Italics for Thought

 

A fellow writer asked me about using italics to represent thought in stories. I researched and found some relevant information. The material has been sitting on my desk taking up space, so it’s time I wrote an answer.

 

Confusion about the legitimate use of italics arises from the old practice where publishers required underlining in manuscripts. Prior to computers and word processing programs, handwritten manuscripts and those produced by typewriters needed underlining to indicate any words that should be italicised when typeset for printing.

 

Leigh Michaels, Moderator at The Romance Writing Book Club, endorses the use of italics for direct thought. In February, 2007, this query was posed to Leigh, “I thought that italics were a no no in a MS. This is probably really old information, but I read somewhere that you should only underline.”

 

Leigh answered, in part: “The rule used to be underline anything you wanted to end up in italics. This rule is relaxing, however, and now most editors say either underline OR use italics.”¹

 

I recommend you check any submission guidelines before finalising a manuscript. 

 

Using italics to represent thought in published works is common. Wikipedia states, as a matter of course, that italics are used, inter alia, “Sometimes in novels to indicate a character's thought process …”²

 

A random check of my family library revealed the following fiction published between 1989 and 2006 that includes the use of italics for thought:

 

 

Year	Author	Title	Publisher	Location
1989	Elizabeth George	A Great Deliverance	Hodder & Stoughton	London
1990	Melanie Rawn	Dragon Prince	Pan Books	London
1994	Stephen King	Insomnia	Hodder & Stoughton	London
1997	Kate Forsyth	Dragonclaw	Arrow Books	Sydney
2000	Chris Claremont	Shadow Star	Bantam Books	New York
2001	Ian Stewart & Jack Cohen	Wheelers	Simon & Schuster	London
2002	Jude Fisher	Sorcery Rising	Simon & Schuster	London
2004	Dan Brown	The Da Vinci Code	Corgi Books	London
2006	Wendy Harmer	Love & Punishment	Allen & Unwin	Sydney

 

 

Of course, many books in my library don’t show italicised thought. Perhaps they didn’t bother with thought at all, but I only looked for italic print, rather than re-read.

 

During a web-search, I did find one publisher who, while accepting the practice, offered this caution:

 

“Often, an author uses italics to indicate thoughts as contrasted with words spoken by a character. While this is effective in short phrases or sentences, if a character gives rather long expository passages in this manner, it might be better for an author to either devise a different way to provide the reader with the material or to choose another way to contrast thoughts from spoken words.”³

 

 

To sum up:

·          it is okay to use italics for thought.

·          avoid excessive use.

 

  

 

References

 

1. Leigh Michaels sourced at http://bookclubs.barnesandnoble.com/ “The Romance Writing Book Club – Questions for Leigh” bulletin board.
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italics
3. http://www.aeonix.com/comntypo.htm