• Basic Writing questions is not a crit forum. All crits belong in Share Your Work

Very confused and frustrated. Should I use Italics or not?

Lalaloopsy

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Oct 25, 2015
Messages
171
Reaction score
6
Hello!

Basically, I don't know what to do. Are all thoughts put into italics, even if some of them are in third person?

Here's an example.(The bold ones are third person, and the italics are actual thoughts he's saying to himself in his head.)

---------------

Frankie was tired of always being left out. Why should his brothers get all the glory when he was the one who funded the whole damn thing? His daughter, who was clearly embarrassed of her father's accent, liked to pretend she didn't know him. It wasn't like she was so great; Frankie was actually ashamed of her. His only child, a lazy leech who did nothing with her time aside from getting high, getting arrested and blaming him for everything. It wasn't worth trying to rebuild their relationship. What would the point be?


I don't even want to be a father. She's a big girl now, and it's clear she doesn't wanna know me.


Sure, he felt guilty about bringing her into the world, but she made her own choices. Was he the one who asked her to stab that guy in the leg? No.


He shrugged. Maybe in the future things will be better.




----------------

Thanks so much for reading. Any advice is welcome.
 
Last edited:

Lakey

professional dilettante
Staff member
Super Moderator
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Apr 20, 2017
Messages
2,714
Reaction score
3,965
Location
New England
Hello. Don’t be frustrated. :) The third-person thoughts are narration and do not need to be put in italics. That’s how close third-person narration works; it’s fine and such indirect-thought statements will be understood to be within the head of the POV character. Only the direct quotation, first-person thoughts need to be in italics, and even those I would use very sparingly. For instance, your last sentence there could just as effectively be an unitalicized “Maybe in the future things would be better.”

(I’d probably even change the “I don’t even want to be a father” one to “He didn’t even want to be a father...” but I am a big fan of intimate third-person perspective and VERY sparing use of direct thought. Others might disagree.)

I recommend you pull out a couple of your favorite published books that are in close third person POV, and read a chapter or two very closely looking for how they handle this. You will develop a feel for writing indirect thought in third-person narration that will ease your confusion and frustration.

:e2coffee:
 

Lalaloopsy

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Oct 25, 2015
Messages
171
Reaction score
6
Hello. Don’t be frustrated. :) The third-person thoughts are narration and do not need to be put in italics. That’s how close third-person narration works; it’s fine and such indirect-thought statements will be understood to be within the head of the POV character. Only the direct quotation, first-person thoughts need to be in italics, and even those I would use very sparingly. For instance, your last sentence there could just as effectively be an unitalicized “Maybe in the future things would be better.”

(I’d probably even change the “I don’t even want to be a father” one to “He didn’t even want to be a father...” but I am a big fan of intimate third-person perspective and VERY sparing use of direct thought. Others might disagree.)

I recommend you pull out a couple of your favorite published books that are in close third person POV, and read a chapter or two very closely looking for how they handle this. You will develop a feel for writing indirect thought in third-person narration that will ease your confusion and frustration.

:e2coffee:

Thanks! This puts my mind at ease.
 

TrapperViper

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 26, 2019
Messages
564
Reaction score
151
Location
United States
I've really fallen for the mythcreants podcast group. They cover so many of these sorts of topics. Last week I listened to this podcast that I think directly addresses your question.

https://mythcreants.com/blog/118-emphasis-in-writing/

It seems to be the consensus that italics and other types of emphasis should be used sparingly. That said, I think your genre will impact this decision too. My understanding is that YA has more italics in thought than adult fiction.

Lakey's feedback seems pretty relevant to the feedback you are looking for.

Close third person is very fun to read...
 

Lalaloopsy

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Oct 25, 2015
Messages
171
Reaction score
6
I've really fallen for the mythcreants podcast group. They cover so many of these sorts of topics. Last week I listened to this podcast that I think directly addresses your question.

https://mythcreants.com/blog/118-emphasis-in-writing/

It seems to be the consensus that italics and other types of emphasis should be used sparingly. That said, I think your genre will impact this decision too. My understanding is that YA has more italics in thought than adult fiction.

Lakey's feedback seems pretty relevant to the feedback you are looking for.

Close third person is very fun to read...

Thank you!