Mini writing workshop: Is there anything wrong with using italics for emphasis?

Thank you for checking out the mini fiction writing workshop. In this series I share small, actionable tips for writing fiction. Whether you're a seasoned or developing writer, hopefully you will find some useful information.

This particular workshop is about something you may hear about in writing workshops, or if someone critiques your work: the use of italics for emphasis.

Okay, on to the topic of the day!

Source: Image by geralt, Pixabay

What are the rules for using italics for emphasis in fiction?

I've actually spent some time searching for rules around the use of italics for emphasis in fiction because a lot of writers seem to think it is a crime. I haven't been able to find anything official.

But in workshops and writing forums, I hear things like "italics are an indication of weak writing" and "trust your reader." This means, I believe, that we're supposed to allow the reader to know, by context, when one word is important, or is said very emphatically. If we authors provide any guidance, we are intruding on the reader's experience.

I happen to disagree.

An example from my own writing

Here is a sentence from one of my stories in which one of my fellow writers provided feedback. In her comment related to my italicized word, she told me in all caps to STOP IT. (Yes, that made me laugh. It would have been even funnier if she said "STOP IT. Er, I mean stop it.) Here's the sentence:

"He was standing near the punch bowl, not talking with Professor Gustavson, whom Sharon knew from her art classes."

To me, the italics are needed here. This observation by the story's main character is that she is witnessing another character's avoidance tactic. The sentence is actually trying to illustrate that the "he" in this sentence (another professor, and a somewhat bombastic one judging by his lecture style) is actually an introvert. Let's look at the sentence without italics.

"He was standing near the punch bowl, not talking with Professor Gustavson, whom Sharon knew from her art classes."

Without the emphasis, it pretty much means something else, doesn't it? And in fact it's confusing. Why would you mention that one person is not talking to another? Well, perhaps it's a bizarre but important character trait. As an author, I could say "Professor Bates had a bizarre character trait that caused him to stand next to people he had no intention of talking to at social functions, in an effort to appear engaged in conversation."

I suppose there's nothing particularly wrong with that approach, although it's a bit on the "tell" side of the "show, don't tell" mantra.

Examples of italics in mainstream fiction

I don't want anyone to take my word for it. This is the kind of thing that requires a more thorough examination. To find examples, I simply searched for book excerpts and scanned through them.

Nearly every one had italics. Here are a few examples.

An excerpt from Cooking Dirty, by Jason Sheen. This book was in a collection of story excerpts published on the NPR website:

Roberto surrendered his position without a word, just turning and going straight back to his burners one step away with no interruption in the flow of orders. On fryers, the FNG was so deep in the weeds and lost that Dump had to crutch him full-time while I racked and emptied the stinking steamers, leaving dozens of pounds of crab legs and freezerburned lobster tails and hundreds of clams to die in hotel pans under the heat lamps. The smell was . . . staggering.

Now, one could argue that we could trust the reader to know that the smell was really really powerful, even if the author did not italicize the word "staggering." But I personally think the emphasized word grips you. It has more clout. It has more weight. It makes us imagine the subject of this excerpt nearly being knocked down by the smell of shellfish.

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An excerpt from The Bean Trees, by Barbara Kingsolver. Now, I'm not going to say that Barbara Kingsolver walks on water (though it's tempting), but I will say that if I had a choice of following her writing advice, or that of another writer of my lowly status in a writing workshop, there is simply no contest. And this is not to say I don’t trust my fellow writers. (I love you guys!) But advice is just that, and other than grammatical rules, many of the wise words we hear are, in fact, preferences. So, the quote:

By senior year there were maybe two boys to every one of us, and we believed it was our special reward when we got this particular science teacher by the name of Mr. Hughes Walter.

Now him. He came high-railing in there like some blond Paul McCartney, sitting on the desk in his tight jeans and his clean shirt-sleeves rolled up just so, with the cuffs turned in.

Would it mean the same thing and have the same impact if she wrote it like this?

Now him. He came high-railing in there like some blond Paul McCartney....

Not at all. But again, that is my humble opinion.

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An excerpt from An American Marriage, by Tayari Jones. I found this in a fabulous online resource called BookBrowse.com, where you can read an excerpt from every book. This excerpt is from a love letter from Roy to Celestial:

But now all I have is this paper and this raggedy ink pen. It's a ballpoint, but they take away the casing so you just have the nib and this plastic tube of ink. I'm looking at it, thinking, This is all I have to be a husband with?

