Last Update:  March 09, 2006

The Golden Heart

Below are some general FAQs about the Golden Heart Contest, asked and answered by the Golden Heart Hopefuls.

Please note: The information contained here is "well-meant advice" only, as provided by® A website.

How do I format a Golden Heart entry?

The Romance Writers Review (usually the October issue) contains the most recent formatting guidelines; however, make sure they apply to the year you are entering.  That is, the 2005 rules will apply to the 2005 contest, etc.  The guidelines must be followed to the letter. 

Some rules of thumb for all contests (unless otherwise specified) are:  25 lines of text per page plus the header, and one-inch margins all around.  That means there's a one-inch margin above the header.  The synopsis should have the same format as the entry.  Don't do anything to make your formatting look inconsistent.

How long should my entry be?

For ALL Golden Heart entries, regardless of category, the entry that's read by the first-round judges can be up to 55 pages.  That includes the opening of the book and the synopsis.  If your synopsis is 10 pages long, you can enter up to 45 manuscript pages.  If your synopsis is 5 pages, you can enter 50 manuscript pages, etc.

 The IMPORTANT part is finding a great ending hook, and ending your entry there.  This is where formatting gets tricky.  If your synopsis is 6 pages long, you can only enter 49 manuscript pages.  But your hook is on page 51.  Arrrrrgh.  Go through those 51 pages, line by line, and look for places to shorten.  Combine paragraphs.  Take out a descriptive word if it means shortening a paragraph by one sentence.  Make sure you only have one space instead of two after the end punctuation.  Do whatever you have to do to shorten your 51-page entry to 49 pages so that it fits the page requirements and ends with a hook that leaves the judge begging for more.

It's also important to start your entry with a great opening hook. 

What do I need to do to make my entry just a little bit shorter so that it fits the contest page count? 

1. Use one space after the end punctuation instead of two spaces.
2. Only use six or seven lines to drop each chapter opening.
3. Look through the manuscript for  paragraphs that wrap one or two words onto the last line.  Edit the paragraph.  Eliminate an adjective, etc., to shorten the paragraph.
4. Trim unnecessary dialogue tags BUT make sure the reader always knows who is speaking
5. Look for long passages of narrative.  While you'd be comfortable submitting all of it as part of a finished manuscript, look for bits that can be eliminated without detracting from what the reader needs to know.  Look for the hero's and heroine's names.  Unless their names are only two to four letters long, look for places where you can replace them with pronouns (he, she, his, hers, etc.).
6. Look for passages of description.  Leave in only what is necessary.  Remember, this is not a submission to an editor.  Any editor who reads your contest entry will ask to see the complete manuscript before offering a contract.  That's your chance to give them everything you've got.
7. Do a word search for unnecessary words (that, just, also, etc.) and eliminate them as long as doing so doesn't create confusion.
8. Active voice usually takes up less space than passive, so always look there first.  i.e.. She ran to the store. vs. She was running to the store or The store was being run toward.
9. Slash repetition - it's very sneaky so be ruthless.  Trust your reader.
10. Murder your darlings - these are usually metaphors, beautifully written descriptions, poetic turns of phrase, the BEST one-liner/comebacks that are funny but don't have anything to do with the story...it's rough to kill some of your best writing but you must serve story first.
11. Can you combine some dialogue tags with action?  e.g.: "I won't!" she said, and turned to leave.  (becomes) "I won't."  She left. 
12. Put internal stuff into dialogue.  Sometimes people have the characters reason out a whole bunch of stuff, when it could be covered in fewer words in dialogue with another character. 
13. Look for adverbs and adjectives.  Are they necessary?  Do you have two adjectives when a single one might work, and maybe even be more powerful?
14. If you have two short paras, can they be joined into one?
15. Do a search for qualifier words like very, quite, rather, pretty (e.g., rather tall, pretty tall).
16. Look for sentences that are a bit passive and could be more direct. For example, if someone "was doing" something, or "was beginning to do" something, could they just "do" it instead?
17. And, basically, examine every bit of narrative and dialogue and see if all of it is really necessary.  What can be eliminated without detracting from what the reader needs to know?  We tend to get so hung up on our own beautiful words that maybe we've included a couple of lines of dialogue that aren't essential to the story or to character development.  A passage of description or introspection that doesn't add a whole lot.
18. Be ruthless is the big thing.

What, besides my manuscript, should I be submitting?

You have to submit six print copies of those 55-page entries.  You also have to submit one copy of the whole manuscript and in the 2004 contest, for the first time, RWA accepted the whole manuscript on disk or CD.  This saves the entrant a huge amount of money on printing and shipping costs.

