Writing.Com General Discussion

Bold is not used very often in fiction, but it does appear in fantasy books for... reasons. I read a series years ago that bold for whenever a giant talked. Emphasis, I guess. Underline is sometimes used to indicate that a person is talking in a different language, but we are reading it in English. Also underlined italics can be used for this. So...

Ken stared at the big Russian. "What you looking at?" he demanded.

The Russian glared at him and then smiled. He turned to his companion and said, in his native tongue, "Who does this punk think he is?"

"Oi! In English, moron!" Ken goaded.

The Russian turned his gaze to the other man. "I kill you," he growled.

Italics must be used for foreign words, and the titles of books, movies, magazines and plays. Most fiction publishers prefer writers use them for internal thoughts as well, but that is not universal. (Personally, I do.)

EDIT: The titles of albums need italics as well. But the titles of poems, short stories and individual songs only have single quotation marks about them. e.g. 'Heaven Can Wait' is a song on Bat Out Of Hell; 'So Long As Your Eyes Are Blue' is a poem in Australian Bush Poetry, Volume 2.