Style Sheet

A “style sheet” establishes basic style usages for an entire series or set of related stories, in order to maintain consistent word usage.  This is critical for a universe as immense as the 1632verse. These are different from the manuscript formatting guidelines, which include details like what kind of quotation marks to use (straight, not smart).

Here are a few top 1632verse specific spelling tips to keep in mind:

  • down-time and down-timer, not downtime or downtimer
  • Grantviller, not Grantvillian or Grantvilliard.
  • okay, not “OK”
  • U.S., not US
  • USE, not U.S.E.
  • up-time and up-timer, not uptime or uptimer

This is a moderately long page, but the short version is: follow the rules of American grammar and writing. Most of the unusual curliques and oddities are things the Barflies and editors will point out. The other thing that gets called out is to reduce your reliance on “said” and focus on having characters perform an action immediately before they speak instead.

Titles and Proper Nouns

The 1632verse uses a lot of titles most of us don’t use in our everyday correspondence, including clerical titles (cardinal, pope), noble titles (duke, king), and it also has a variety of entirely new country names (USE).

  • Military, political, clerical, and noble titles should be in lower case unless they are being used as part of the name or in direct address. Thus, for example:
    • the king of Sweden, but King Gustav Adolf.
    • the cardinal, but Cardinal Richelieu; the monsignor, but “yes, Monsignor.”
    • the duke of XXX, XXXX, the third duke of XXX, but Duke Whazzisname.
    • Abbess XXX but the abbess of XXXX; the archbishop of Canterbury, but “Archbishop Laud.”
    • the doge, but Messer il Doge.
  • There are some exceptions, two in particular:
    • Per normal usage, President and Vice-President of the United States, capped per WIT.
    • WIT states secretary of state, attorney general, cabinet, etc. are in lower case but not the Senate, the Parliament.
  • The names of centuries — twentieth century, seventeenth century, etc. — should be spelled out in dialogue and in narrative. Do not use “17th century.”
  • Numbers should be spelled out: i.e., use “three hundred” not “300.” There are two exceptions:
    • if the number is very large or otherwise hard to spell out in a reasonable space. (I.e., you do not need to spell out 3,578.)
    • if you’re writing a factual article rather than a piece of fiction.
  • Military proper nouns should be in lower case — army, navy, air force — unless the reference is to a specific government’s Army, Navy, Air Force. (I.e., it would be “the army” but “the U.S. Army.”) Marines are always capped unless it’s something like “they were trying to build a marine corps.”
    • military ranks should be in lower case unless used in direct address or as part of a name: the sergeant, but Sergeant Southworth, “yes, Sergeant.”
  • Saint: Spelled when using the name of the saint: Saint Bartholomew; abbreviate in geographical names: St. Mary Magdalene’s Church.
  • Addressing nobility: Yes, sir, madam, my lord, signor, messer, etc., should be in lower case. But capitalize in direct speech: “Your Eminence,” “Your Excellency,” “Your Majesty.”
  • Monsignor should be capitalized when it is used as the title of a church position, in direct address or as part of the name: “May I help you, Monsignor?” Monsignor Mazarini. The monsignor is waiting.

Spelling

American, not British

Use standard American spelling, not British spelling.

  • Favor, not favour (mnemonic:  We left U.)
  • offense, not offence  (mnemonic:  S in the States, C in the Commonwealth)
  • realize, not realise
  • gray, not grey  (menmonic:  A in America, E in England)

1632verse Conventions

Other common spelling conventions used in the series:

  • 9mm, 12 gauge, .45 caliber (spell in dialogue as “forty-five.” Do not spell “point forty-five.”)
  • aright, alit, arunning, alight (Scot’s dialect)
  • Bible, but biblical
  • cabinet (lower case)
  • cardinal (lower case, except in direct address or as part of title)
  • Constitution, the (Grantville & U.S., but lower case if the reference is to a non-specific constitution or you are using the word “constitutional”)
  • dammit or damn it, but not damnit.
  • down-time, down-timer; not downtime or downtimer
  • enquiry, enquiries
  • focused, focusing (no double “s”)
  • Grantviller not Grantvillian or Grantvilliard.
  • Inquisition, the, (but inquisitors)
  • mustaches, mustachios
  • okay, not “OK”
  • papacy
  • papist
  • pope, the (unless part of specific name as in “Pope Urban VIII”)
  • President (of the United States)
  • Satan/satanic (Satan is one of his proper names)
  • Scripture but scriptural
  • sixties (for the l960s)
  • Thirty Years War
  • timeline
  • TV or television, either one is fine
  • U.S., not US
  • USE, not U.S.E.
  • up-time, up-timer, not uptime or uptimer
  • warhorse, not “war horse”
  • willy-nilly

Punctuation, Formatting, Misc. Grammar

Please note that everyone knows not all of the formatting shows up in slush on Baen’s Bar. Do NOT stress over the disappearance of your italics and other formatting on the Bar!

