15-MARCH-2006
Partly as I reminder to myself, and partly as an assurance to my faithful readers, I have decided to write about the style of writing that I will employ on this page and all pages that are part of the Chucksphere. By "style" I mean not only the voice I use when I write, but also the language I use, what I write, the structure, and the mechanics.
I chose to write on this subject first because it is the most plainly obvious. I am a native speaker and writer of English. If you with to me to be more specific, I will. I speak the American Dialect of English using the Midwestern Accent. I write English using the Latin Alphabet for expressing words, and Arabic numerals for expressing numbers.
I will never write in "Leet" on this website; I will not even type a "word" of it as an example. If you do not know what "Leetspeak" is and you want to learn, I can only refer you to this Wikipedia article.
I have one idiosyncrasy, however. I tend to spell "color" in the Canadian manner (e.g. "colour"), even though I do not spell any other words that way. I try to keep this to a minimum, but if you see it on my site, that means I slipped.
What I write for the Chucksphere will mainly consist of essays, non-essay expositions, and wargame rules.
Essays come in two forms: 5-paragraph (which may include more or fewer than five paragraphs) and proof-form (which may include any number of paragraphs, also). I will use essays when I have a specific point I want to convey. 5-paragraph essays will be used when literary flair is called for, and proof-form essays will be used when it is important for the reader to understand each facet of the argument. Essays will use formal or conversational voice.
Non-essay expositions--or stories--will be writings when there is a clear point but no techincal support, or in general rants. This article is a perfect example of a non-essay exposition. It contains a point, but no thesis. These kinds of writings will most often use a conversational voice.
The wargames rules to be found on Chuck's World O' Wargames are written in a formal voice, and are designed to be as clear and focused as possible. Paragraphs of english narrative will go side-by-side with bulleted lists and other explanitory material that may not use the standard English syntax. The key to the rules is the ability to explain, and whatever is most usefull to achieve that will be used.
The differences between formal and informal (or conversational) voice are fairly easy to recongnize. Formal voice uses no contractions, generally does not address the reader, and avoids slang idioms. Conversational voice uses all of these to create the impression that the author is speaking directly to you.
I will never TYPE IN ALL CAPITAL LETTERS. If I wish to show emphasis, I will use an exclaimation point (!) for a short statement, or italics for long passages or emphasised words within a nonemphasised sentence. I will also never use more than one exclaimation point in a single sentence.
Ditto for question marks (?).