Two questions from yesterday need answers. Justine's is a little off-topic: this is a publishing process blog, not a writing process one. I'll try it anyway, though, because meanwhile we're waiting for the next publishing step. Waiting, btw, is a BIG part of the publishing process, for the writer. All kinds of things go on at the publisher's ofice to which you are not privy. The publisher's world does NOT revolve around any particular writer. Publishers, editors, publicity people have their own schedules, meetings, methods, and office politics, which have nothing to do with you. All you can do is turn your work in as requested and wait.

Justine, about backstory: the backstory for the main characters -- in my case, Smith and Chin -- I know by heart, as I know my closest friends' stories: whose parents died when she was young, whose brother just got married, etc. For the more minor characters it's harder. Many writers do keep lists, or charts, essentially bios tracing the lives of characters so they don't get into exactly the situation you describe. A lot don't. The discrepancies in the Sherlock Holmes stories, which have been variously used as evidence that Holmes was a Freemason, a Jew, illiterate, and his own brother Mycroft, arise from Conan Doyle not keeping close track of facts he'd stated in his previous work.

Sarah, about chapters: the standard is, start a new chapter 1/3 of the way down the page, and start the text 2 double-spaced lines (that is, 4 lines) from the chapter head.