When preparing your 6 packages of the partial and the synopsis, do you use those mini-binder clips to separate the packages?

 Yes

And when you're putting the partial and synopsis together, do you put the synopsis first or last?

Last

Do I need a cover page?

According to the 2005 contest administrator, no.  You do not need to include a cover page with your manuscript.  If it has personal identifying information on it, that would get you disqualified if it were left on. The administrators will be able to I.D.  your manuscript by the title, so there is no need for a cover page.

What about a dedication page?

Dedication pages are never part of a manuscript and should not be included, whether it's going to a contest or being submitted to an editor.  After you sell a book, your editor will eventually discuss the dedication and acknowledgements with you.

What do I need to know about shipping my contest entry?

Every year, people are disqualified because they mail their entries and the post office doesn't get them there on time.  From Canada, we have the added hassle of customs.  My advice is to use a courier.

Some couriers have their own planes and do their own customs clearing, which allows them to continue to provide overnight service.  I usually allow an extra day or so, since they still have no control over the weather :-)  Couriers are more expensive than mail but a lot more reliable, and you can track your package online and even print the delivery confirmation, including the recipient's signature.

ONE IMPORTANT THING TO REMEMBER: US Customs will no longer clear packages in recycled boxes that contain any evidence of previous shipments, labelling, etc.  There can't be any writing on the outside, except the addresses of the sender and recipient, and the customs declaration form.  If you plan to use the mail, check with a postal outlet to be sure, but I think you can wrap an old box in paper and send it that way.  If you're only sending one entry (55 pages x 6 copies, and the complete ms. on a diskette or CD) it will fit in a large Tyvek or padded envelope.  Two entries comes to 660 pages plus the disks and I haven't seen an envelope big enough to hold that.

 On the declaration form, I always say it's a manuscript and its value is NCV (no commercial value).  And it's always a good idea to put RWA's phone number on the shipping label, whatever courier you are using.

To repeat: if your entry is delayed in the mail and arrives after the December deadline, it will be disqualified and you will not receive a refund.

Getting your entry back

I'm curious about the question of return mail on the contest. My understanding is that one gets a marking sheet, no comments, and that's it.  Therefore, does one just include an SASE and ask the contest organizers to recycle your entries?  What about the disk?

RWA mails the score sheets at their expense so you don't have to send an SASE.  They will return your full ms (printed copy, diskette or CD) if you include an SASE with your entry.

I registered on line - so when I actually send my package do I have to include any kind of cover page?

I write a letter to the contest administrator saying something like, "Here's my entry, 6 copies of TITLE (#of pages) and 6 copies of TITLE Synopsis (# of pgs) = 55 pages, plus diskette.

How do I set up a manuscript header in Word?

Go into page setup in Word (under file) and put in 1" for the header and 1.5 for 'top' of page.  Go into “View” and then “Header and footer.” Then, write your heading like this

 TITLE IN BLOCK LETTERS                               Your last name - 1

 For the synopsis, write:

 TITLE IN BLOCK LETTERS - Synopsis                    Your last name - 1

I understand that the Synopsis pages use the same format, however, where is the word Synopsis supposed to start (on the first page of the synopsis)?

This isn't like a submission to an editor.  DO NOT suppress the header on the first page of your synopsis.  In 2000, my entry was disqualified because I did that.  They've changed the rules and the GH is no longer a contest for best formatting, however, you never know who the judges are so you might as well play by as many of the old rules as you can.

Keep the header at the top of the page and centre the heading below that.  With the synopsis, I format the header, etc., exactly the same as the manuscript.  For the heading on the first page of the synopsis, I put TITLE--SYNOPSIS.  So something like this:

TITLE – Synopsis                                                             Your last name - 1

                                     TITLE—Synopsis (centred)

Do you start with fresh numbering on the synopsis?

 Yes

 How do I get 25 lines of text per page?

In Word, go into “Format” and “Paragraph”.  First, make sure widow/orphan is turned off.  Then and, where it says “Line Spacing” select “exactly” and type in “25 point.”  This should give you 25 lines of text, not counting the header.

What about page numbering?

If you format your entry in Courier, make sure your header and page numbers are also set in Courier and not the default font. 

 To change the page number font is to go to View/Header, highlight the page number, and go to Format, Font, and pick the typeface you want.

What do I need to know about writing a synopsis?

Dani Collins developed this cheat sheet for a short synopsis based on the word "simple":

S-omebody

Pick one protagonist only.  This is the person the story is MOST about.

I-ntent

What do they want?  This is part of the above and answers the main story question.  For example, she wants to know who killed her father, she wants the stage production to be a success, he wants to put the bad guy in jail.

