italics in conversations.

Another newbie inquiry. My two primary characters can communicate with each other when the are apart, or when they are with others and they don't want them to know. I used this italics for this dialog. When they are together, and or with others involved in normal conversations I didn't. Is there any point to the italics in the first place if the reader understands they can do this in the first place?

Thank you, I should clarify. One is a female (primary protagonist) AI that uses holography to appear. This is done with such fidelity that an observer present believes she is real. Her partner is male and human. He has implants and can wirelessly communicate/talk with her (subvocalizing, no telepathy). The reader learns this very early on. When they are by themselves this is the way they usually talk, it's easier. When with others conversation is verbally audible. There are scenes where both occur. Normal conversations are occurring with others and they are saying things to each other privately. This is the principal place I used italics. I make the assumption when they are by themselves that this is just conversation and the reader doesn't care how it's done. Right now in places I have done some flip flopping in some scenarios that are sort of in between to tryout various options and to see how it reads.

Thanks pingle. The difficulty is huge portion of the novel's dialog would become italic and that seems awkward to me. I've been trying to use it only when it I think it's important to the story and or for the reader to know this is happening. In effect the AI character is always wirelessly communicating. Sometimes she uses a speaker to be audible and at other times doesn't need to. An important aspect of the premise, and the inherent story conflict is that she is a real woman. Because she does not have a physical body doesn't make her less of a person or a woman. I don't want this to get lost or diminished so I/she works at normalizing her interactions. It's an interesting perspective from my viewpoint to work with.

Thank you for the feed back Bufty.

pingle said:

I can't help musing over whether the impact of the reader considering your character a real women would be more powerful if they came to that conclusion despite there being ways in which she is obviously not organic, I'm sure you cover that elsewhere, especially as you say the reader learns this early on, just a thought on why italics wouldn't necessarily take her authenticity away.

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Thanks pingle. I get what you're saying and the reality that she is less than organic often works its way into the story. Her partner understands this (he first knows her as a talking black cube, six chapters later she is real) but she is uncomfortable in showing she is less then real in front of him at times, if she doesn't have to. This diminishes over time as their relationship develops. This reality is also more comfortable for her partner who over time sees her as always being real, she is and quite remarkable.

Lakey said:

I wonder if it would help to use a distinct word to describe the communication that isn't audible. You can default to "said" as the verb for audible communication, and then use the other word you choose when it needs to be explicit that the other kind of communication is going on. For instance, suppose you call it "transmitting":

"Would you get a load of this guy?" she transmitted to her colleague across the room. Then, to the man who had addressed her, she said "Why no, I've never heard a line like that one before."

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Thank you for the input Lakey. I do variants of your suggestion at times. “No, you can't withstand the altitude. Get off the lift right now,” reverberates in his head.” is an example. You can't do that verbally and yet it's not in italics because they are talking to each other. I try in most cases to stick to the said and asked to stay in the norm.

Also thank you TellMeAStory, Harlequin and Matt Walker (I read the three chapters and liked them) for the input.