Ok, here is something I was wondering about, writing numbers in a story.
I remember once I saw somewhere it was best to actually write the numbers, as in one, two, three etc as oppose to 1, 2, 3.
I decided to do that with my story as well, but the problem is, at some point of my story there are a lot of numbers mentioned continuously.
When I read those chapters, I always feel it is tiring to have to read the numbers again and again. To make matters worst, the numbers are in the thousands.
So I keep getting whole paragraphs saying things like
“One thousand five hundred and seventy four for John, one thousand seven hundred and thirty eight for Bob…” and so on. This happens a lot, and as I said I feel and looks wrong, and it will definitely tire the reader out.
Is it wrong to write them using numerals? Or is it just a matter of choice, preference and practicality?
I know you shouldn’t write “room 1 needs tea,” but can’t I say “John’s car hit 300 miles per hour before it crashed?”
Actually, now that I mentioned it, miles per hour, can’t I also shorten that to mp/h? or km/h if am talking about kilometres?
What do you think? Have you ever had a similar problem? What do you do?
I think you fell into your own trap here!
Also keep in mind, I am using two people here as an example. At one point in my story, there are ten people for whom the score is announced.
Hi Christopher,
I really wouldn't worry about this too much. Try it both ways and see which feels most comfortable to you as a reader. You mention that this 'problem' occurs further down the story, and if you still have your reader with you, the difference should be negligible. You could also let other people read the whole story up to this point and see whether they get held up buy the words or the numerals. In isolation, you'll probably keep changing between the two options.
Hope this helps,
Tony
oh my! numbers that big I would definately type as numbers not words :)