We've Got Style

As a fiction editor, I encounter confusion from writers about how to treat numbers, the time of day, and references to printed materials. I base my edits/suggestions on a combination of Chicago Manual of Style and what I see and experience from traditional publishers. As a submitting novelist, you might as well get your manuscript into the best shape you can before sending it to anyone.
Here are some general guidelines:

Numbers one through one hundred are spelled out as words. Larger numbers, especially dollar amounts, can be written as numerals, but it’s not a mandate. Be consistent within a paragraph.

• Lucy had seen the movie twelve times and spent exactly $132.45 in the process.

• At age ninety-nine, Stella always let out her cats when she left the house. Still, she hoped to make it to a hundred and two, just to show up her sister.

If you give an exact time of day, use numerals and lowercase for a.m. and p.m. Few publishers use small caps anymore. For general hour references (which could have o’clock after them) use words.

• Jackson looked at his watch: 1:45 p.m. He’d gotten up that morning at four and left the house by five.

Use numerals for years, but never use an apostrophe. Decades aren’t possessive. Never start a sentence with a number either.

• She left home in 1982 but didn’t mature until she took up meditation in the 90s.

Gun calibers should be expressed in numerals except in dialogue.

• Granny loaded her Ruger .22 and took aim.
• “I’ll get the Colt forty-five,” Gramps shouted.

Almost all references to printed materials can be made italic. Quote marks should be reserved for spoken dialogue only.

• Janie used her copy of Rolling Stone to fan away the smoke.
• In a moment of clarity, she grabbed a pen and wrote out a list: get a job, lose five pounds, call my mother.

If you have strong feelings about how you want certain things to be styled, have that conversation with your editor in advance.

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L.J. Sellers is an award-winning journalist and editor and is the author of the Detective Jackson mysteries, The Sex Club and Secrets to Die For. Her new novel, Thrilled to Death, will be released in August. She also loves to edit fiction and works with authors to keep her rates affordable. Contact her at:

L.J. Sellers

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