Question about numbers

[Macabro]

Literary Manuscript (novel) Question:

Question 1:
I want to put the ages of my characters inside parenthesis at the beginning of my novel, so can I say?

...but suddenly Abel Simpson (thirty-three) showed up in the blah bla. or ...but suddenly Abel Simpson (33) showed up in the blah bla.



Question 2:
I always follow the rule where from 1-99 the entire word is written, but is there an exception when you use the numbers of the building levels when the 85% of my story is inside a skyscraper?

1- Judith went to the level eleven.
or
2- Judith went to the level 11.

and

Question 3:
The elevator control station read 35-B. Is that ok?

Thank in advance!

Macabro

[Munshie]

You raise an interesting point in Q.1. Do you wish to introduce the ages as soon as the characters' names are first mentioned in your novel? If you are writing a novel does that not give you time and space to describe your characters - mention physical appearance, how they are dressed etc. Conventionally it is during these descriptions of the characters that matters like age are often mentioned. I suppose in the final analysis you can do as you please until the novel is edited by some publishing house.

My problem is that I have written some short stories where some of the characters occasionally resort to languages other than English. These foreign phrases add both authenticity to the characters and (bilingual) readers strongly relate to them. If I wish a wider readership I need to give the translations in brackets immediately after the use of a foreign phrase, but I also feel that partly interferes with the flow of the story. It becomes even more difficult when (foreign language) terms of endearment are used. Again I presume if I ever take the stories to a publisher, the editors will decide what needs to be done.

[YesNo]

If one gets a publisher involved one has signed on with a team to market the product as effectively as possible, so taking advantage of any editing they offer would make sense.

To try to answer the questions, this is what I would do, not that I'm an editor.

For question 1, I would write out the number, "thirty-three".

For question 2, I would leave it as "level 11".

For question 3, I would use "35-B" since that is what probably appears on the sign for the station.

[Macabro]

Hi Munshie. Thank a lot for your reply. My novel is some kind of Historic-fiction saga, so I put the age detail in the first pages only. and my current book is already the number four in the saga. My books collect 19 years of wars, love, etc; so I wanted to introduce quickly their ages. I agree in what you say.

Thank you :=)



You raise an interesting point in Q.1. Do you wish to introduce the ages as soon as the characters' names are first mentioned in your novel? If you are writing a novel does that not give you time and space to describe your characters - mention physical appearance, how they are dressed etc. Conventionally it is during these descriptions of the characters that matters like age are often mentioned. I suppose in the final analysis you can do as you please until the novel is edited by some publishing house.

My problem is that I have written some short stories where some of the characters occasionally resort to languages other than English. These foreign phrases add both authenticity to the characters and (bilingual) readers strongly relate to them. If I wish a wider readership I need to give the translations in brackets immediately after the use of a foreign phrase, but I also feel that partly interferes with the flow of the story. It becomes even more difficult when (foreign language) terms of endearment are used. Again I presume if I ever take the stories to a publisher, the editors will decide what needs to be done.

[Macabro]

Hi YesNo. Thank a lot for your reply. I figured it, but I was not sure since long time I was away from writing.
I may have new questions soon.
Thank you a lot!





If one gets a publisher involved one has signed on with a team to market the product as effectively as possible, so taking advantage of any editing they offer would make sense.

To try to answer the questions, this is what I would do, not that I'm an editor.

For question 1, I would write out the number, "thirty-three".

For question 2, I would leave it as "level 11".

For question 3, I would use "35-B" since that is what probably appears on the sign for the station.

[Calidore]

Here's a page that compares the Chicago Manual of Style and AP guidelines:

http://www.apvschicago.com/2011/05/numbers-spell-out-or-use-numerals.html