Create A Style Book or Sheet

Book length and other long manuscripts get unwieldy for a variety of reasons, including style. There are all sorts of small, but important style decisions that need to be made, like:

• Do you want your em dashes to have a space around them or not?
• How do you want quotes at the head of each chapter to look?
• If you have callouts, are they shaded? If so, how much? Do they have a box or a line or some sort?
• If you’re using Drop Caps, how many points?

While Word will pretty much handle the size and typeface of headings and body text, you’re on your own with any other elements.

Since I usually create these on the fly while I’m writing, I often end up with a mild mess. The only way I know to sort it out is to create a style sheet. Although some people do this at the beginning, I find it works better when I do it when I’m getting close to the final draft.

It’s simple enough to do. As I’m reading a printed copy, I note where I need to make a style decision. Then, when I’m back at the computer, I open a new document, called Style(name of manuscript). Then, as I work my way through the manuscript, when I make a decision about a particular style I simply write it down in list form. Like this:

Drop caps are 3 pts
em dashes are closed—like this
callout boxes Verdana 10, direct quotes are italics
Hanging indent right margin is 3.5

Then, tomorrow or the next day, when I’m back at editing and have forgotten how I want to handle whatever, I have a quick reference that helps me bring the whole manuscript into conformance with the style I want.

You might also want to read Managing Long Manuscripts.

Write well and often,

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