Creating a Personal Style Guide

July 28, 2025 / Tools for Writers, Writing Tips / 12 COMMENTS

 

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethspanncraig.com

Creating a personal style guide can be really helpful when you’re writing in series. It was something that Penguin did for me when I wrote for them (to make sure I stayed on track throughout the series), and I found it useful enough to continue after I started self-publishing.

A style guide is different from a story bible or character bible. While your story bible tracks characters, relationships, and plot events, your style guide focuses on the mechanical and technical aspects of your writing.

Why Create a Personal Style Guide?

Creating a personal style guide solves a few different problems at one time:

Consistency: Readers notice inconsistencies even when they can’t pinpoint exactly what bothers them. A style guide ensures your character who drank coffee “every morning” in book one isn’t suddenly a lifelong tea drinker in book three.

Efficiency: When you document your style decisions, you avoid repeatedly solving the same problems.

Professional Presentation: Consistency signals professionalism to readers, reviewers, and industry professionals.

Mechanical Elements for Your Style Guide

Here are mechanical aspects I track in my style guide that have saved me lots of time:

Punctuation Choices:

  • Whether to use the Oxford/serial comma
  • Em dash or en dash preferences (and with/without spaces)
  • Ellipsis formatting (three dots or the ellipsis character; spaces or no spaces)

Capitalization Standards:

  • Title capitalization style (which words get capitalized in chapter titles)
  • Treatment of place names (Downtown vs. downtown)
  • Fictional organizations, businesses, and events
  • Time periods and eras (the Sixties vs. the sixties)

Number Formatting:

  • Time expressions (2:30 p.m. vs. 2:30 PM vs. half past two)

Formatting Choices:

  • Italics usage (for emphasis, thoughts, foreign words?)
  • Bold text applications (chapter headings only? scene breaks?)
  • How to format text messages, emails, or letters within your narrative
  • Scene break indicators
  • Chapter heading style and numbering

Spelling Preferences:

  • Variant spellings (toward vs. towards, etc.)
  • Compound words (makeup vs. make-up, healthcare vs. health care)
  • Treatment of foreign words
  • Regional dialect spellings for consistency

Technology and Modern Elements:

  • How to handle brand names (iPhone or smartphone?)
  • Social media platform references
  • Treatment of app names and digital terminology
  • Handling of text messages and digital communication

Special Cases:

  • Recurring unusual terms unique to your story world
  • Consistent handling of slang or vernacular
  • Format for internal thoughts
  • Handling of flashbacks or dreams
  • Treatment of letters, notes, or documents within text

The key is creating a system that works for you. My style guide is a Word document.

Style Guides for Collaboration

For indie authors who work with different editors across a series, a comprehensive style guide ensures consistency regardless of who handles each book.

Do you maintain any kind of style guide for your writing? What elements have you found most helpful to document?

Discover how creating a personal style guide can streamline your writing process, strengthen your voice, and eliminate unnecessary decision-making:: #WritersTips #WritingLife Share on X

 

  2. I can definitely see how creating a personal style guide would be very helpful when writing a series. It's too hard to remember all these things between books.

  3. I also use a Word document for my style guide. I have headings for each section, so that I can use the navigator to quickly go to the relevant section. I find it particularly useful to ensure that I'm consistent in capitalising and use of hyphens.

  4. This makes so much sense, Elizabeth! Readers want their series to be consistent, and a style guide is a good reminder of what your personal author style is. I think it can prevent those spur-of-the-moment style choices that can seem terrific at first, but are inconsistent enough that readers notice. And yes, Oxford commas, em/en dashes, and so on may be subtle, but they do make an impression on the reader.

  6. Hi Elizabeth – don't get me going on the grammar, or technicalities of writing … I'm hopeless on the professionalism of it. Yet I've been lucky have settled into a way of blogging that suits me and suits reads – just very fortunate … how or why: no idea!!! I just decided to be me and not fuss … as long as comments came along – that was enough for me. Though can see from an author's point of view – one does need some consistency. Cheers and hope all well in your mountain quiet home – Hilary

Comments are closed.

{"email":"Email address invalid","url":"Website address invalid","required":"Required field missing"}