Writing numbers.

[Mihou]

I would like to ask you, authors, whether you feel like writing numbers in words looks cleaner than in numbers themselves.

Well, the question is quite vague so I will give an example.

Example one:
"It was twenty minutes later when a loud roar was heard."

Example 1:
"It was 20 minutes later when a loud roar was heard."

Example two:
"In total, we acquired seventy two gold coins over the span of two hours."

Example 2:
"In total, we acquired 72 gold coins over the span of two hours."

Final example three:
"Eating breakfast took about ten minutes, while a shower took me about fifteen minutes, all in all it took twenty five minutes and it was now twenty five minutes to eleven."

"Eating breakfast took about 10 minutes while a shower took me about 15 minutes, all in all it took 25 minutes and it was now 11:35"

Well, the examples here should be self explanatory.

 

[atgongumerki]

I think small numbers (until around 20ish) can be written as words but every higher number looks better as numbers.
considering time I think both versions have some appeal as long as you stay consistent.

 

[jinxs2011]

I think in general smaller/shorter numbers should be written out, while larger/longer numbers should just be numbers. What I mean for shorter is, for example, one hundred, or two hundred. Not too long. One hundred and twenty-two, despite being a smaller number than two hundred, is a lot longer written out, so I think in those cases you should just write it as 122.

However, it also depends on context. Say you have a paragraph where you're writing several numbers of perhaps varying size/length. You want to keep things consistent. It would look odd, after all, if you have several numbers written out as words and then just one or two lone numbers right next to them. To make it easy I'd say if there are more than two long numbers when you're writing out a bunch of numbers in one paragraph or paragraphs close together, just type out the numbers. Otherwise, it's not too difficult to write out a long number (barring enormous numbers) once or twice.

Another example to consider is where you're writing the numbers. Most of the time, the above is fine. But what if, for example, you were writing lines that were supposed to be texts or a written message or some other such thing, ad verbum? Then just write it however the character in question would have written it: most of the time, numbers would be numbers.

 

[binarysoap]

I personally prefer seeing numbers not written as words, but I think the general consensus is large numbers are written as numerals, while anything small is written out. Also, you should keep it consistent too, so no writing 21 in one sentence and twenty one in another.

Also things like "He had the strength of a thousand men" is written out, even though 1000 is a large number, because the word written out isn't very long. If it was something like a thousand one hundred forty two, then 1142 is definitely better.

In your example, twenty is definitely the more preferred
72 is probably whatever you prefer
Also, your third example, all should be probably written out, besides maybe the time.

Then again, it all boils down to stylistic choice, so you do what you want. I doubt anyone will drop a writing because of number choices, unless you insist on writing something like one million two hundred fifty 9 thousand three hundred eighty six and 5 tenths.

 

[Jemini]

There is actually an official rule for this in the official writers guilds and other such circles. They say that anything that can be expressed as a single sylible, such as the single digit numbers, should always be written out except in the case of the exception which I will mention a little bit later. Compound numbers where you have to distinctly prounounce more than one number, such as 25, should be put up in number format 100% of the time without exception. Numbers that are expressed as a single word, but are more than one syllible, such as elevin and twenty, can go either way but should always follow the rule I'm about to talk about next.

The exception is that you should never mix formats within the same paragraph, and if possible avoid mixing formats within the same chapter. So, if you write out "one," then all instances of a number of any sort that comes up in the same paragraph should also be written out. So, you would also have to write out "twenty" and would not have the option of putting it in as number format if "one" was also written out in the same paragraph.

Conversely, if a large compound number like 367 is in your paragraph, not only would 11 be in number format, but you would even have to switch with the single digit numbers and write numbers like 3 in number format as well.

EDIT: (BTW, tens factor numbers such as hundred, thousand, million and billion are written out if it's a round number with only zeros after the largest factor number, or in number format if it's off from an even hundred, thousand, ext... and is a little more messy like 37,843,756. Numbers larger than a thousand that have a multi-part number before the first coma but only zeros afterward are generally mixed, such as 137 billion. Single digits before the first coma with zeros afterward can go either way, either writen out fully or in mixed format. So, 3 million or three million. (generally encouraged to write it out though.))

That's the official rule on it anyway, but it's probably a good idea to follow the official rules.

