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K10 Writing Style Guide - K10 Wiki

K10 Writing Style Guide

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K10 Writing Style Guide

This document provides writing rules and constraints for the team to ensure a consistent tone and quality across all project documents and narrative content. The guidelines are organized by topic and presented as a list of DOs and DON'Ts.

1. Tone and Style

This section covers the overall voice, tone, and point of view for different types of documents.

General Tone

  • DO: Write concisely and use strong verbs.
  • DO: Frame concepts from an in-world perspective.
  • DO: Describe the effects of magic with visceral, concrete detail, focusing on physical and psychological impacts.
  • DON'T: Use unnecessary words.
  • DON'T: Use overly ornate or purple prose.
  • DON'T: Try too hard to sound mystical or important, use a overly mythic and pretentious tone.

Point of View (POV)

  • DO: Use a clear, objective, third-person perspective for core documents (rulebooks, guides, etc.), as if written by an in-world academic.
  • DO: Use a close third-person limited POV for narrative content (stories, vignettes) to ground concepts in personal experience.

2. Vocabulary and Terminology

This section details the correct use of project-specific terms and lists words to avoid.

Project-Specific Terms

  • DO: Strictly adhere to the terminology defined in glossary.md.
  • DO: Use established shorthand (e.g., K10, S1-S10, XPY) where appropriate for brevity.
  • DON'T: Describe the magic system with external, 'gamey' terms like "mana pool," "cooldown," or "debuff" in in-world documents. These are only acceptable in meta-documents (e.g., development-plan.md).

Forbidden and Discouraged Words

  • DON'T: Use the following forbidden words: weave, woven, interweave, tapestry, seamless, delve.
  • DON'T: Use the word ethereal. Instead, DO describe the specific qualities that make something seem ethereal.
  • DON'T: Use these discouraged words and phrases, especially for describing energy or combat: dance, dancing, motes of light, crackle with energy.

3. Language and Phrasing

This section outlines common stylistic anti-patterns to avoid, many of which are characteristic of unedited AI-generated text.

Emphasis and Tone

  • DON'T: Overstate the importance or symbolism of a topic. Avoid phrases like serves as a testament, plays a vital role, underscores its importance, stands as a, key turning point, or solidifies.
  • DON'T: Use promotional or overly positive language. Avoid phrases like rich cultural heritage, breathtaking, must-see, or stunning natural beauty.
  • DON'T: Insert your own opinions or analysis. Avoid editorializing phrases like it's important to note, it is worth considering, or no discussion would be complete without.

Sentence and Paragraph Structure

  • DON'T: Overuse connecting words like moreover, in addition, or furthermore.
  • DON'T: Use negative parallel constructions like "Not only... but also..." or "It is not just about..., it's...".
  • DON'T: Overuse the "rule of three" (listing three adjectives or phrases). Use it only sparingly for deliberate effect.
  • DON'T: End paragraphs or sections with a summary statement using phrases like In summary, In conclusion, or Overall. (This does not apply to a document's abstract or lead section).

4. Content and Analysis

This section provides guidelines for ensuring content is specific, well-attributed, and avoids superficial analysis.

Superficial Analysis

  • DON'T: Add unhelpful commentary to the end of a sentence with a present participle ("-ing") phrase. Avoid endings like ...ensuring convenience, ...highlighting its importance, or ...reflecting its heritage.

Vague Attribution

  • DON'T: Attribute information or claims to vague, unspecified sources.
  • DON'T: Use "weasel words" like Industry reports indicate..., Observers have cited..., or Some critics argue....

5. Document Formatting and File Conventions

This section covers the technical requirements for files and document structure.

File Naming

  • DO: Name all markdown files using lowercase letters.
  • DO: Separate words in filenames with hyphens (e.g., new-file-name.md).

Document Headers

  • DO: Use Markdown headers (#, ##, etc.) to structure documents.
  • DO: Use Title Case for top-level headers (# Title Case Header).
  • DO: Use Sentence case for all sub-headers (## Sentence case header).

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