5 Things that should be in your Style Sheet

Before I even get started on this week’s blog post, I’m going to give you a warning. While this is essentially about Style Sheets, the reason I’m thinking about them is because I’m thinking about Book Bibles. I’m going to be co-presenting a seminar on creating a Book Bible with the wonderful Sharon Wray in November. I am absolutely certain that either just before or just after that seminar I’ll write again in detail about creating a bible for your book because I’ll be filled with fabulous information from Sharon. So… don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Sample Style sheet headings

Now, on to today’s main topic: Style Sheets.
What is a style sheet? Well, if you work for a publisher or a company that produces a lot of written work, you’ll know that a lot of companies have their own style sheet. These are company-wide rules of grammar (Oxford comma or no?), punctuation (British style or American?) and capitalization (the Sorcerer went for a walk or the sorcerer went for a walk).
Yes, there are wonderful publications like the Chicago Manual of Style, the MLA, and Strunk and White which will answer many, if not all, questions concerning grammar, punctuation, and capitalization. But each author has their own quirks. Do you put spaces between the periods in an ellipses? And what do you do if you’re a writer of fantasy? Is realm knight capitalized or not? What about sorcerer or elf? If you write science…