What is a Style Guide and Why Would I Need One?
A style guide is a means of documenting your approach as a writer to certain elements of writing style that need to be consistent. Style guides are generally associated with certain types of writing like technical writing, commercial or business writing, journalism and web copywriting. In each of these cases, there is a need to ensure that the writing style is consistent and so guidelines are usually published to allow more than one author to contribute while ensuring that the finished piece does not necessarily carry the personal style of the writer but that of the publication, company or website associated with the writing. For publications or companies with a large number of contributing authors, a style guide is essential if the finished publication is to be coherent and consistent. Many creative writers eschew the need for a style guide, believing that the ability to follow a standard English writing style should be an innate quality for any writer. While to a certain extent this
