: Using "and/or" in a manuscript I've used "and/or" in my writings in the past, but not for fiction manuscripts. Is it acceptable to use this? It's internal narration in a character's head and

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In scientific writing, usage of and/or is not preferred. Consider the following example:

The equation uses A and/or B. (not preferred)
The equation uses A, B, or both. (preferred)

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I would not recommend using and/or. There are a number of style guides and English references that severely criticize it. For example:

Chicago Manual of Style ("Avoid this Janus-faced term. It can often be replaced by and or or with no loss in meaning.")
Strunk and White ("damages a sentence and often leads to confusion or ambiguity")
Fowler's English Usage (an "ugly device" that may be "common and convenient in some kinds of official, legal, and business documents, but should not be allowed outside them")

I'm sure there are others.

Rewording it is almost always simple, clear and easy to do. I would only use it if a character uses it regularly as part of their speech, otherwise, I would avoid it for the simple reason that, for me, it provides nothing of substantial benefit, but carries a number of negatives, particularly because I think readers may find it a little jarring and possibly confusing.

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I don't generally see anything wrong with using "and/or" in fiction, but you need to make sure that it is used in an appropriate way. You need to look at your writing as two separate sentences and make sure that they each come across the way you intended.

He planned to let Fields take the lead and try not to slow him down
and get killed.

He planned to let Fields take the lead and try not to slow him down or
get killed.

Another option would be to consider rewriting it all together.

He planned to let Fields take the lead and try not to slow him down,
or worse, get him killed.

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