Absolute Write Style Guide

Our house dictionary is The American Heritage Dictionary (AHD). The AHD is available online.

There are certain stylistic preferences we adhere to on this website and other publications, and we’d appreciate it if our writers would follow them. Below you’ll find a list of frequently-used terms and devices and how we handle them.

There are certain stylistic preferences we adhere to on this website and in our newsletters, and we’d appreciate it if our writers would follow them. Below you’ll find a list of frequently-used terms and devices and how we handle them.

Manuscript format: Times New Roman 12-point, single-spaced, no paragraph indents, one blank line between paragraphs. Title on the first line, (no underlines, quotation marks, etc.), followed by “By Your Name,” followed by the article, followed by your bio.

Titles of books: Please use italics for the title, followed by a period. When you are providing a list of credits or a bibliography, please list the publisher and year of publication in parentheses—no other information is necessary. Example: Natalie Goldberg is the author of Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within (Shambhala Publications, 1996). If you’re using HTML, please use the cite tag.

Titles of articles: In quotation marks.

Titles of magazines: In italics (as in Time, not “Time”).

Professional titles or job positions: Keep in lowercase. Use managing editor, not Managing Editor, author, not Author, department chairperson, not Department Chairperson.

Dashes: Please use a double-hyphen to set off parts of sentences. Example: She didn’t have much time–she had to be home before 5:00.

Ellipses: Three spaced periods preceded by and followed by a space (like . . . this) Please do not use the Microsoft Word ellipses character.

Serial commas: Please use the last serial comma (also known as the Oxford or Harvard comma).
Example: He went to the store for milk, eggs, cheese, and bread.

Numbers: Please spell out the numbers one through ten, use numerals for all numbers higher than ten.
Example: She has three children and 14 grandchildren.

Links and e-mail addresses: No special characters; please don’t include the mailto: prefix. Don’t worry—we’ll make all the links and e-mail addresses “live.”

Over/more than: Use “more than” when it’s followed by a number. “Over” should be used only when you’re referring to the state of being physically above something.
Examples:
I’ve been a writer for more than 15 years.
The microwave is over the stove.

Preferred spelling:
Use American English spelling. In general, follow the spelling and usage of the American Heritage Dictionary.

Absolute Write (two words) or AbsoluteWrite.com (one word)

best-selling/best-seller (please hyphenate)

email (one word no hyphen,)

eBay

copyright (when referring to protecting one’s work)

copywriter (one word; someone who writes copy)

copy editor (two words)

fax (lowercase)

freelance (not free lance)

Internet (always capitalized)

lose is the opposite of win, loose is the opposite of tight.

nonfiction (no hyphen)

SASE (no periods)

website (one word, no initial cap)

writer’s block

writers’ conference

Titles of books, films, tv series, albums: Please use italics for the titles of long works, followed by a period. When you are providing a list of credits or a bibliography, please list the publisher and year of publication in parentheses—no other information is necessary. Example: Natalie Goldberg is the author of Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within (Shambhala Publications, 1996). If you’re writing for the site, please use the cite tag.

Titles of articles: In quotation marks.

Titles of magazines: In italics (as in Time, not “Time”).

Professional titles or job positions: Keep in lowercase. Use managing editor, not Managing Editor, author, not Author, department chairperson, not Department Chairperson.

Dashes: Please use a double-hyphen to set off parts of sentences. Example: She didn’t have much time–she had to be home before 5:00.

Ellipses: Three spaced periods preceded by and followed by a space (like . . . this) Please do not use the Microsoft Word ellipses character.

Serial commas: Please use the last serial comma.
Example: He went to the store for milk, eggs, cheese, and bread.

Numbers: Please spell out the numbers one through ten, use numerals for all numbers higher than ten.
Example: She has three children and 14 grandchildren.

Links and e-mail addresses: No special characters; please don’t include the mailto: prefix. Don’t worry—we’ll make all the links and e-mail addresses “live.”

Over/more than: Use “more than” when it’s followed by a number. “Over” should be used only when you’re referring to the state of being physically above something.
Examples:
I’ve been a writer for more than 15 years.
The microwave is over the stove.

Preferred spelling:
Use American English spelling. In general, follow the spelling and usage of the American Heritage Dictionary.

Absolute Write (two words) or AbsoluteWrite.com (one word)

best-selling/best-seller

email (one word, no hyphen)

eBay

copyright (when referring to protecting one’s work)

copywriter (one word): someone who writes copy.

copy editor (two words)

fax (lowercase)

freelance (not free lance; one word, no hyphen)

Internet (always capitalized)

lose is the opposite of win, loose is the opposite of tight.

nonfiction (no dash needed; yes, I’m aware that our header shows it with a dash! I’m trying to get our web designer to fix that.)

playwright

playwriting

SASE (no periods)

website (one word, no initial cap)

writer’s block

writers’ conference

writers’ guidelines