![]() ![]() The National Aeronautics and Space Administration was founded in 1958.But if there are many abbreviations in a work-common in police and spy novels, science fiction, medical, legal, and political thrillers-too many explanations like this may fatigue readers and produce an unwanted didacticism. The police headquarters downtown was called the PAB, for Police Administration Building. Here’s an example from Michael Connelly’s crime novel The Late Show (New York: Grand Central Publishing, 2018), page 14: The use of a parenthetical explanation without actual parentheses works well in fiction. The debate over genetically modified organisms, or GMOs, is by no means limited to the United States.This no-nonsense styling of explanations in parentheses is probably the least appealing option for writers of fiction. The benefits of ERISA (Employee Retirement Income Security Act) are familiar to many.According to the weak law of large numbers (WLLN) . . .Let’s look at the examples at CMOS 10.3 and consider the appropriateness of each in creative writing. The Chicago Manual of Style offers several ways to enlighten readers as to the meaning of obscure or invented abbreviations. even if there are many abbreviations for readers to keep track of, it’s usually not necessary to compile a list in the back of the book.explaining an abbreviation by putting the spelled-out version in parentheses (or vice-versa) will not often be a good idea and.there’s no need to spell out an unfamiliar abbreviation immediately upon first occurrence.it’s OK to use even an unfamiliar abbreviation once and never again.On the other hand, some of Chicago’s advice for wrangling abbreviations (see CMOS 10.3) can be safely ignored by fiction writers and editors. in chapter 1, it shouldn’t be 2 PM in chapter 3. Editors should have no quarrel with them, as long as they’re styled consistently. A great many common abbreviations* behave perfectly well in any fiction or nonfiction context, including dialogue, when the general guidelines in CMOS are observed: Mr., Ms., CEO, p.m., PhD, UFO. ![]()
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