Hi everybody.
I'm a new member here. I bought the hard copy of the Yearbook yesterday and decided to join the site so I could enter the competition.
I am currently working through my first novel and would like some advice, if possible, on the use of italics.
Basically, I am writing the novel in the first person, past tense. I want to introduce a character who the reader would be looking over the shoulder of. He's going to be an integral part of the plot, but there is no connection between him and any of the other characters, except for their reactions to his actions (if that makes any sense). I will be writing about this character in the third person because the 'narrator' of the story can't see his actions.
What is the best way to write about this character:
1. Write all of his story in italics? This would mean that there would be lots of text, sometimes whole chapters, written in italics, but would also mean that the reader could discern straight away that it is someone different they are reading about.
2. Write using the normal font, hoping that the reader picks up on the change from first to third person themselves, and therefore realise that they are reading about someone else entirely?
I'm sure people like Wilbur Smith uses italics to convey a difference in his works, but I have also read online that the use of italics is now frowned upon.
If it is a good idea to go with the italics, what is the best way to show this when I submit my manuscript? Should it just italicise the text, or underline it as I've also heard?
Sorry for the length of my first post.
Many thanks in advance for any information you can give me.
Ahhh... I think you understood what I meant by sadism: Make the reader work it out- they picked up the book, not sat in front of the TV!
yup, I like your idea for subtle hints! That was a brilliant example- one character is an alchoholic, and the other hates drinking. Great! (If the reader is too slow to get even that- TOO BAD!)
Ahhh... I think you understood what I meant by sadism: Make the reader work it out- they picked up the book, not sat in front of the TV!
yup, I like your idea for subtle hints! That was a brilliant example- one character is an alchoholic, and the other hates drinking. Great! (If the reader is too slow to get even that- TOO BAD!)
Thanks for the input folks.
I suppose it makes sense - not only in this post, but other questions also have answers that point to italics being bad.
It is true that I am only helping the reader to find their footing, but then again the fact that they are picking up a book and reading and not sitting in front of a telly for entertainment must give them some kind of mental ability - if I'm allowed to say that?
I like the idea of breaking the page up with a '*' to show a different setting, but I'm now also working out how to add subtle hints that it is not the same person being talked about. For example, the Narrator doesn't drink alcohol, but when the new character is introduced he'll be sitting in a pub with a pint in his hands. Things like that to help the reader along the road.
Thanks again.