I've always thought that the best (and correct?) way to number the pages of your manuscript is to put 'Title/Author's name/Page 2' on the upper right-hand corner.

But since then I've changed my WIP's title to something long -- I mean The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time long -- and I wonder whether I should use:

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time/Mark Haddon/Page 2

OR

Ode on the Devil . . ./Mark Haddon/Page 2

Which do you think is better?

<Added>

Er, I meant The Curious Incident . . ., of course. God.

For me, I use a header with title on the left, my name on the right (size 8) - separated with tabs and spaces as they're on the same line and page number bottom of the page, centred (size 8)

Colin M

Hi

I've never bothered with this. It just seems like too much hassle. In fact, I've been put off submitting to magazines that request such an anal page designation. Ok, so it may help pages of your from MS getting lost in a cluttered office, I'll grant, but normally I just number the pages.

JB

I think it can be too much to expect people to fanny on with it to get it just so, but I wouldn't say that a request for pages to be numbered was too much to ask, especially if it's going to be a large document.

I get distracted while I'm working on it by headers, so I have footers: name and filename (which is usually a short version of the name of the book) ranged left, date in the middle, page number ranged right.

Never had any complaints. Suspect it might be different for magazines, though, as they handle more smaller bits of paper, and may demand something more standard.

Emma

I've got two different versions of Word. On this computer I have to put up with the headers, on my laptop, if I click the space between pages, they all join up - no headers. They're still there, it's just a "view" thing.

I use a header with the title and my name to the left, and page numbers across to the right. Like Colin, I hide the white spaces between pages, so I don’t see the header unless I want to. Colin, I'm puzzled why you can't do the same thing on your PC… you know much more than me about this stuff – so forgive me for asking a stupid question – but do you have Word on your PC set to Print Layout View?

I once heard an agent talking about how important it is to have title and/or name, and page numbers, on every page. She described the chaos in her office one day when the slushpile slid to the floor. I wouldn’t want to worry about my stuff being rejected because it couldn’t be identified.

Dee

It's just a slightly older version of Word. There are a few features unavailable. On my laptop I can have the Word Cound button on the menu bar, so I just point and click, but I can't on my PC. But I've put a shortcut on now, so I just press ALT+W and bingo!

Thanks, everybody!

I'll go with the majority and put the title and my name to the left, and the page numbers to the right. Good thing I asked. I don't know where I got that title/author's name/page number stuff... I'm sure I didn't make it up myself! (Or did I?)

Another stupid newbie question: you start the page numbers at two, right? The title page being number one?

God, now that my work is almost finished I start worrying about everything...

ok, you've convinced me Dee, but how do I go about adding a header? I guess it's under headers and footers in Word? Any advice?

JB

Just looked at what I've got, and I have mine like this, which is probably wrong -

Echoes of Yesterday 1 - Josie K Bloggs

then next page - Echoes of Yesterday 2 - Josie K Bloggs

and so on.

re starting with what number, I don't number my title page, and start the first page of writing as page one, which again is probably wrong.

So, should the first page of writing be page 2 or 3 if you have a dedication page, or 4 if you also have an acknowledgement page?

See, that's why I start the first page of proper writing with number one - nice and simple.

Katerina

Waxy, just go to view, then down to header and footer and they'll pop up. Have a play. There should be a hash icon for page numbers. Any probs I can send a template.

Thanks Colin. I'm sure I can figure it out! (Famous last words)

JB