I’m confused about italics.

[msd]

Is there a rule about italics? In some books that I read, whenever a place is mentioned by name it is written in italics. I also noticed that some will use italics to stress a point.

I remember reading a novel based on an American civil War battle and whenever the writer’s non fictional character is saying something that is found in history books, he would use italics so the reader would know that the words are part of recorded history and not the author's creation.

What puzzles me is some books use these techniques and others don’t, how do I know what technique to use?

[blacbird]

You might check something like the Purdue OWL for the MLA style guide as to how to handle such things. It applies to academic writing, but the formatting for handling quoted material is pretty straightforward and clear. Italics are not used for such things, but longer quotes are set off as "block quotes" with uniform indentation.

In fiction, italics tend to be used (sparingly) for occasional emphasis of a word or phrase, or sometimes to indicate unexpressed thoughts.

caw

[guttersquid]

"Did you see that movie about the RMS Titanic? It's called Titanic."

"You're wrong, amigo. It's called A Night to Remember. I bought the DVD from Amazon.com."

"No, you're wrong. I read about it in the New York Times."

"Maybe you don't know what the word wrong means."

[Chase]

Originally Posted by guttersquid

"Did you see that movie about the RMS Titanic? It's called Titanic."

"You're wrong, amigo. It's called A Night to Remember. I bought the DVD from Amazon.com."

"No, you're wrong. I read about it in the New York Times."

"Maybe you don't know what the word wrong means."

Thoroughly enjoyed your examples of italics for names of ships, foreign words, movie titles, names of newspapers, and emphasis on special words.

I’m amazed a website would be italicized.

More:

USS Enterprise easily sailed under the Golden Gate Bridge while the restored Enola Gay flew over.

Amtrak’s Willamette Valley was a daily train connecting Portland and Eugene, Oregon, in the ‘80s.

"Kansas City" was my favorite song in Broadway’s Oklahoma!
　
In fiction, many writers use the alternative of italics to indicate thoughts as different from the spoken word: Perfect, she thought, another wasted kiss on a frog.

Probably not useful for most writers, but I use italics to indicate silent sign language: Name-me-B-O-B, he signed. Nice-meet-you-too.

[msd]

Originally Posted by blacbird

You might check something like the Purdue OWL for the MLA style guide as to how to handle such things. It applies to academic writing, but the formatting for handling quoted material is pretty straightforward and clear. Italics are not used for such things, but longer quotes are set off as "block quotes" with uniform indentation.

In fiction, italics tend to be used (sparingly) for occasional emphasis of a word or phrase, or sometimes to indicate unexpressed thoughts.

caw

Thank you for the web reference, I will use it.

I also found another reference book similar to the MLA.

I find it to be a little pricey, but I have a lot to learn.

A Writer's Reference: With Exercises
by Diana Hacker

[Theo K. Sly]

For those of you planning to publish on Kindle, you should be aware that KDP does not allow the use of italics. Createspace does allow italics, but that is for paperback publishing, not e-book. Therefore, if you use italics in your writing, you should do it for a specific reason, then, if you decide to publish on Kindle you need to get that purpose across some other way.

For example (in Createspace). "I was surprised that she said that to me.
(In Kindle). I was surprised that she said that to me--her dear friend who loved her.

Sincerely,

Theo K. Sly

[absitinvidia]

Originally Posted by Theo K. Sly

For those of you planning to publish on Kindle, you should be aware that KDP does not allow the use of italics. Createspace does allow italics, but that is for paperback publishing, not e-book. Therefore, if you use italics in your writing, you should do it for a specific reason, then, if you decide to publish on Kindle you need to get that purpose across some other way.

For example (in Createspace). "I was surprised that she said that to me.
(In Kindle). I was surprised that she said that to me--her dear friend who loved her.

Sincerely,

Theo K. Sly

I find this incredibly hard to believe. Can anyone confirm this? The KDP site says you can use italics.