, etc.)

2. Avoid “just” and “so.” Completely delete these two words. They are just so unnecessary.

3. Search for the words “was” and “were” and eliminate every possible occurrence (in most cases this makes the sentence passive and you don’t want any more than 2% passive per chapter — the word count function in the TOOLS menu will give you passive percentages). Read your paragraph … how many times have you said was? Too many, I’ll bet. Write it like you talk… was is ok then. But remember, repetition of any word tends to bore your reader.

4. Eliminate every occurrence of “that” – unless it’s absolutely necessary (and that doesn’t mean replacing it with “which” – and learn the difference between the two words).

5. Make sure you use “had” only going into a flashback and once again coming out of the flashback or memory sequence. Find another word to replace had in every other use.

Example: He had to work late into the night.

Fix 1: He worked late into the night.

Fix 2: Fatigue tugged his eyelids. Mary’s life depended on him. For her sake, he got another cup of coffee.

6. Avoid over using the ending “ing.”

7. Vary the first word of each paragraph as well as the first word of every sentence. Do not let more than two paragraphs on a page start with the same word.

8. Do not let your characters talk aloud to themselves — unless they are a little bit crazy and it’s necessary to the plot.

9. Eliminate dialect [unless you know what you’re doing and have consulted a non-fiction source]. Think of Forest Gump here — it took me months to finish the book because the dialect drove me nuts — a few well chosen words that your character always uses is a great way of using dialect and not driving your reader crazy. (I’m not knocking the book, just making an observation about dialect.) Learn the difference between an accent and a dialect.

10. After all these searches, do a search on the words, “and, the, he, she, his, and her,” and see how many you can eliminate by either rewording your sentence or simply dropping out the word.

11. Avoid dialog tags – “he said, she said” make the preceding or following sentence show the action and who is speaking. (Sometimes you need a dialog tag.)

Example: “Can’t you ever be a proper wife?” Mark growled in anger.

Fix: Mark threw the plate of spaghetti she handed him against the wall with enough force to rattle the windows. “Can’t you ever be a proper wife?”

Yes, I know. That correction added words. If you eliminate the unnecessary stuff you have room for stronger sentences, even if they add words every now and then. And remember, these are simply suggestions, they are not written in stone. Your work must reflect your voice to be unique and sell.

Bye the way, when I am doing these searches, I hum the old song “I’m Gonna Wash That Man Right Out Of My Hair” for the movie South Pacific. Corny, I know… but, oh well.

Good luck and good writing.

From PPW (Panhandle Plains Writers) Amarillo, Texas

Verbs HAS to agree with their subjects.

Prepositions are not words to end sentences with.

And don’t start a sentence with a conjunction.

It is wrong to ever split an infinitive.

Avoid clichés like the plague. (They’re old hat)

Also, always avoid annoying alliteration.

Be more or less specific.

Parenthetical remarks (however relevant) are (usually) unnecessary.

Also too, never ever use repetitive redundancies.

No sentence fragments.

Contractions aren’t necessary and shouldn’t be used.

Foreign words and phrases are not apropos.

Do not be redundant; do not use more words than necessary; it’s highly superfluous.

One should NEVER generalize.

Comparisons are as bad as clichés.

Don’t use no double negatives.

Eschew ampersands & abbreviations, etc.

One-word sentences? Eliminate.

Analogies in writing are like feathers on a snake.

The passive voice is to be ignored.

Eliminate commas, that are, not necessary. Parenthetical words however should be enclosed in commas.

Never use a big word when a diminutive one would suffice.

Kill all exclamation points!!!

Use words correctly, irregardless of how others use them.

Understatement is always the absolute best way to put forth earth shaking ideas.

Use the apostrophe in it’s proper place and omit it when its not needed.

Eliminate quotations. As Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “I hate quotations. Tell me what you know.”

If you’ve heard it once, you’ve heard it a thousand times: Resist hyperbole; not on writer in a million can use it correctly.

Puns are for children, not groan readers.

Go around the barn at high noon to avoid colloquialisms.

Even IF a mixed metaphor sings, it should be derailed.

Who needs rhetorical questions?

Exaggeration is a billion times worse than understatement.

And finally .. Proofread carefully to see if you any words out.

By Deanna Lilly

Here is a list of regularly misused words and their appropriate uses. You might want to bookmark this page so you have ready access to which spelling you should be using.

A – An

“A” goes before consonant sounds. eg. A book, A treasure.

NOTE: it is the sound not the actual letter that makes the rule. i.e. A University.

“An” goes before a vowel sound. eg. AN apple, AN orangutan.

