Starting a paragraph with a house number, should it be

Seventeen Bevin Close, a parade of pensioner one-bedroomers...

or

17 Bevin Close, a parade of pensioner one-bedroomers...

Cos to me the numeral looks better but I've got a feeling you're supposed to use words...

It's in a character's 'voice ' if that makes any difference, slightly slangy but not much.

Z

Tricky.

No, not tricky, just complicated: Hart's Rules to the rescue:

a) house style for non-technical work would normally be something like 'spell out numbers up to 100',

but b) it's 'customary not obligatory' to start a sentence with spelt out numbers, which is probably why you feel it should be words,

But c) house numbers are always written in figures, which is why it looks right to you.

Personally, spelling out house humbers looks so odd to me that I'd go for figures, though I agree that voices usually talk spelt-out not figures. .

Emma

Emma

So... you know stuff.

Z

I think that, if you spell out the number, you need a comma after it. For instance, if I read Seventeen Bassets Close, I would have implanted in my head the impression of 17 Basset hounds before I got to the word Close.

Personally, I would write: Number 17, Bassets Close, to alert readers to the fact it’s a place and not a quantity.

Dee

Thanks Dee

Thing is the narrator wouldn't talk like that. Answer's maybe to start the sentence with something else.

Z

The big, brick house at the bottom of Belvin Close is a magnet to theives. The big "17" on the front might as well say, "easy pickings, boys".

<Added>

sorry, just bored. It's an alternative though.

Thing is the narrator wouldn't talk like that. Answer's maybe to start the sentence with something else.

I agree. One thing I have learnt, when you're struggling with something, is never be afraid to hit delete. It totally gets rid of the problem. Also, there were passages in my book that I laboured over, and then I realised the reason I was labouting and not getting it right, was simply because they shouldn't be there.

Mind you, the 17/seventeen thing doesn't sound critical. There'll be a way of sorting it. FWIW, when I once did a publishing thing, I was told numbers 1-10 are always written in figures and all others in words, but there are exceptions, and I strongly suspect that door numbers are one of these.

when you're struggling with something, is never be afraid to hit delete.

Very, very true - when I've tried something upside down and inside out and back to front and it still won't bloody work, it's usually because the scene/character/theme shouldn't be there in the first place, and my instinct's recognised that even as my reason is kicking and screaming 'but I need it because...'

But I wouldn't let this derail what you want to write. It's really a copy-editor's job to worry about this crap, and no-one's going to think the less of your piece because of it.

Emma

Toni Morrison's Beloved starts "124 was spiteful."

I LOVE THAT BOOK