At this time I'm still researching and plotting for my first ever non-fiction book. Are their different guidelines I need to be aware of for formatting, page lay out, etcetera?
Posted by Sassy505 (Member # 10866) on :
First off let me start by critiquing my own mistakes. That should be there, not their. urg!
Posted by extrinsic (Member # 8019) on :
Creative nonfiction style more or less conforms to fiction style. Several discrete differences are more so publisher house preference precedents than actual style distinctions. Serial list punctuation, punctuation generally, is the main distinction between the two forms. Creative nonfiction short form, for magazine publication outcomes, favors journalism punctuation styles, though not exclusively anymore.
Serial list journalism style: A, B and C. Or A, B, or C, etc. Serial list all other styles, prose included: A, B, and C.
General journalism punctuation style omits any deemed unnecessary marks for economical space conservation that favors advertisement space emphasis, often for clause subordination. Here's a sentence punctuated journalism style: I thought in 1968, you said the summer was wild. In prose style: I thought, in 1968, you said, the summer was wild.
The journalism principle that governs is, if a dependent content syntax unit is less than five words and meaning isn't changed, omit separation punctuation. Sorry, no. Punctuation, or lack thereof, always changes meaning.
Journalism style also downstyles hyphenation: Dayglo dyed t shirts were the usual garb for summer music fests. Prose style: Day-Glo-dyed t-shirts were summer music fests' usual garb.
Prose style punctuation, obviously, is more verbose. If punctuated according to Standard Written English principles, narratives might appear cluttered. Rather than omit useful punctuation, a best practice is to recast syntax for more effective expression and thus do away with clutter: Did you say summer 1968 was wild?
In publication vernacular, style means the entire format, layout, attribution, citation, and grammar, etc., gamut. The most comprehensive U.S. dialect style manual is The Chicago Manual of Style, high $$ new.