Italics for thoughts?

Discussion in 'Word Mechanics' started by Dan Rhodenizer, Jul 25, 2007.

  1. Maksynne

    Maksynne Member

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    I'm not against the standard. I personally try to (and want to) follow it. That is why I joined this particular thread in the first place, to ask @Cogito what resources I could use to learn the rules.

    Then, I offered an opinion: If anyone else wants to break the rules and they do it wisely then good for them, I support them for trying.

    Is my English really that bad that makes people misunderstand the things I say? If so I apologize and I welcome suggestions on how to make myself clearer next time (by PM if you don't mind, I joined the forum to improve my English and my writing, not to debate) :wotwot:

    I really didn't came here to be dragged into the endless discussion of who is right and who is wrong. Now I've got the resources I was looking for (thank you @Tenderiser for the info) and it's time for me to get out. :brb:

    See you guys around.
     
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  2. Tenderiser

    Tenderiser Not a man or BayView

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    Nah it was a general "you" - I could have said "If that makes an author angry, there's always self-publishing" to be clearer. You (you you) didn't come across as angry.
     
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  3. Spacer

    Spacer Active Member

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    Went through that myself recently. I decided that it was a typesetting issue that might vary based on the book’s design. So I just defined a character style for InnerThoughts and use that.

    Whether or not you should mark inner-voice at all depends on the exact POV style. I’ve seen names for different flavors of 3rd person, but every presentation has their own terms. So, even if the book design is to have no style difference at all, the metadata marking is still useful for finding and checking just the inner dialog passages during editing, or highlighting it somehow just temporarily while you work on it.
     
  4. Storm713

    Storm713 Member

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    Personally I always put italics for thoughts. I don't see what so many people have against it- italics in only a way to differentiate thoughts and the other parts of the writing, not to emphasize unless you want them to. Like others said, it comes down to your personal choice- I find it clears things up, but of course we all have our own stories and styles. Good luck!
     
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  5. Tenderiser

    Tenderiser Not a man or BayView

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    I saw this and, of course, thought of this thread...

    DMZ6P8uXkAALlgs.jpg
     
  6. Iain Aschendale

    Iain Aschendale Lying, dog-faced pony Marine Supporter Contributor

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    Author for the win!
     
  7. Spacer

    Spacer Active Member

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    I wonder why they needed to note that? Isn’t most of the contents the choice of the writer?
     
  8. Tenderiser

    Tenderiser Not a man or BayView

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    Content, yes, but style (including the use of italics) is usually dictated by the publisher's in-house style guide.
     
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  9. Iain Aschendale

    Iain Aschendale Lying, dog-faced pony Marine Supporter Contributor

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    OTOH, in the trade paperback version (the only version I have or have seen) of A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, by Dave Eggers, the author hijacked every page in the book. Acknowledgements, forward, afterword, even the copyright page. Take nothing at face value.

    Random recommendation: That was a really odd, really heartfelt debut work. I've also read his semi-ghostwritten What Is The What, which makes some artistic decisions I didn't really like, but bent my brain sideways with the story.

    People are really terrible.
     
  10. Spacer

    Spacer Active Member

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    What do you mean by that?
     
  11. A.M.P.

    A.M.P. People Buy My Books for the Bio Photo Contributor

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    I read that the author had every female name in italics or something and that was the reasoning for the pubs note.
     
  12. Sir Douglas

    Sir Douglas Member

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    Should italics be used for names of ships?
     
  13. Tenderiser

    Tenderiser Not a man or BayView

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    Not as standard, no.
     
  14. Laurin Kelly

    Laurin Kelly Contributor Contributor

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    My husband has a blog where he reviews different varieties of apples along with apple-based products. It's the goofiest damn thing ever and he's not the best writer, but he's so hilariously earnest in his love of applesI can't help but support the endeavor. :D One thing he does that makes me cringe though it that he italicizes the name of the apple variety or product in question in some sort of random stylistic choice I can't really fathom.
     
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  15. Robert Musil

    Robert Musil Comparativist Contributor

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    Really? I thought they were...of course I also thought it was the rule to use italics for thoughts but apparently that's not the case either.

    Maybe I've just been duped by the clever marketing of Big Italics convincing me I needed way more of them than I really did...
     
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  16. Spacer

    Spacer Active Member

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    I selected that sentence and right-clicked and chose “Google” from the drop-down menu. The first (highlighted) was https://www.grammarly.com/blog/italics-ship-names/

    Followed by:
    http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/qanda/data/faq/topics/ProperNames.html?page=2
    https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/320181/why-are-vessel-names-italicized
    http://navalmarinearchive.com/research/ship_names.html an “official” reference of sorts, at least if you’re ships are Canadian military.
    http://theeditorsblog.net/2014/05/12/marking-text-choosing-between-italics-and-quotation-marks/

    etc.

    Yes, you italicize ship names as well as use Titlecase. But don’t italicize the “HMS” or whatever prefix.
     
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  17. Spacer

    Spacer Active Member

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    You were right, according to every style guide and article I checked. I noted my references, so you can verify this.
     
  18. The Dapper Hooligan

    The Dapper Hooligan (V) ( ;,,;) (v) Contributor

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    Except for the AP style guide. In AP the ship's name is just capitalized.
     
  19. Spacer

    Spacer Active Member

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    I guess that would’t show up in the search, since it doesn’t say not to use italics, and so the words are not in close proximity. Interesting how questions can lead to biased search results.
     
  20. @theunheardwriter21

    @theunheardwriter21 Member

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    In my dialogue-heavy pieces that are emotionally charged with multiple one-on-one interactions, I do use italics for thoughts.
     
  21. Francis de Aguilar

    Francis de Aguilar Contributor Contributor

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    I used to use italics and was influenced to change this. I now use tags, such as 'he thought' or 'he wondered'. There are times when no tags are necessary. I reserve italics for emphasis.
     
    Last edited: Mar 4, 2018
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  22. Cayce Berryman

    Cayce Berryman New Member

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    Many manuscripts use italics for direct thought, but it's a style choice and is often used only in third person omniscient or third person limited/limited serial. As most say, it's up to you. It's not a weakness like all-caps or bold weight, and it is used. Just make sure it's clear.
     
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  23. courtykat

    courtykat New Member

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    Many of the books I read growing up had their characters' thoughts in italics -- that's where I learned it from, myself. Sometimes your character has, in a sense, "outer" thoughts, being the ones that you write in your narrative to describe what they are feeling and experiencing throughout the story; and sometimes they have "inner" thoughts, which are like a form of dialogue which takes place within their own mind at that time. Personally, I find it great to use when my character is thinking one thing and saying another.

    In any case, since it seems to be relatively common, I don't see any problem with it... Even if it is considered a cheap practice by some.
     
  24. Ohmo

    Ohmo Banned

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    Wow, talk about an old thread!

    The issue of using italics for internal dialog (a character's thoughts) is not addressed by Chicago Manual of Style or The Copy-editors Handbook, the two resources many editors used to support their red pencils. A search for the term use of italics for internal dialogue brings back hundreds of results where the consensus is "You may also use italics without quotation marks for direct internal dialogue." and no dissenting opinions.

    So, it would appear it is a personal choice to be worked out with one's editor if necessary.
     
  25. Tenderiser

    Tenderiser Not a man or BayView

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    You read through HUNDREDS of results? :eek:
     
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