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Stylesheet for Fourth Wave

How to format your stories for this publication

Photo by on Unsplash. Speech bubbles added by author in Preview.

Originally written for editors, we’ve decided to publish Fourth Wave’s Stylesheet so contributors can have access to it, too. If you absorb information better by watching than by scanning a story, you can see most of what’s written below demonstrated in a 15-minute video .

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Headlines

Headlines (aka titles) capitalize every word except for small ones. They are in Medium’s headline font which is accessed via the big “T” on the popup menu when you highlight the text. When it’s done correctly, you will see the word “Title” in the left margin (see below).

Headlines are one sentence long; they do not have periods and should not be longer than two lines or “decks.” Three lines display poorly. Semicolons don’t belong in headlines, since headlines are but one sentence long, but dashes are OK.

Headlines should attract readers and accurately convey what the story is about. Editors often make headline changes. Having a good headline has a big impact on how many people read your story. If you’ve made a headline change on a story, but don’t see your change displayed when you press “Publish,” that means you need…