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Well, I'm still working on mine. It may take a while. I have more time now, but it isn't an easy thing. This theme has been a challenge for me from the start in a way that luderarts wasn't.

Ooh! Style manual! Style manual, please!! The one I've got has very little on the topic, and looking through my collection of scores from different publishers, I can't always find exactly the situation I wish to duplicate. This is why YC is such a great resource!

I've already written mine, but I fear it's a little too close to the original.

Rests should indicate the beat. In 5/4, the initial four-quarter rest will be notated differently depending on whether that 5/4 subdivides into 2+3 or 3+2; if the former, two half rests; if the latter, a dotted half and a quarter. Similarly one should not use a half rest in 3/4, but write out two quarter rests, unless the 3/4 bars are to be felt "in one" and 3/4 is only an easier way to indicate a hypothetical 1/1.333333.... time signature. (Generally this will be clear from the tempo/metronome mark, which will use a dotted half instead of a quarter, as well as whether the 8th notes are beamed in one group of six rather than three groups of two.) Most modern typesetting practices are based on those of influential 19th century publishers like Breitkopf & Härtel, Simrock and Diabelli; should easily be able to find some out-of-copyright publications from those houses online and examine them to figure out what standard practice for a particular thing would be.

Specifically, I've got a piece in 6/8 which I would mainly conduct in a slow two, if it were me. (The dotted quarter gets the main beat. It waltzes along, rather quickly 1,2,3; 2,2,3.) The piece has lots of 1/16 note pick-ups, and I'm wondering about the clearest way to notate them. Dotted quarter followed by… eighth, eighth, sixteenth? Or eighth, dotted eighth? U238 votes for dotted quarter, quarter, sixteenth. Any other votes? Whatever I do seems untidy, but that's probably because I've been staring at it too long. But I just want to be good little composer and do what's right!...

Unless you are doing a homework for music school, do not copy styles. Be yourself. Good luck!

No, a whole rest is 4 beats unless it is the only rest in the measure and can be assumed to mean a whole measure. So in 5/4 a measure beginning with four rests and then a quarter note should be notated as a whole rest followed by a quarter note. However a measure consisting entirely of rests should be notated as a simple whole note rest. If you think this is confusing you could substitute the whole rest for a multibar rest indicating one measure or something along those lines. Generally I would advise you to take that situtation into context, it is more important that the score is clear and concise. Depending on the layout, rhythmic textures in different voices, etc. might make one way of notating it clearer in one circumstance and less clear in another. Try to use the system that is most consistently suited to the particular piece and be consistent throughout the score.

Just don't mess up the beat. Should be as easy to count as you can, largest durations to the left. So in your example if you are counting 6/8 as two beats (1 and uh 2 and uh) it would begin with a dotted quarter rest, and then a quarter rest, and then a sixteenth rest. However if you are counting it as three beats (1 and 2 and 3 and) you would have a half rest followed by a dotted eighth rest. I'm pretty sure this is addressed in at least one of the two style guides I have, but they are both in my library which is not where I am right now so I can't reference it. I thought this was going to be a question about multibar rests.