Hi all
I recently had a critique from a short story competition I entered. The critique was very helpful but there was one point about the format that I didn't know. At the end of each page, there should be "mf" inserted as a footer (if there is more to follow on the next page). Then, at the end of the story, there should be typed "ends".
Is this standard practice even for short stories being entered into competitions, or does it really only apply to manuscripts being submitted to book publishers?
I hadn't heard of this either in story layout. I haven't researched format in a couple of years so things may have changed but that one was new to me.
The critique also mentioned having a title page which includes the author's name but most competition rules state they don't like the submissions identified with the writer's name.
Thanks again for the replies.
Never seen this in a competition before, Andrew, and it should have been in the rules if they required it.
You could number your pages 1/4, 2/4 and so on, if you wanted, but as it's a short story, and you've given the number of words (presumably) already, it would be fairly obvious where it ended.
Lorraine
I've never heard of that practice for short story competitions. It's normal for newspaper reporters - standard practice, and has been for donkey's years- when submitting stories for publication to the newsdesk. Obviously sub-editors remove those words when sending the story off for printing.