Numbers

Even in non-fiction, most numbers are spelled out unless they are used as constants or technical specifications.

  • “He shot him with his thirty-eight.” but “He loaded the revolver with six .38 bullets.”
  • “Water has a density half that of syrup.” but “The density of gasoline is .758 grams per cubic centimeter.”
  • “Seventy years would pass before the sunspot number exceeded fourteen.” but “The sunspot numbers for the decade following were 8, 7, 5, 3 and 11.” (This example is marginal.)

When in doubt, ask the editors.

Italics

  • Non-English words should be in italics — ja, nein, bitte, etc. — unless they have essentially been absorbed into the English language.
  • Internal thoughts should be in italics.
  • Names of specific ships should be in italics:  SSIM Constitution.
  • Book titles should be in italics.
  • Italicization has replaced underlining in most instances.
    • If it should be italicized in publication, please italicize in your submission copy and do not underline. 
    • If the italics do not show up on 1632 Slush, don’t worry about it. (They won’t, unless you do a silly amount of unnecessary work.)

Hyphenation

  • Hyphenate compound adverb-adjective or adjective-adjective nouns only when not doing so would cause confusion and when they precede the word.
    • “A well-ordered life,” but “His life was well ordered.”
  • Do not hyphenate a compound containing an adverb ending in “ly.”
    • He was a highly respected man, not “he was a highly-respected man.”

That versus Which (and when to use Who)

“That” is a restrictive identifier; “which” a nonrestrictive one. Examples:

  • The lawnmower that is in the shed… (there is only one lawnmower in that shed);
  • …the lawnmower, which is in the shed… (there may be more than one lawnmower, but the location of this one is the shed)

Which, That , Who

  • Which: If the phrase can be set off with commas or the word is the object of a preposition, use which.
  • That: For most (if not all) others, use “that,” unless you can delete either of them.
    • I told him that I didn’t want to go, can easily be written, I told him I didn’t want to go.
  • Who: If the word identifies a person, use “who.”
    • The man that shot my brother should be “the man who shot my brother.”

Possessives

The possessive with a word ending in “s” should be: Gus’, Ducos’, etc. Not Gus’s, Ducos’s, etc.

Due to

Avoid except in military jargon. Due is an adjective, not an adverb, except when meaning directly, as in due north. (because of, as a result of, etc.).

Editorial conventions

The following are not properly part of the style sheet but rather, represent editorial preferences. Think of them as tips for writers in the series.

And

Avoid using “and” to connect what are really two completely unrelated thoughts.

  • Bad: The elector and the markgraf spent the evening in discussions, and the conclusion they reached had far-reaching consequences.
  • Good: The elector and the markgraf spent the evening in discussions. They arrived at a conclusion which had far-reaching consequences. Or: The elector and the markgraf spent the evening in discussions, arriving at a conclusion which had far-reaching consequences.

Said

When a character is talking and you need to indicate that, the vast majority of the time you should use said (or asked). Excessive use of other words such as exclaimed, yelled, called, etc. becomes distracting for readers, who generally gloss over the word “said” much as they do words like the, and, if, etc. With that said, you can eliminate many uses of “said” by having the character perform an action, as in the examples below, which generally makes for more engaging reading.

1. Do not use “said as”

  • Bad: “That’s really crazy,” Mary said as she turned to pick up little Steven and change his diaper.
  • Good: Mary picked up little Steven. “That’s really crazy.”

2. Putting an action before the comment indicates who said what. It eliminates a “said,” something that’s usually a good thing.

  • Bad: Picking up little Steven, Mary said, “That’s really crazy.”
  • Good: Mary picked up little Steven. “That’s really crazy.”

The second is active, the first is less so. And the “said” doesn’t have to be there.

3. Avoid “she said, verb”

  • Bad: It had taken her a week to get around to going through the pile of paperwork and then she found the check. “Wow!” she said, turning to her husband, “Look at this.”
  • Good: It took Mary a week to get around to going through the pile of paperwork. Much to her surprise, she found a check. “Wow! Look at this.

The second way is more active. Active is good. Reducing instances of “said” is good.

4. Don’t use adverbs to describe how someone said something.

  • Bad: Lazily leaning against the fence post, Butch laconically said, “Here’s to you, Babe.”

Puh leeze, don’t do that.

  • Good: Butch leaned back against the fence post. “Here’s to you, Babe.”

The second way is more active. You don’t need the “said,” the “lazily,” or the “laconically.” You really don’t.

Source

This style sheet was compiled by Modean Moon, a copy-editor for the 1632 series, and extended by the members of the Gazette Editorial Board. It is based on the following references:

  • WORDS INTO TYPE This has long been Baen’s primary style handbook for all works. If you buy any style guide, buy this one.
    Words into Type by Marjorie E. Skillin, Robert Malcolm Gay, 3rd edition (June, 1974)
    ISBN: 0139642625
  • Merriam Webster Dictionary, 10th Edition
  • Previous 1632X series style