Sam's Wattpad and Writing Tips

How & When to Italicize

I just saw this question in the IYW club and spent so much time on my reply, I thought I would add to it a bit and post it here instead, because there's a whopping lot that needs italicized.

Always italicize these things:

-Character's thoughts: your readers need a differentiation between what happens in the narration and what happens in your character's head. It also helps keep it straight when your narration is in a specific tense and your character's thoughts contradict that tense. For example: she walked down the hallway. Why does it smell like stale perfume if it is abandoned? she wondered. Take notice that the words does and is are present tense while the rest of the example is past.

-Dream sequences: unlike a character's thoughts, a dream sequences tend to always be the same tense as the rest of the story. Italicize helps readers differentiate it from the rest of the story so they won't be confused by whatever is going on in the dream and it's alignment to the story.

-Emphasis: when you want a word to stand out in dialogue or in narration, you must italicize it. You may say that, "I ate a whole pie," or, "it's not what it looks like."

-Flashback sequence: not only does it clear up possible tense slips, but it also shows your reader that this isn't happening in the reality of your story.

- Foreign words: to show the character is speaking a different language. Only italicize if the word is not accepted into mainstream English. Words like: burrito, angst, feng shui, and replica should not be italicized because we use those words often in English. Only unique foreign words or terms should be italicized, such as hira hira, which is a Japanese term used for the feeling you get when you walk into a creepy house in the middle of the night. Or au courant, which means 'up to date' in french. A character might say, "I love your purse! It's so au courant!"

-Man-made satellite names.

-Mental telepathy/mind reading: these are similar to thoughts, so use the same principles.

-Scientific terms: since most of these are in Latin (see 'foreign words' section above), it should be no surprise. This means any scientific name for animals or plants, so if you're refering to the cat as Felis catus, don't forget to italicize it.

-Sounds: when things make a thump, yeowl, or screeeeeech, it should be italicized. Only italicize when you're imitating the noise. You could say the door creaked without having to italicize it, but if you're trying to imitate the noise it should certainly be italicized.

-Titles of works: books (except religious ones such as the Bible), movies, Albums (CDs), newspapers, articles, magazines, plays, paintings, operas, ballets, sculptures, photographs, blogs, podcasts.

-Vehicles: airplanes, boats, ships, spacecraft, trains.

-Websites.

-Words pointed out as words or letters pointed out as letters: There is no i in team. I love the word illuminate. She forgot the k in knot.

There are sometimes things people mistakenly italicize that don't need italicized. Those should be pointed out as well.

Do NOT italicize:

-Battles and wars.

-Brand names: includes even car brand names.

-Churches.

-Companies and organizations: such as Alcoholics Anonymous, Starbucks Corp, and World Wildlife Foundation.

-Museums.

-Newspaper articles: the title should be italicized, but the body should be in quotations.

-Schools and colleges.

-Song titles: they should be in quotations instead.

-Song lyrics: they shouldn't be in stories anyway, as most are copyrighted. But if you do use them, use quotations.

-Stores and restaurants.

-The word the if it begins a title: but do capitalize it.

-Well known public documents: such as the Declaration of Independence or The Constitution.