Well, you get the idea. One does not have to look far to find plenty of examples of italics for emphasis in fiction. So don't let anyone tell you it's not okay.

Just remember: it's easy to over-do emphasis of any kind

The first thing to realize about emphasis in fiction is that it's kind of like a spice. If you use too much, it will likely overwhelm the flavor of the work. Honestly, I think that is the #1 rule to follow when it comes to emphasis, whether the method is italics or exclamation points.

If you use italics sparingly, you can't go wrong.

But how do you decide where to use italics? I suggest following this guidance: If a sentence carries the same meaning and impact with or without italics, leave them out.

How did the "rule" to never use italics become a rule?

I conjecture it was something like a game of telephone. One creative writing instructor in one workshop told one group of writers that the use of italics was a terrible choice and that its usage was some kind of infraction that would get the writer labeled as a newbie and a rank amateur.

That writer proceeded to embrace this recommendation as gospel and to admonish members of other writing groups who did the same. And so on, and so forth.

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Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed this mini writing workshop.

The writing workshop collection

You can browse my collection of writing workshop posts in the links below.

Mini workshop series

Short posts on specific writing topics:

• Mini writing workshop: What is the best way to write dialog?
• Mini writing workshop: What should we know about your character?
• Mini writing workshop: Who are you writing for?
• Mini writing workshop: What does "show, don't tell" mean?
• Mini writing workshop: Can you write if you don't have time? (Finding where you can fit writing into your life)
• Mini writing workshop: What should you write about? (Ideas for finding inspiration for your stories)
• Mini writing workshop: How do you start a story? (How to determine the starting point)
• Mini writing workshop: What is magical realism? (Exploring the magical realism genre)
• Mini writing workshop: Should you write in present tense or past tense?
• Mini writing workshop: Must your character do that? (About writing tics and character pet peeves)
• Mini writing workshop: What's it all about? (About story lines)
• Mini writing workshop: Must we fight? (About conflict in fiction writing)
• Mini writing workshop: What's the point? (About making things happen)
• Mini writing workshop: What prompted that? (About writing from prompts)
• Mini writing workshop: Who said that? (Tips for writing dialog)

Mini workshops in 50-word prompt posts

Brief workshops, typically 3-5 paragraphs, at the top of 50-word short story challenge posts:

• Mini writing workshop on "tense"
• Mini writing workshop on the editing process (with a walkthrough example)
• Mini writing workshop on taking time to write
• Mini writing workshop on the power of editing
• Mini writing workshop on critique
• Mini writing workshop on fixing punctuation errors
• Mini writing workshop on mainstream publishing (with a resource for 50-word story authors)
• Mini writing workshop on voice and language (as compared to the importance of plot)
• Mini writing workshop about becoming a great writer
• Mini writing workshop on contests and challenges
• Mini writing workshop on what makes a story a story
• Mini writing workshop on demystifying story writing
• Mini writing workshop on 50-word short story writing process
• Mini writing workshop on the steps for writing 50-word stories
• Mini writing workshop on micro-fiction and writing succinctly
• Mini writing workshop on the "why" of writing
• Mini writing workshop on the challenge of micro-fiction

In-depth workshop posts

The original writing workshop series:

• Writing workshop volume 1: The beginning
• Writing workshop volume 2: Exploring voice in writing
• Writing workshop volume 3: Say what you want to say
• Writing workshop volume 4: Serial fiction projects on Steemit
• Writing workshop volume 5: Getting organized and actually writing
• Writing workshop volume 6: Tips for writing anywhere, anytime
• Writing workshop volume 7: Should you write historical fiction?
• Writing workshop volume 8: Prompts, contests and challenges - oh my!
• Writing workshop volume 9: Pushing through insecurity and writing anyway
• Writing workshop volume 10: Perspective and POV in fiction writing
• Writing workshop volume 11: Second person point of view in fiction
• Writing workshop volume 12: How to write your character's background
• Writing workshop volume 13: What to do with all these voices in my head?
• Writing workshop volume 14: Write your story from a logline
• Writing workshop volume 15: Three tips for improving your fiction
• Writing workshop volume 16: How to accept criticism on your fiction writing

Thank you, as always, for reading, following, upvoting, connecting, HODL'ing, resteeming, laughing, sharing, and being you.

Note: The image is sourced from Pixabay.

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