Writing Tips for Speakers: Tip #12–Use Italics for Emphasis Sparingly

Posted on May 28, 2019 by Foxworld

Remember the story of the boy who cried wolf? Keep it in mind when you use italics for emphasis.

Used conservatively, italics tell the reader, Notice! Vital information!

But when you use them too liberally, italics have the opposite effect. You come across as someone who yells a lot, and readers will soon ignore your shouting. Then when you really do need to highlight a point or give weight to a word, your italics will have lost their credibility and clout.

The Chicago Manual of Style says, “Seldom should as much as a sentence be italicized for emphasis, and never a whole passage.”*

(The same is trebly true, even quadruply, for using boldface in running text. As a rule of thumb, don’t. It looks weird. See?)

Before you italicize a word or a phrase, let alone a sentence, ask yourself the following:

  • Is what I’m about to say really so vital that it calls for a signal flare?
  • Do I need to have greater faith in my readers to put the right inflection on my sentence or to grasp the significance of my information?
  • Am I resorting to italics to make up for a weakness in my writing? Can I instead refine my verbiage to make my point more forcefully without shouting?

Other Uses of Italics

Adding emphasis is only one use of italics. They are also used

  • for titles of books, blogs, journals, movies, and television and radio programs.
  • to indicate thought. (Aha! thought Elise. So that’s where he’s been hiding!)
  • to highlight foreign words.
  • to show a word that is about to be defined.
  • to call out the first appearance of an unusual or technical term.

All of these uses of italics are common, and this discussion doesn’t apply to them. Here our concern is for you to refrain from crying “Wolf!” unnecessarily. Then your italics will get attention when it counts.

_______________

* The Chicago Manual of Style, 17th ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2017), 7.50.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Writing Tips for Speakers: Tip #12–Use Italics for Emphasis Sparingly

Writing Tips for Speakers: Tip #11–Keep Your Manuscript Simple

Posted on May 27, 2019 by Foxworld

Some manuscripts look as if the writer was trying to be a designer as well. It’s easy to get too fancy. Please don’t. Keep things as simple as you can.

No artsy chapter heads and subheads. No special formatting. No images embedded in the text, except for basic charts. Leave the interior layout to a designer. He or she will know what to do when the time comes. That time is not now–not when you’re writing. Keep things simple and clean. Anything more will only complicate matters down the road.

Here is what I mean by simple:

Use Microsoft Word. Other writing apps are acceptable, but Word, with its powerful editing tools, is the standard.

Use just one font. The standard for running text is 12-point Times New Roman, though any similar serif typeface will do. Use a larger type size for chapter heads and, if you wish, for subheads.

Double-space your lines and set them flush left.

Create a separate digital file for illustrations, photos, and other artwork. Designate each image (e.g., 1, 2, 3; a, b, c; table 1, table 2; etc.). Then in your manuscript, where you wish to place an image, set directions in angle or square brackets (e.g., <figure 1.3 about here>). Use high-quality photos to ensure crisp reproduction. Include your image file when you send your finished manuscript to your editor.

Determine your subhead hierarchy. You probably won’t need more than two levels of subhead, but you can allocate a C- or D-level, or as many as you need. You may also want a unique subhead for a special part of every chapter–say, a “Questions” section. Whatever your needs are, think them through and devise a simple system to visually identify the subheads you’ll use. Here is an example:

  • A subhead: 14-point, bold, centered, headline style
  • B subhead 12-point, bold, flush left, headline style
  • C subhead 12-point, bold, italic, flush left, sentence style
  • “Application” subhead: 14-point, bold, italics, centered

Subhead designations are just a means of telling the editor and designer at a glance how you’ve organized your material. The designer (aka typesetter, compositor) will determine how each subhead level will translate best into the actual layout of your book’s interior. You’ll have a say in that, of course. But let the compositor weave her artistry first. It’s what she does.

Indent block quotes. Use block quotes for lengthier quotes of more than a hundred words. They’re also effective for highlighting certain shorter text, such as key Scripture verses. You can reduce the font size by a point or two, but it’s not necessary.

One Caveat

If you are working with a publisher, that publisher’s guidelines should overrule any of the above points in the event of a conflict. For instance, the publisher may want you to identify subheads a certain way, or they may have a preferred means of handling images. Always defer to the publisher.

