I'm curious as that what the standard is for writing numbers in a novel. I've heard that 1-199 should be spelled out, but to use the number itself for 200+, but honestly this is something I have never thought about. Is there a hard, fast rule regarding numbers?
I always thought it was more or less "whatever you want, so long as you are consistent and it doesn't distract from the writing." But then again I never did English in any professional capacity so my word doesn't count for much. I've always used the rule idea that my english teacher from high-school, a long long time ago, told me: If it more than 2 hyphenated words, then write it as a number. So, Two-Thousand, instead of 2000, but 2001 instead of two-thousand-and-one.
I see this as a style guide thing. I’d recommend choosing a well-regarded style guide and following it.
I would say that in this, just as everything else, consistency is the biggest key. What I have read and been told is that one through ten should ALWAYS be written out, and up to 99 is optional to be written out (but stick with your initial choice). Anything above that should only be written out to serve a key purpose, such as dramatic effect. Ex: "There were two THOUSAND of them!"
That's a good rule. In my style, I generally spell out all numbers except time and date. But I avoid numbers like "348" , and make that "more than three hundred," or "about three hundred and fifty" unless there is a very good reason (to the reader) to be that specific.
I think you should do it based on how your target audience will be used to absorbing numbers. Someone who enjoys hard sci-fi is probably used to absorbing numbers that are never written out and likely even have trailing zeros stripped. 3.5e6 is far more natural than either "3,500,000" or "three and a half million," but someone outside of the sciences would stumble on it. The only time I might prefer a spelled out number over it's decimal representation is if the words you say to announce the number are different than what's actually written. For example, 3465 is "three thousand four hundred and sixty five," said exactly as it's written, but 3500 is "thirty five hundred" not "three thousand five hundred."
I am the firm believer that if you write out the numbers in one form, you keep doing it through out. (Eception for letters, email, 1exts, and dog tags within the story. Maybe phone Numbers are ok too.) Don't break continuity in narrative by switching back and forth.
I suffer from the same problem. I sometimes find that when I put numbers numerically mostly. In dialogue I write it out; but what most people have said rings true. As long as it's consistent throughout it won't matter.
The Chicago Manual of Style recommends spelling out one to one hundred, round numbers, and any number beginning a sentence. For others, numerals should be used.
