Hi guys, I'm a new poster. I've come across a problem that I can't find help with. I'm part way through a MS involving 2 characters telling their stories, using 1st person narrative. One character is American and her story is based in the US, while the other is Australian and his story is based in Australia. Their stories are interlinking and come together. My question is to do with formatting each 1st person narrator - which English formatting do I use?? US format (double quotation marks etc, z's instead of s's) or Australian formatting (which is essentially the same as UK - single quote marks for dialogue etc) or do I use both, for each character separately? I'm a little intrigued, as I've read that the formatting should reflect where the character is from/their setting etc Can anyone please shed light on this? It seems a bit odd using two different types of formatting in the same MS, but using one seems to be untrue one or the other. Thanks in advance
Your formatting is determined by your target market, not the individual characters' home turf, and this is precisely why. Follow the conventions of the market and publishers you will be working with. Some publishers will straddle more than oine target market, but each manuscript should follow the standards of the intended market.
Cheers! Exactly what I needed to know. Makes much more sense than what I was thinking. Thanks for that
ditto that! if you aim is to be published in the uk/commonwealth, stick to that format/spelling/etc. if the us, then use what's standard there...
As an Australian, I find myself using the double quotation marks because many books that come through our market are so internationally 'streamlined' now. I've had this conversation with my CW professor too and there's a lot of ambiguity, especially with online publishing. I think you have to be conscious of the guidelines the publishers require which can often be very different, even if they're in the same market/country.
