OC Press Style Policies
Novel and novella submission guidelines can be found here.Use The Chicago Manual of Style as the general style-guide. Merriam-Webster (http://www.merriam-webster.com/) is the house dictionary.
Formatting:
• Double-space
• New line with five-space indent denotes new paragraph (as opposed to web-style, where an extra space denotes a new paragraph)
• One space between sentences
(This formatting does NOT apply to short stories for the site. These should be single-spaced, no indents, and an extra space before each paragraph).
The spelling of “come” in its proper context:
• Use “come” when the word is a verb
Example: She came hard.
He comes all over his counter.
“I’m coming!”
• Use “cum” when the word is a noun
Example: Her cum tastes delicious.
His cum dried on the counter.
Sex Slang (or the most fun you'll ever have reading a style sheet)
Blowjob is one word word (not blow job)
Handjob is one word (not hand job)
BJ is short for blowjob (not b.j. or bj), and there is no such thing as a HJ
Dickhead and cockhead are both one word (not dick head and cock head)
Precum is one word (not pre cum or pre-cum)
Deep-throat includes a hyphen (not deepthroat or deep throat)
Butt plug is two words (not buttplug or butt-plug)
Threesome and foursome are all one word (not three some or four some)
Hard-on is hyphenated (not hardon or hard on)
Jack-off is hyphenated (not jack off or jackoff)
A note on “to lay” vs. “to lie”:
Lay and lie are hard to get right. Remember, lay means “to place.” Lie means “to recline.”
• Watch carefully as I lay the rabbit on the table.
• As you can see, the rabbit will lie down on the table.
Past tense:
People confuse lay and lie because the past tense of lie is lay. If you memorize these two progressions, you’ll have a much easier time keeping everything straight:
Present |
Past |
Past Participle |
lay |
laid |
laid |
• Now I have to lay this tomato on the cutting board.
• Yesterday, I laid a tomato on the cutting board.
• I had just laid the tomato down when you called.
Present |
Past |
Past Participle |
lie |
lay |
lain |
• I think I’ll lie down for a while.
• Yesterday, I lay awake instead of napping.
• I could have lain there fruitlessly, but instead I got up and vacuumed.
Other Common Issues
Farther vs. Further
Farther is used to describe physical distance "He even farther toward her"
Further is used to describe metaphorical distance "They further explored each other"
Toward vs. Towards
Both are technically correct, but we prefer "toward" (more common in U.S.)
Afterward vs. Afterwards
Both are technically correct, but we prefer "afterwards"
Clothing:
t-shirt (not tee shirt or t shirt), and T-shirt only if word begins sentence.
push-up bra (not push up)
A note for our U.K. Authors:
Please use "double quotations" around dialogue (instead of single)
For quotations within dialogue use single quotes (i.e. "I was talking to Sam and he said, 'I want to fuck you Sally,' can you believe it?")
Please spell words like flavor, savor, and favor without the "u" per US standards (not flavour, savour, and favour).
Please spell words like centimeter and center with an "er" at the end per US standards (not centimetre and centre).
Avoid clichés.
Unfortunately, erotica is prone to terrible clichés. Avoid phrases like heaving bosom, wave after wave of pleasure, and as hard as a rock.
Sex positions.
Must make sense! We’ve had a lot of fun trying to decide whether someone can be positioned doggy style over the top of a baby grand piano. Turns out, not really, there are different heights to baby grand pianos, so it depends on which one the characters are using. Visualize, or better yet try, your sex positions to make sure they are physically possible.
Avoid porno-style dialogue.
This is literary erotica, and as such, dialogue like, “Oh yeah, fuck my pussy, baby,” and “Oh yeah, do you like it like that?” doesn’t usually work.