M-otive

Why does he/she want above?   There should be an external and internal reason.  For example, she doesn't want a killer on the loose AND she feels guilty that she wasn't closer to her father.  The town is depending on the money it raises AND her professional image is at stake.

P-roblem

What stands in their way?  People, time, their own hang-ups.

L-ovestory

How does the partner complicate things for the main character?  Why are they drawn together?  Why do they resist the relationship?

E-nding

How is everything resolved?

OTHER TIPS:

Ø   Less is more.

Ø   Synopsis should be in the same tone as the book, i.e.. light and breezy, fast-paced and full of twists, sensual and emotional. 

Ø   Use adjective/noun descriptions for all but hero/heroine.  For example, Frank, the cruel accountant, stands in her way.

Ø   Open with a hook sentence that reads like a cover blurb, e.g.:

o   When this meets that, trouble ensues

o   All she wanted was . . . , but

o   Can a professional '?' be happy with a '?'

o   In the world of <competitive skiing/ambulance drivers/African jungle> . .

o   <emotion> is the name of the game when . . .

o   Laundry list

Ø   Less is more.

Do you put "The End" at the end of the synopsis as well as at the end of the MS?

No.  Just three *** [centred]

Should I use italics or underlining?

Use underlining.

If you have an entire manuscript full of italics and decide to make the switch to underlining, it should take virtually no time at all.  If you're working in Word, go to Edit, Replace, make sure there's no text in the Find What box, then go Format, Font, Italics.  Make sure there's no text in the Replace With box and go Format, Font, set the "font style" to "Regular" (and that gets rid of the italics) then set the Underline style to the basic underline.  When I do this, I like to check them one by one rather than do a Replace All, but even so it only takes a couple of minutes to do a whole MS.

What is the correct way to write a dash in a manuscript?

These conventions might not seem important to a lot of people but they've been used for years and years in publishing.  Underline indicates italics, two hyphens (no spaces) indicate an em dash, etc., and they're symbols that everyone in publishing recognizes--editors, typesetters/desktop publishers and so on.

 Even though we're writing a manuscript with a fancy word processor, we're still producing a manuscript.  It's the publisher's job to publish it.

By default, Word seems to replace a double hyphen with an en dash.  This is also incorrect.  An en dash is most often used to replace the word "to," as in please read pages 23–25.  In a manuscript, a double hyphen represents an em dash ( — ) which either indicates a pause or offsets something for emphasis. 

Having a double hyphen split between lines is confusing because at the end of a line it looks like a hyphen and then at the beginning of the next line, oh, there's another hyphen.  Best to keep them together at the end of a line, or wrap the previous word and the double hyphen (or the ellipsis) to the next line.  In Word, you can also insert non-breaking hyphens
(ctrl + - ).

To stop Word replacing double dashes with an em or en dash, there are two places to look.  One is Tools, AutoCorrect, AutoFormat as You Type, and click off "Replace dashes with hyphens".  (While you're there, you may find other things you want to turn off.  I don't replace ordinals or fractions if I'm using Courier because I don't think they're standard style.  Also, occasionally people report that they get solid lines across the page, and have no idea how they got there, and that's probably because they have Border lines turned on under "apply as you type"). 

As for other default “corrections”, go to Tools, AutoCorrect, AutoCorrect and there's a list of things that get replaced automatically.  Depending on your version of Word, the double dash may be there as well (along with different variations of dashes, happy faces, etc.).

What about an ellipsis?

Word will automatically do an ellipsis for you (alt + ctrl + . ) and it should hang together as a single character.  However, the Word ellipsis does not conform to most, if any, style guides.  The latest edition of the Chicago Manual of Style still defines an ellipsis as three spaced periods ( . . . ) and most publishers claim to follow the Chicago Manual.

If you insert non-breaking spaces (ctrl + shift + space) before, after and between the periods, a spaced ellipsis will stick to the preceding and following words rather than do a higgledy-piggledy wrap onto the next line.

What do I do about foreign words and phrases?

Normally, these are underlined.  Foreign names of streets and buildings are not underlined and may be preceded by English 'the' if the definite article is used in the original language, such as the Champs-Elysees.  Unless the street name is capitalized in the foreign language, don’t capitalize it.  For example, rue and boulevard in French street addresses need not be capitalized:  19, rue des Beaux-Arts is correct.

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This page is a collection of FAQs, informational tidbits, and helpful hints submitted by chapter members.  

Please feel free to contact the webmistress if you have any further suggestion to add to this page.

Please note, submissions will not be attributed to specific individuals unless they request it.

Thanks to the members of the Golden Heart Hopefuls loop for getting this page started.

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