Just a heads up: this chapter will probably be pretty short. It'll probably only be two thousand words. Or should I have said 2,000 words? Or 2000 words? Or 2 thousand? Or even... two-000?

If anyone is using that last one... why? Why would you choose to be violent?

Anyways! So, a while ago, someone asked me to do a chapter about writing numbers in fiction writing. Honestly, I thought it was pretty straight-forward and encouraged them to just search it up, but then I realised... well, it actually can be a little complicated and messy.

To start: there is no official 'manual' for how fiction writing should be done. Sure, some people will say that you should use Times New Roman as a font, while some say that if you don't use Arial, you will be crucified. Some authors will tell you never to use double-spacing in your drafts, while others will say that double-spacing helps compensate for your lack of descriptive writing.

Conflicting opinions!

It doesn't help that, if we look at writing guidelines, they all say different things. In my first year of university, all four of my courses required a different formatting style -- APA, Harvard, Chicago, and MLA (which I always call My Little A-Pony).

This meant that all of my essays had different fonts, different spacings, and different number rules.

And this is why I have an identity crisis.

So, after doing a lot of research, here is what I've gathered! I hope this makes it a lot easier for everyone else.

There is no strict policy. If you need to write numbers a certain way for stylistic purposes, go for it. However, these rules are the ones that seem to be the most encouraged for all fiction writers.

The most important rule is that, whatever you choose, you stay consistent throughout your novel.

So, instead of doing what I did, you should be saying things like:

I have eighty-nine spiders on my face.

He kissed my hand forty-eight times.

There are now six spiders on his lips.

Notice that I used a hyphen for fortyeight and eightynine. This is also encouraged, as opposed to writing forty eight and eighty nine. Compound numbers between twenty-one and ninety-nine should always have a hyphen.

So, basically, any round numbers. For example:

I ate nine hundred spring rolls.

He ate two thousand bugs.

We both clearly have nine billion problems.

Like so:

My library can fit 344 books.

His library can fit 937 books.

I stabbed him 915 times out of jealousy.

So instead of saying:

394 birds came to his funeral.

You would actually write:

Three hundred and ninety-four birds came to his funeral.

A common error is when people write things like:

Unicorns were invented in the 1730's.

You do not need to include an apostrophe. It should be:

Unicorns were invented in the 1730s.

However, you wouldn't write:

Unicorns were invented in the 18th century.

You would write:

Unicorns were invented in the eighteenth century.

Sometimes, we have royalty, like Cleopatra VII. Madame Maggot IV. Sir Billy Eyelash IX.

You can write this out just as I did above, however, in dialogue, people do not say, "Cleopatra VII." Can you imagine that? So, for example, this is acceptable:

Madame Maggot IV told the room about Sir Billy Eyelash IX.

However, this is not acceptable:

"Let me tell you about Sir Billy Eyelash IX," Madame Maggot IV said.

It should be:

"Let me tell you about Sir Billy Eyelash the Ninth," Madame Maggot IV said.

Which leads me to my next point:

In general, if the numbers are inside dialogue, you should be spelling them.

"Give me all five thousand and thirty-one of your llamas!"

However, there is some... drama.

Some people argue that things that are usually numerically written should always be numerically written. For example, phone numbers. Money. Percentages.

Others argue that it needs to be spelt out.

So, whether you choose to write:

"Pay me $200!" or "Pay me two hundred dollars!" -- Really, it is up to you. Same with the following:

"I am one hundred and twenty-five percent certain!" or "I am 125% certain."

"Call triple zero!" or "Call 000!"

All your choice. Just choose one rule and keep it consistent.

And no, please, do not ask me for which one I recommend. I am too indecisive for this. I literally have a meltdown every single time I play Mario Kart with friends and I'm asked to choose which character I want to be. Meltdown.

Refer to Rule #1!

If you're writing numbers between one and one hundred, you would spell it out, like so:

Ninth.

Fifty-second.

Seventieth.

If you're writing numbers that are larger than one hundred and are not rounded (or at the beginning of sentences), you'd simply do:

That was your 2934th chance.

That was my 7492nd biscuit.

Sunshine has just come up with her 9485th bad example.

I think, generally, they say not to let the 'th' or the 'nd' go into superscript (³⁸⁹), but I don't think there's a huge fuss overall about that.

Do we say that she was born on January 16th? Or just January 16?

Once again, not a huge fuss, but in general, you do use ordinal numbers here. So you would just write January 16, 1923. Or June 24.

The exception is dialogue, where:

Sally said, "It's on the twenty-fourth of June!"

It is 10:36PM.

It is 10:36p.m.

It is 10:36 p.m.

It is 10:36 p.m..

It is ten thirty-six p.m.

Pain.

So many options!

Generally, always use the number. Use lowercase for the "p.m." and space it away from the number. Don't add an extra period at the end. It should look like:

It is 10:36 p.m.

Or:

It is 10:36 p.m. right now.

However, if you are writing an o'clock?

It is ten o'clock.

You spell it out! Same with things like: It is ten thirty, or it is ten forty-five.

I had to do research for the Americans here, but no, you would not write:

She is 5'2.

It would be:

She is five feet two.

For the Europeans and Australians, just saying that:

She is 156cm.

That should be fine. There's no concrete rule.

I know nothing about this.

However, upon research, just write the gun names as you would find them. Glock 17. M113. And, in dialogue, it doesn't really matter whether you spell it out or not -- just keep it consistent.

Always numericalise it. Is that a word? No? It is now.

You should write 10.5 or 193.3, regardless of how big the number is. If it's a decimal, it needs to be a number.

Here are more examples of when to use hyphens.

Middles:

It is in mid-October.

It was in the mid-1980s.

A number-dollar bill:

It was a two-dollar note.

It was a fifty-dollar note.

Make sure you include commas if you are saying numbers that have more than three digits!

Generally, the rule is that they are separated in threes, ensuring that the latter ones are grouped first. So, for example:

The number 950023 should look like 950,023. (You do not need spaces after the comma.)

The number 8951021 should look like 8,951,021.

The number 14278 should look like 14,278.

All that jazz!

If the name of a place or a news channel is literally 'Channel 10' or 'Route 66', then regardless of whether it is in dialogue or not, you would use the numbers. You would use Channel 10 or Route 66, rather than spelling it out.

A lot of the rules, you'll notice, clash! If you're unsure of how to write something, try to find another way to write it. However, a lot of the time, if you're writing something and the rules seem blurry, just choose one path and stick to it. That's all you gotta do!

I hope this helped! I know this might be a lot for some people, so I am happy to answer any questions or concerns!