# Style Guide

This document defines the writing style, language choices, and formatting conventions for your book. A consistent style enhances readability and professionalism while reducing reader distraction.

## Voice & Tone

**Narrative Voice**: [Formal/informal, conversational/literary, etc.]

**Tone**: [Serious, humorous, dark, uplifting, etc.]

**Emotional Range**: [What emotions should be conveyed and how]

**Reader Relationship**: [How the narrative addresses or relates to the reader]

## Point of View

**Primary POV**: [First person, third person limited, third person omniscient, etc.]

**POV Shifts**: [Rules for any viewpoint changes]

**Interior Thoughts**: [How characters' thoughts are presented]

**Knowledge Limitations**: [What the narrator knows or doesn't know]

## Language Choices

**Vocabulary Level**: [Simple, moderate, advanced, specialized]

**Sentence Structure**: [Short and direct, complex, varied, etc.]

**Paragraph Length**: [Short, medium, long, varied]

**Dialect and Speech Patterns**: [Rules for representing different ways of speaking]

## Dialogue

**Dialogue Tags**: [Said, asked, vs. more descriptive verbs]

**Action Beats**: [How to break up dialogue with character actions]

**Internal Dialogue**: [How to format thoughts]

**Dialect and Accents**: [How to handle different speech patterns]

## Grammar & Mechanics

**Tense**: [Past, present, or mixed (with rules)]

**Punctuation Preferences**: [Oxford comma, em dash usage, semicolons, etc.]

**Capitalization**: [Special terms, titles, etc.]

**Numbers**: [When to spell out vs. use numerals]

## Formatting

**Chapter Headers**: [How chapter titles and numbers appear]

**Scene Breaks**: [How scene transitions are marked]

**Emphasis**: [Use of italics, bold, etc.]

**Special Text**: [Messages, letters, news articles, etc.]

## Genre-Specific Conventions

**Setting Descriptions**: [Level of detail, sensory elements to include]

**Action Scenes**: [Pacing, level of detail, focus areas]

**Emotional Scenes**: [How to handle high emotion without melodrama]

**Exposition**: [How to present background information]

## Character-Specific Elements

**Character Voice Consistency**: [How each character should sound]

**Character-Specific Terms**: [Words or phrases associated with characters]

**Name Usage**: [How characters refer to each other]

**Thought Patterns**: [How different characters' thinking appears]

## World-Specific Elements

**Terminology**: [Specialized terms and how they're formatted]

**Made-up Words**: [Invented terminology and formatting]

**Technology/Magic**: [How special elements are described]

**Cultural References**: [How to handle references to places, events, etc.]

## Problem Areas to Watch

**Crutch Words**: [Overused words to avoid]

**Passive Voice**: [Guidelines on when to avoid/allow]

**Telling vs. Showing**: [Balance between exposition and scene]

**Info Dumps**: [How to avoid excessive exposition]

## Notes

ALWAYS write like a human author would, unless specially told something different for a character

- Loosen the formality
- Use contractions, broken sentences, and informal rhythm.
- Avoid perfectly modulated speeches—let characters interrupt, pause, react.
- Add emotional color and subtext
- Let characters show nervousness, ambition, impatience, pride, or doubt.
- Replace clinical terms with vivid, sensory descriptions where possible.
- Emphasize personal experience over institutional grandeur
- Highlight how a character feels in the moment (e.g., heat of the room, tension in the air).
- Focus on small human cues: a clenched jaw, a hesitation, a flicker of surprise.
- Use similes, metaphors, and humor sparingly but effectively
- Sparingly Insert grounded comparisons (e.g., “like a kid waiting for test results,” or “the air tasted like static before a storm”).
- Let dialogue reflect personality and power dynamic shifts