Handwashing vs Hand-washing vs Hand washing [duplicate]

I am lost with the rule that noun-gerund compounds do not get a hyphen if used as nouns.

Example: He liked novel reading.

Is it correct not to use a hyphen between novel and reading here?

I looked up "name dropping" in MWebster and they spell it with a hyphen. That would mean:

Example: Name-dropping is a famous practice.

What is the rule here? Or is it a style question?

And, I am in the academic field of linguistics. There are some compounds that I have never ever seen in nonhyphenated forms but which would technically go without a hyphen according to the rule.

Example: The process of meaning-making is complex.

What to do in these cases? Stick with the rule or with frequency of use?

Solution 1:

I did some more research. This is what the Chicago Manual of Style has to say:

Noun form usually open; adjective form hyphenated before a noun. Some permanent compounds closed (see 7.78).

decision making/ a decision-making body; mountain climbing/ time-clock-punching employees/ a Nobel Prize–winning chemist (see 6.80) bookkeeping/ caregiving/ copyediting

However, I am still lost with examples like "meaning-making" or to add another one:

I really like novel reading OR I really like novel-reading.

How do I decide which one is correct? The rule states, if I understand it correctly, no hyphen. In the majority of cases (corpora) it says novel-reading with hyphen.