The Special Things You Do To Your Story

A/N: Uh, I don't know if I'm suppose to post today... so I'm going to anyway and I hope that's all right. :)

The Special Things That You Do To Your Story
By: Chelsea

Howdy-hi-hey again, everyone. It’s Chelsea! Let’s begin with this; me and every other author/writer on here take times out of our life to write these articles for the sole purpose of helping young, aspiring writers - you. I hope you get the best out of the articles and like I've already said; we won't make you perfect. Because, frankly, no one is perfect but we can make you the best we can.

Okay, let's get started. When I mean "special things" I mean more of the technical stuff - Wait, don't close out! This is important stuff and I'll make it as painless as I can. The "special things" are like the weird things you do the the actual text; italicizing, bolding, underlining, and just a lesson on sound effect. Yes, sound effects needs a small lesson. Let's dive into the cool stuff to the text.
I'm sure we've all seen the three, famous symbols on any word processing program: the upper-case, black "B", the slanted "I", and the underlined "U". These are important symbols, let's take them one by one!

Italicizing.
We're going to start with the "I" first! Let's refer back to good 'ol dictionary.com for this one. It's always good to start out with the formal definition from the dictionary but then it's also good to get to dumb-down version of it because, believe me, the formal definition is just confusing sometimes. Italicizing: to print in italic type. Now, this is one of the more stubborn definition with the actual word in the definition. Let's save you some confusion; italicizing a word is basically slanting it. It's simple.

Now, what is the purpose of slanting your words? Well, for emphasis; most commonly. I'm sure in at least one of the books you've read that the author has italicized or "slanted" a word of phrase. Normally, if an author does that it is to emphasize the words. Here's an example, and we're also referring back to my past lesson on Dialogue.
"Luke, I am your father." Darth Vader whispered darkly, clinching his gloved fist.
"No!" Luke stammered clinging for mercy onto the pole, "that's not true. That's impossible!"

Did you catch what I did? I italicized - "slanted" some of the text for emphasis! Now doesn't that just make your dialogue seem a bit more interesting and realistic. Because there are some people who just put more emphasis into their words.

Though, I've also seen at least one author - my favourite, in fact - italicize the language they speak in the book so you can differ from the actual text.

ALSO! I just thought of this one; this is another issue that young authors typically get mixed up or confused with. You always italicize a characters thoughts. Always. Regardless of any circumstances, always italicize a characters thoughts. When you do, it throws up a flag saying, "Okay, we're going to jump into the characters mind now". Of course, this is different from narrating but there is a difference but that isn't what I'm teaching you today.

This might be a bit off topic but I just HAVE TO tell you. Never, ever for any reason what-so-ever do you completely capitalize a word or sentence. Don't do this: WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! Please, don't do that! It's very unprofessional and it just doesn't look good. Yeah, sure it does better emphasis that your character is probably screaming at the top of their lungs but... just don't do it. Instead, italicize it. What are you doing?! It just looks, to the eyes, more appealing.

Okay, let's get a move on.

Bolding & Underlining
Here is the reason I've coupled these two instead of doing them individually: you don't typically see any bolding or underlining in books... I can't recall any time I've seen them. Actually, I take that back; I've seen it once in one series. It was a military science fiction book and so, there were some messages in book that you were able to ready and there was some bolding and underlining in there but that wasn't part of the actual body of the story. I can't... think of a reason why you were do bolding or underlining - and if you can think of one, please don't hesitate to tell me.

Let's jump into sound effects!

Sound Effects.
Sound effects are in literature to entirely enhance the story and it's just another way you can make your reader feel like they're there. Describing a sound and showing the reader what the sound would have sounded like are two totally different things. I typically use both in my writing. Let's see if I can find an excerpt from my writing:

I didn’t say anything as my throat went dry. Marcus gave me one last look before disappearing out the window and into the night. I stood there, watching his dark silhouette fade.
Chink!
The sound made my heart leap as cold metal was pressed against my temple. I froze as I realize what it was. I glanced over to see General Keller crushing the tip of a pistol into my temple.

~~Xenophobia: Ambitions, by yours truly.

Aha, did you catch that? I italicized the sound effect! Are you beginning to see how these things go hand-in-hand? One the first paragraph, your just reading and then - BAM! Chink! I did that to make it more suspenseful, which is another reason an author/writer would do that.

Don't use like hundred exclamation marks - ever. Not even in dialogue. A hundred exclamation marks is not one of the things you can get away with. Again, it looks very unprofessional and if it's in dialogue; make up for it in words. Tell the reader how the character said it; roared, bellowed, screeched, etc, etc. If it's a sound effect; don't use unleash your army of exclamation marks; please, keep them at bay. Just use one and then italicize it.
I believe my work is done, I hope it cleared up some things! :D Also, if you ever need any help or question, and I hope I won't regret this, shoot me an email or comment on here and I'll get back to you. I'm willing to help anyone in need. :)

prettyjester12@yahoo.com

~May the Force be with you,
Chelsea