novel writing question

[paraxdisepink]

If you're writing a novel in a modern setting, and you are talking about someone's exact height (someone ran across a bunch of random information about someone else) can you write it with numbers like 5' 8" or do you have to write out in words? I'm seeing more and more numbers in books lately.

Anyone know?

Comments

[pir8fancier]

I think it depends on the content. If someone was reading out of a dossier where the information was done almost clinically, then I would write the numbers. If you were describing someone's height I would try to be more creative. Taller than Tom Cruise, shorter than Katie Holmes. Something like that.

[paraxdisepink]

Someone is going through someone's things and reading off a document, for the purpose of gathering information about them. I dont know the proper rules of writing heh.

[pir8fancier]

I think this depends on a POV issue. If you are writing it so that we, the reader, are seeing exactly what the protagonist is seeing, then I would like it in numerals. To make it clear I might replicate the list exactly as your character is seeing it. If they are reading it off to someone else where we, the reader, are in essence the audience (in tandem with the other character) then I would write it out.

[paraxdisepink]

I think, to be safe, I'm going to write out all my numbers in words. Different publishers will probably have different guidelines anyway and I'll sort it out then.

Thanks :)

[nonky]

I've noticed it's maybe related to genres - a sci-fi novel would be fine with numbers for height but it would be frowned upon in a novel where the action is unlikely to have technical details like sci-fi. If it puts the reader out, and interrupts the flow of words, it should be avoided. In journalism, guidelines were always that you wrote out any number under 10, but once you hit double digits you were free to just use the number until it got too big and you were obliged to go back to words or shorten it appropriately ($1,000,000 vs. one million dollars).

There has to be some kind of official-type reference on this, I will link if I can find it.

[paraxdisepink]

Ah! I remember that! i wrote for my school paper years ago. I wonder if i still have that elements of style book... I thought for novels that you wrote out all nubers unless they were complicated, like 16547. Of course, i was taught no contractions in a narrative either so...