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Author Topic: Style Sheet Definition  (Read 5931 times)

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Style Sheet Definition
« on: October 03, 2006, 03:56:12 PM »

Friday, June 30, 2000 10:55 AM

Conf: Writing Advice
From: Kathleen Taylor (xxxxxxx@basec.net)
Date: Thursday, June 29, 2000 07:14 AM

Several people have asked to see a copy of the Style Sheet I mentioned in another thread (about continuity). Unfortunately, I searched around this morning and for some reason, can't find a single style sheet for any of my books. I know that the latest one for COLD FRONT went back to Avon with my galleys for the final production of the book- it'll come back to me eventually. I looked at my other galley copies and can't find any of those style sheets either which means I probably gave them to other people to study at and they didn't return them. I'll see if I can trace one down and as soon as I do, I'll make a copy for those who asked.

But in the mean time, I can tell everyone what they look like. A Style Sheet, for those who missed the other thread, is a set of notations prepared by the publisher (usually at the copy editing stage) to help maintain continuity in a book or series as well as to maintain their own across-the-board-in-house style. It lists the character names, spellings and defining characteristics. It also lists the publisher's individual quirks (each house has their own way of handling numbers, abbreviations, etc), and it lists any terms, locations or spellings specific to your book or series.

Across the top of the first page, it will list the publisher, book title, the author, editor, publication date, book type (pb, hb), page numbers, etc.

After that comes an alphabetical notation of all the *odd* words- words or phrases specific to the book or series. This is just the spelling section, there are no definitions or characteristics listed. They also list local vernacular, the way the house handles numbers and dates (spellings and hyphenations), certain in-house words and phrases (for Avon *a while* was always two words, with HarperCollins it's now back to one, for Avon *smalltown* was one word).

So some of the things listed for my books would include: Delphi, St. John's Lutheran Church, wanna, betcha, The Jim River- and in my case a special notation that the word *cafe* does NOT have an accent on it (I had to fight for that by sending copies of yellow pages to prove that the accent is never used in South Dakota).

Then comes the character listings and the first page on which each character appears in the current book. Since I've been with the same publisher (merger notwithstanding) from the first paperback, characters from earlier books are often listed too. Every nickname used for each character is listed. So the listing for Stu might read:

McKee, Stuart- pg 35, Stu, Stuie, married to Renee, father of Walton, Tory's married boyfriend, sandy hair, midwest handsome, green eyes

Junior's would read:

Deibert, Junior- page 10, Juanita Doreen Engebretson Deibert II, married to Reverend Clay Deibert, mother of Tres, Joshua, Jeremy and Jessica (The Triplets), trim, pretty, dark haired, Tory's first cousin, annoying

Tres's would read:
Tres Deibert- page 10, Juanita Doreen Deibert III, 8 years old, sister to The Triplets, daughter of Junior

The James River notation would also list: The Jim, Mighty Jim

Sometimes Style sheets also list the font size and style used for chapter headers, date lines and text too. Most of my style sheets are 2-3 pages.

I'm sorry I can't find one- I'll keep looking. I hope everyone can get a feel for what they look like from this. Making one of your own might help keep characters and locations (not to mention spellings) straight in your own head. Oh yeah, they're usually printed on colored paper.

Kathi, who needs a secretary

P.S. Though Avon and HarperCollins style sheets are similar, it's possible that other publishers prepare theirs differently. Anyone else have one they can use as an example here?
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