Wednesday, August 1, 2018

FEELING ITALIC?


I’m reading Dan Brown’s Origin...
And ya know what I love about his writing...
Besides his intricate plots?
His characters, especially the villains...
The vivid descriptions of scenes...
How he weaves history throughout the story...
And that he uses lots of italics!
I think italics add an emotional layer to his characters...
Letting the reader get inside their head.  
And I especially like getting into antagonists' heads...
With all their creepy, evil, deviant thoughts.
And really...
Don't we all have this italic thinking going on?
Well, maybe not creepy, evil, and deviant thoughts...
But thoughts when our mouth says one thing...
Yet we have an internal dialog going on.
For instance:
When my annoying neighbor drops by unannounced...
And I say, “Hi, nice to see you.”
But I’m thinking
Please don't make this a marathon visit...
Telling me one more time...
How you're going to cleanse your liver...
Or that you're going to do a coffee enema! Yeesh!
Please go home soon!
So yes, I like the italic layer of a character in print.
However...
Aren’t we writers always warned…
Not to over-use italics?
So?
Do you use italics in your writing?
And if so...
Why and how often do you use them?

Always,
Em-Musing


P.S. Mr. Brown also likes to break the cardinal rule of
NO ADVERBS Like this one—uncomprehendingly I don’t think I’ve ever said that word let alone have written it.

8 comments:

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

If I had a neighbor like that, I'd never answer the door.
Several of my books include characters using telepathy to converse and those are in italics.

Sandi said...

No adverbs or just no adverbs like that one?

Pat Garcia said...

It sounds like Mr. Brown has found his writing style and is happy with it. It also sounds like he doesn't care if the critic world understands as long as his readers understand.
Wishing you a happy month of August.

Shalom aleichem,
Pat G @ EverythingMustChange

Unknown said...

Wait... do you live next door to Gweneth Paltrow? Hahaha. Your neighbor sounds lonely. Thanks for the post. Happy August, and happy writing! :)

L. Diane Wolfe said...

A coffee enema? Ugh!

I use them sometimes. Just a word now and then.

Tyrean Martinson said...

I use them for subtitles and titles, but I don't use them often otherwise. I've always been taught that the thoughts of the character go into the regular text with his/her actions in a limited 3rd pov or 1st pov.

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