Overall, though–particularly if you’re sef-publishing–these simple guidelines will help you produce a manuscript that is easy for an editor and designer to work with. That will save them time. It could save you money. And it can save all of you some hair-tearing.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Writing Tips for Speakers: Tip #11–Keep Your Manuscript Simple

Writing Tips for Speakers: Tip #10–Watch Out for Tense Flipping

Posted on May 26, 2019 by Foxworld

When you begin an anecdote in one tense, maintain that tense till the end. If you start in the past tense, stay in the past tense; if you open in the present tense, close in the present tense.

Maybe this advice seems like common sense, but it’s not-so-common practice. I often catch authors flipping from present to past tense midstream in a short narrative. Sometimes I feel like a spectator at a badminton game, watching the tenses fly back and forth like a shuttlecock over the net.

Illustrations from the Bible are particularly subject to tense flipping. An author will write,

Jesus and his disciples decide to cross to the other side of the Sea of Galilee. It’s a pleasant day, warm, the sun shining. They hop into a boat and head across the mirror-smooth waters. Jesus, exhausted from the rigors of ministry, decides to catch a nap in the stern.

It’s a fine start. Many Christian writers like to use the present tense in portraying a biblical scenario. But then comes the next paragraph.

And then all hell broke loose. A furious storm pounced on them out of nowhere. The placid sea became a maelstrom, mountainous waves crashed over the side, and even the experienced fishermen among the disciples knew they were in trouble.

What just happened? Suddenly we’re thrust into the past tense, and the lack of a transition leaves us feeling jarred, disoriented.

Tense flipping becomes even more awkward when it happens back to back between sentences and even clauses:

Saul, overwhelmed by jealousy, tried to pin David to the wall with his spear. David flees for his life. Saul wound up mustering his troops and hounding David through the desert. Twice David had an opportunity to kill his deadly enemy, but both times he refuses to take the matter into his own hands.

How does your head feel after reading that? Mine hurts. Past tense or present tense: let’s have either one or the other. But not both. Please. We’re so confused!

Buried Tense Flipping

So far we’ve looked at obvious examples of switched tenses. A more insidious scenario can occur when a writer injects commentary into an anecdote, thus fragmenting the account. The commentary can take on a life of its own, and the tense used in the actual anecdote easily gets changed.

Jesus and his disciples decide to cross to the other side of the Sea of Galilee. It’s a pleasant day, warm, the sun shining. They hop into a boat and head across the mirror-smooth waters. Jesus, exhausted from the rigors of ministry, decides to catch a nap in the stern.

Isn’t this picture a lot like our own lives! How often do we sail forth on an untroubled day, the skies of our circumstances cloudless . . . but then the weather changes. Drastically. Fearfully. As it did for the disciples in their small craft in the middle of deep waters suddenly darkened by a storm.

All hell broke loose. A furious squall pounced on them out of nowhere. The placid sea became a maelstrom, mountainous waves crashed over the side, and even the experienced fishermen among the disciples knew they were in trouble.

In this case, the culprit is the word did in “As it did for the disciples. . . .” It creeps in subtly and dictates the tense of the next paragraph, and our vignette, which began in the present tense, now continues in the past tense.

The Solution

What to do in the above situation? Do we want to maintain the present tense? If so, then let’s switch did to does and fix the last paragraph. Or do we decide that, gee, we really like how the past tense feels? If that’s the case, then we need to edit our opening paragraph accordingly.

The good news is, correcting flipped tenses is usually easy. Just pick which tense you want to use. Then go through your anecdote and change any verbs that don’t agree with that tense to ones that do. For instance, here are my edits of the Saul and David account, shown in both past and present tenses.

Past Tense

Saul, overwhelmed by jealousy, tried to pin David to the wall with his spear. David fled for his life. Saul wound up mustering his troops and hounding David through the desert. Twice David had an opportunity to kill his deadly enemy, but both times he refused to take the matter into his own hands.

Present tense

Saul, overwhelmed by jealousy, tries to pin David to the wall with his spear. David flees for his life. Saul musters his troops and hounds David through the desert. Twice David has an opportunity to kill his deadly enemy, but both times he refuses to take the matter into his own hands.

* * *

Switching tenses is common in speaking. It is also inevitable and necessary in the broader scheme of writing; however, it normally requires a transition of some kind. In an anecdote, a tense change should be avoided unless it’s deliberate and carefully handled. The best solution to tense flipping is simply to be aware. Awkward changes in tense sneak in when a writer is so focused on what she is writing right now that she’s not attuned to its context. So keep tabs on your tenses.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Writing Tips for Speakers: Tip #10–Watch Out for Tense Flipping