Writing Information
| |
Writing Information |
|
|
|
|
Recipe for a Style Guide
Wired Online has recently announced its plans to drop capitalization in internet, web, and net, but Wired Magazine continues to capitalize these words. Which should you do? For the most part, it's up to you. To ensure consistency on such tricky words, most editors will have a style guide. This kind of style is the way you present yourself in words as well as the mechanics of words. Style addresses physical and editorial conventions. If you don't have the luxury of creating one, there are a few excellent resources for your use. The AP Style Guide and Chicago Manual of Style are the bibles for many editors. When you need to cite another source, use the MLA Handbook or Columbia Guide to Online Style for the rules. Just want a simple, small book you can carry with you? Strunk & White's Elements of Style is a winner. Be warned that none of the cookbooks has a reference to words like "e-mail" and don't resolve all the issues you may encounter. In this case, you could refer to Microsoft Manual of Style for Technical Publications. Here's what it says about E- words: "In general, avoid forming new words with 'e-' (for electronic) unless you know your audience will understand. Some words that may be appropriate in certain circumstances are 'e-commerce' and 'e-money.' 'E-mail' and 'e-form' are acceptable. Use lowercase and always hyphenate for clarity." Here's where creating your own recipe comes in. You can use a few other recipes and throw in your own modifications to come up with what best fits your tastes. Of course, we want to keep our readers in mind when creating the guide. Start by thinking about the topics you write about. If it is high tech, then it helps to explore all the terms along with the spelling, punctuation, and capitalization. Check out the Jargon File, the online version of The New Hacker's Dictionary or Writing for Multimedia's Terminology. If you're in another field, then you'll want to explorer for a similar resource. BBC News has a radio style guide and the GuardianUnlimited Style Guide is for writers and editors. Example of style guides for building Web sites include Lynch and Horton's Web Style Guide and New York Public Library's NYPL:Style Guide. For those in medicine, University of Washington presents the most frequently used entries from the AMA Style Guide. The next ingredient to tackle is physical conventions. For instance, when starting a new paragraph, do you indent or use a double hard return? What font size, face, and style will you use for titles? Will the titles be capitalized or in sentence case? This is similar to a cookbook. All the recipes are formatted the same way. Even CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) is a recipe since it ensures formatting consistency. Once you make the tough decisions, the easy part comes next. You throw all the selected ingredients into one pan, or in this case, one document. The style guide should be organized to make it easy for your writers can find what they need. Finally, put it where everyone can access it. It doesn't have to be a book. It can be a one or two page document. It's a living document that you can continuously revise. Heck, use a blogging tool to easily manage it. Now back to the hard part, getting everyone to follow the new guide. Meryl K. Evans, Content Maven, is the writer and editor of many articles and publications including eNewsletter Journal, Shavlik's The Remediator, and Web Design @ InformIT. To get your feed on things geeky, webby, and wordy or to subscribe to free newsletters, visit her site at http://www.meryl.net/blog/.
MORE RESOURCES:
Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Why Manners Maketh the Freelance Writer Lately I've been noticing an odd trend amongst the freelance writers who contact us every week: rudeness.First there was the writer who accepted a job found on our boards and forwarded the completed assignment to the employer with the words, "Project attached. Freelance Writing: How Many Regular Clients Should You Have? This is a tough question for every freelance writer. For me, the worst working scenario is when a few weeks go by and all my work comprises one-off jobs for small clients who never become repeat customers. Pages: Your Book of Life Many of us dream of writing a book. Why not. Amazing Ways Writing Articles Can Improve Your Business How to get a lot of traffic to your website FREE? Writing articles. This is one of most cost effective way to promote your website - it saves you a lot of money, in the meantime, you get a lot of valuable visitors. Pairs/Groups Of Words Often Confused - Part 6 of 6 SALE, SAIL Sale is either offering something for purchase ("for sale") or offering it at a special price ("on sale"); sail is part of a ship or boat.SELL, CELL Sell is to exchange for money; cell is a small room. Dont Make This Huge Writing Mistake! You can create a great headline, a dynamic first sentence, and a brilliant lead paragraph. But if you can't hold readers during those middle paragraphs, they'll never see your conclusion. Imagine The Imagination Imagine a three hundred page book was in the author's mind before it was poured out onto the pages of the book.Imagine all those words are words we all know and use but one person takes those words and arranges them in a certain way in the mind; the person fuses these words to form a story. When Getting Stuck Goes Amuck Many of us have always wanted to write. We have all gotten writer's block. Should You Hire a Ghostwriter? Have you heard the term 'ghostwriter' and wondered what they do or who they work with? Although it sounds mysterious, ghostwriting is actually a very simple agreement where an individual or company hires a writer to create a work that will be owned outright by the buyer. The buyer is not required to give credit to the writer and is even allowed to claim authorship. Realize Your Book Dream In 2005! If you haven't realized the success you wanted last year, here's a way to reap the harvest with 86% improvement!Use the power of visualization.When you see, hear, and feel your book project already manifested through specific outcomes, you'll be in the 86% success group. How to Build A Success Freelance Career (Part 2) Part 1 of this article discussed the experience you need to successfully build a freelance career. Here, I will outline other necessities. Masquerading As Novel ~ Can Author's Work Convey Important Perceptions? While novels do not usually attempt to convey concepts about the need to protect ourselves, this one does. For Sale By Owners:FSBO. The Author Within Just about every marketer on the Internet claims to be the best around and would have you believe that no one else knows as much or can teach you as quickly and thoroughly as they can. It would seem that they erroneously assume that by admiring someone else's teachings they will lessen their marketability as the "great persuader" in salesmanship. 71 Ways For A Writer To Make Money There are so many ways for writers to make good money by writing. Some people love to write, even as a hobby. If You Want to Succeed As a Writer, Dont Just Think It, Do It It never ceases to amaze me when a prospective writer confesses that he or she has never put anything down on paper. Obviously, that's the first step. Tips On Writing A Killer Sales Letter Writing a sales letter doesn't have to be that difficult all you need is the right writing style and some tips to knock out a killer sales letterBenefits The first thing you need to do is focus on the benefits the reader will find useful. Tell the reader what's in it for him. The Cost of Being a Writer You are the only one who knows what being a writer means to you.You are the only one who knows whether you consider it to be a career, or a pleasant hobby. Five Golden Rules for Writers Regardless of what sort of writer you are and how much you love to write, there are probably days when you'd rather clean ditches than face another blank page.As writers, we face common challenges; staying motivated and confident, avoiding "writer's block," and meeting goals (on time!) are some of the toughest. Want to start a publishing revolution? Calling all publishers, editors, journalists and freelance writers. It's time to breathe more life into your copy. Common Writing Mistakes Most books aren't rejected because the stories are "bad." They're rejected because they're not "ready to read.
|
| home | site map |
| © 2007 www.Info-StoreHouse.com |