 

[GDLiZy]

It is better to write the number out, as the brain like a good flow of letters; anything not letter destroyed that flow.

Of course, I preferred not to specify a number at all; after all, imagination and vagueness are good for the story.

 

[Jemini]

It is better to write the number out, as the brain like a good flow of letters; anything not letter destroyed that flow.

Of course, I preferred not to specify a number at all; after all, imagination and vagueness are good for the story.

What if you're saying there are three slices of bread on the table, and they have to be shared between five family members? Sometimes numbers help in creating tension and interest in the story. It doesn't just have to be numbers attached to stats in a liteRPG's game-like system.

An example of a big number appearing naturally in a story would be in some battle planning phase the guy in a secratorial role rattles off some information about the number of troops in your own army or information on the enemy's number, or some data about the war funds they have left. Or, maybe a king rewards the protagonist for some meritorious deed, and they state the amount of coins or other such thing. This was used in Shield Hero when the king was giving a number of silver coins to the heroes, and the exact numbers were used to show the discrimination against Naofumi.

 

[GDLiZy]

What if you're saying there are three slices of bread on the table, and they have to be shared between five family members? Sometimes numbers help in creating tension and interest in the story. It doesn't just have to be numbers attached to stats in a liteRPG's game-like system.

An example of a big number appearing naturally in a story would be in some battle planning phase the guy in a secratorial role rattles off some information about the number of troops in your own army or information on the enemy's number, or some data about the war funds they have left. Or, maybe a king rewards the protagonist for some meritorious deed, and they state the amount of coins or other such thing. This was used in Shield Hero when the king was giving a number of silver coins to the heroes, and the exact numbers were used to show the discrimination against Naofumi.

Not saying that number is out-right bad; it's a matter of style more than anything. I used numbers, but generally tried to avoid them for vagueness and also for easiness when writing a story. It allowed for flexible composition and gave rooms for the readers' imagination.

Interestingly enough, about the scenario of a huge battle, I usually went on the feel side of things more than the exact number side of things. Instead of 'a formation of 10,000 soldiers marched towards the edge of the world', I instead used 'myriad soldiers, enough to fill the earth, marched onto the edge of the world.'.

 

[ChubbyLiv]

- What looks better on paper (1 000 000 One Million. 1 000 000 000 One Billion. 5 years Five years. 1 Hour One hour. 24 Twenty-four years old)
- If the number is important/long/complicated/lots of numbers, I tend to write them down. ( 215 454 gold coins 665 silver coins and 25 coppers. 5 hours 42 minutes and 12 seconds. )
- If you can't imagine the number like GDLiZy stated above, (It's hard to imagine 10 000 soldiers) I'd describe the number instead, like GDLiZy did.

PS: Except for a few, most readers don't care how authors write their numbers, myself included.

 

[NiQuinn]

I had a hard time looking for this but I remembered that this was discussed before:

Editing - Style guide to writing numbers.

I was lurking the feedback forum and saw something fairly minute but important brought up as feedback by the user zeryn. One thing I see from the start, is using "2". It's probably just a pet peeve but in general numbers below 10 should be spelled out. Of course that can be different for...

forum.scribblehub.com

 

[Nanakawaichan]

It's dependent what you writing about. Is it age? Coin? Money? Pieces?

 

[AliceShiki]

Final example three:
"Eating breakfast took about ten minutes, while a shower took me about fifteen minutes, all in all it took twenty five minutes and it was now twenty five minutes to eleven."

"Eating breakfast took about 10 minutes while a shower took me about 15 minutes, all in all it took 25 minutes and it was now 11:35"

Well, the examples here should be self explanatory.

As a rule of thumb, I'd say you should always write small numbers, and always use numerals for big numbers...

For stuff like 11:35 though? Always numerals. "twenty five minutes to eleven" actually makes me need to think to realize what number it is... And I think you need to think too, because 25 to 11 means 10:35 and not 11:35. The fact you made a mistake in your very example post just shows how bad this kind of system is.

Also worth note that I didn't even realize the mistake until I started typing this reply out, so I also mistook what was the right number at first.

So uhn... Always use the pretty numerals for time, it's a lot better. Or at least, for broken times the numerals are bad... I doubt anyone will mind it if you write "midnight" instead of writing 12am.