NOTE: the same exception applies here i.e. AN R.C.A. Television.

Accept – Except

“Accept” means to receive.

“Please ACCEPT your invitation.”

“Except” means to leave out.

“I will take all of those EXCEPT the blue one.”

Affect – Effect

“Affect” means to influence.

“Her reputation AFFECTED his opinion of her.”

“Effect” means result (n.) or to accomplish (v.)

“The EFFECT of my speech was minimal.” (n.)

“The new speaker EFFECTED a change in the audience.” (v.)

A Lot – Allot – Alot

A LOT functions as either a noun or an adverb, while ALLOT is a verb. ALOT is nothing, because it is not a real word.

A Lot

As a noun, A LOT means “a large extent,” “a large amount,” or “a large number.”
As an adverb, A LOT means “to a great extent” or “to a great degree.”

For example, “Jeremy has A LOT of pet piranhas”. (Lot is a noun in this example.)
For example, “He cares A LOT about them.” (A lot is an adverb in this example.)

Allot

Allot, a verb, meaning “to give out,” to distribute, to apportion.”
For example: “The chef ALLOTTED two squares of cornbread to each camper.

Alot

The word ALOT does not exist. It is often mistakenly written instead of “a lot”. For example:
I know alot about underwater basket weaving. WRONG
I know a lot about underwater basket weaving. CORRECT

All Ready – Already

“All Ready” is an adjective and means everyone is ready or prepared.

“We are ALL READY to leave.”

“Already” means previously.

“They have ALREADY left.”

All Right – Alright

“All Right” is the correct spelling.

“Alright” is not a word.

Among – Between

“Among” is used for three or more objects/people.

“The four of them divided it AMONG themselves.”

“Between” is used with 2 people.

“The two of them divided it BETWEEN themselves.”

NOTE: Between can also be used;

A) with more than 2 in a united situation i.e. “BETWEEN the four of them they raised more than enough money.”

B) For a comparison or opposition i.e. “There is a great deal of competition BETWEEN those four students, therefore it is difficult to choose BETWEEN them.

Amount – Number

“Amount” is used to refer to bulk items .

An AMOUNT of sugar, grain, flour.

OR quantity

An AMOUNT of money.

“Number” refers to objects which are thought of as a group of individual units.

A NUMBER of oranges, children, cows, glasses.

Most words following AMOUNT are singular while those following NUMBER are plural.

Bimonthly – Semimonthly

“Bimonthly” means every two months.

“Semimonthly” means twice a month.

Bring – Take

“Bring” is the action towards the writer or speaker.

“BRING that over here.”

“Take” is the action away from the writer or speaker.

“TAKE that with you when you leave.”

Continual – Continuous

“Continual” is an action that occurs over a period of time but has pauses.

“She nagged him CONTINUALLY.”

“Continuous” is an action that has no pauses.

“Her tapping was CONTINUOUS.”

Farther – Further

“Farther” is physical distance.

“She can jump FARTHER than he can.”

“Further” refers to degree or extent.

“Let’s discuss this FURTHER.”

I – e

“Mary (or she) and I need to work harder.”

(Test your sentence by dropping the person’s name, he or she. You would not say “Me need to work harder.”)

“It works for Bill and Me.”

(Test your sentence by dropping the name, You would not say “It works for I.” Also, me does not come before the other person (not me and Bill).

Its – It’s

“Its” is the possessive of It .

“The stove has lost ITS power.”

“It’s” is the contraction for It Is. [Say out loud “it is” and the rest of your sentence. If it sounds funny, you shouldn’t use the contraction.]

“IT’S too late to fix it.”

Their – There – They’re

“Their” is the possessive.

“It is THEIR special day tomorrow.”

“There” is the adverb and expletive.

“They plan to go THERE tomorrow because THERE is too much to do today.”

“They’re” is the contraction of They Are.

“THEY’RE planning to have a good time.”

Who’s – Whose

“Who’s” is the contraction of Who Is or Who Has.

“WHO’S coming with you?”

“Whose” is the possessive form of Who.

“WHOSE house is it anyway?”

You’re – Your

“You’re” is the contraction of You Are.

“YOU’RE going to the zoo?”

“Your” is the possessive form of You.

“YOUR party was great.”

By Donna Clayton

• Click Tools in the Menu Bar.
• Click Options
• Click on Auto Format
• Click Auto Format As You Type
• Tick off box that changes double hyphens to an em dash.
• Then click tab Auto Format tab
• Tick off the appropriate box

You must make the change in both places.