It’s the little things that make all the difference…a style guide is exactly that little thing.
Reader fatigue is real. Some books are effortless reads regardless of elevated word use or plot complication. Then there are the others. The ones you want to love but make you tired, and you don’t know why.
The invisible magic that lives behind the scenes of a book ensuring nothing distracts or exhausts the reader from your literary work, comes in the form of a well-executed style guide. Boring, you say? Yes, probably. And yet, it could be the difference between a book you can’t put down and a book that disappoints.
A style guide reduces clutter and misdirection.
Lessening fatigue in your readers is one of the reasons why a manuscript goes through rounds of edits, re-writes, beta-reads, more edits, and a thorough proofread, before formatting. Your writing should flow and deliver information in ways that build the shape of your story seamlessly. The voice, or voices, needs to make sense. Even the not-so-sane voices need to make sense to the story being told. The most imaginative of worlds must be believable enough to invite the reader in and give them a reason to stay a while. The invitation should be seamlessly consistent and invisibly tidy. A style guide ensures this.
Use style guide resources that already exist.
The good people who put the Chicago Manual of Style (CMOS) and the Associated Press Stylebook (AP) together, do so to aid you in this quest for invisible perfection. These are robust guides that help you create consistency in the background. These resources are meant to guide and are not meant to lay down the law. It is best to use one or the other as a foundation, then pick or mix the rules to fit your style and voice of writing, but keep to the guardrails you come up with. Consistency is the key. CMOS is usually used for long-form writing of books, short stories, and business communication, whereas AP is usually used for market-facing materials, blogs, magazine articles, etc. You can choose from the best of both worlds to create a guide that matches how you want to tell a story.
Here’s a complimentary quick reference guide highlighting some variations between CMOS and AP to give you a head start, after which I list some helpful hints to eliminate distracting flags. An example of a Personal Style Guide format can be found at the bottom of this page.
Eliminate distracting flags:
Flags created in the readers’ subconscious are the death of a smooth read, tugging on the reader’s mind as something they must work harder at, or go back on, stop, re-read, question, etc. These distractions should be completely removed.
- Punctuation: is your friend, until it’s not. Don’t let inconsistent punctuation diminish your creation. Our “reader eyes” pause at a comma, stop at a period, expect something different at a colon or semicolon, pay attention at an exclamation point, appreciate inside information within parentheses (or not), and question at a question mark. Commas have rules within rules, as do colons and semicolons. Not surprising then that in recent years, many publishers have preferred the “less is more” minimalist principles of punctuation regardless of what your teachers may have graded you on in the past. The use of a style guide will allow you to plan how you use punctuation to tell your story flawlessly and consitently.
- Establish consistent use or non-use of the Oxford comma. If you use the Oxford comma intermittently, the reader pauses and proceeds irregularly. Best pick a lane and stick to it, the reader will thank you for it.
- Plan your contractions. If you use contractions for the most part, and for no viable reason differ from your cadence, it is distracting. Using contractions without thought to how and where they are used will disorient your reader. Especially in terms of your characters, if their voices shift constantly from formal to informal without reason, they will become less believable. If he is speaking in a more formal setting, it is normal to switch to a formal tone as one experiences in real life, however, if your character is speaking to his buddies at a bar, his dialogue would be in a casual, less formal style. If not, another little flag pops up in the reader’s mind.
- In more formal writing/scenes: cannot, would not, is not, would have
- In less formal writing/scenes: can’t, wouldn’t, isn’t, would’ve
- Word Use and Style: Consistency is pivotal. If one of your characters usually says “ma” or “mama,” she should not say “mom” or “mother” without an explanation. It will detract from the story and create a flag within the reader.
- Overuse of words and phrases. Many of us tend to write how we speak, or how we hear other people speak. Sometimes this creates redundancies. Collect a list of redundant or overused words as you come across them. Then use the “find” function in MS Word to highlight them. Review each and delete most. Only keeping what truly adds to the story. Here are some examples of overused words and phrases: oh ok, got it, sure, hon, even, that, because, absolutely, really
- Capitalization: Be specific. Do you want only proper nouns capitalized? What are the exceptions? What about titles? Do you use capitalization to emphasize for comedic intent?
- Emphasis: Do you bold or italicize? Pick one and remain consistent.
Notes to remember…
You don’t write referencing a style guide, rather, you edit referencing a style guide. Eventually, your writing style may closely follow your style guide as you naturally, and with practice, get used to the consistency you’ve chosen. However, the personal style guide is meant to help make your writing the central focus, not the other way around.
A copyeditor will usually offer a complimentary style guide if you don’t already have one. It is important one exists before you start editing your work.
In some instances where the manuscript has many characters, I create mini-style guides for each character to highlight their similarities, differences, and inconsistencies. This allows for an easier conversation with the author on the true intent of each character and highlights deviations that have no explanation.
Here’s an example of a complimentary Personal Style Guide used for one of our clients (personal information has been edited out). They love it! This format can be added to and built upon as your writing goals shift. We hope you find it helpful.