Use underlining, italics, or quotation marks for titles?

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zeldas_lullaby
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Re: Use underlining, italics, or quotation marks for titles?

Post by zeldas_lullaby »

Well, he should be more famous than Spider Man, in my opinion.

"Whenever there's a misused word... I'll be here." :auto-swerve:
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moderntimes
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Post by moderntimes »

Aaaaand, Grammarman once more steps into the fray! "It's 'Spider-Man' with a hyphen." ha ha

Hey, I should know. I've got a Marvel Comics "Amazing Fantasy #15" in my comic collection. That's the comic in which Spidey first appears. It's carefully put away right next to my first edition of James Joyce's "Ulysses" (1924, Shakespeare & Co., Paris).
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zeldas_lullaby
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Post by zeldas_lullaby »

One of these days, you're going to misspeak, and when you do... I'll be here. HA HA HA.

Awesome collection! I have a rebound Jane Eyre from 1954, complete with full-color illustrations, but it's not worth anything. I love it, though!
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moderntimes
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Post by moderntimes »

My 3 "keeper" books are my signed first edition of Cormac McCarthy's "Blood Meridian", my first edition of Joyce's "Ulysses", and my "Amazing Fantasy #15".

Google and check out what they are worth, heh heh.

I've also got a bunch of original underground comix such as Wonder Wart Hog, the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers, the Checkered Demon, and many others, like a Zap #0 and a Zap #1. Keen.

Got the "Ulysses" years ago at an estate sale. The gal I was dating at the time wanted to go and look for some nifty furniture, and I couldn't think of a worse way to "waste" our Saturday afternoon. But I liked her and we went. While she was looking around I saw a bookcase full of old books, and since I'm a bookworm, I looked them over, and saw this reddish old book and on the spine "Ulysses" and I took it out. It was a FIRST edition, Shakespeare & Co. Paris, 1924. I asked the guy running the sale "How much" and he said, well, it's in pretty good condition... twenty bucks? Man, that twenty zinged out of my wallet so fast the ink was left hanging in the air.

Sometimes ya get lucky.
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zeldas_lullaby
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Post by zeldas_lullaby »

HA HA HA... great story! And proof that something good comes from every relationship. ;-)

I thought that finding stuff like that at a yard sale was just an urban legend. Geez Louise.
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moderntimes
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Post by moderntimes »

The internet prices are for perfect condition editions, and my stuff is not-- it's been around. But the monetary value isn't the key -- it's the joy of having something fun to look at occasionally.
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zeldas_lullaby
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Post by zeldas_lullaby »

I agree. I love special things! I live in an environment where I'm surrounded by such items that I've gathered over the years, and it makes me very happy.
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Post by Tanaya »

Do you italicize a series of books? I can't find a definite answer to this.
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Post by bookowlie »

Tanaya wrote:Do you italicize a series of books? I can't find a definite answer to this.
According to the Chicago Manual of Style, you would italicise the official title of a series of books, such as The Chronicles of Amber and Lord of the Rings. However, an unofficial titile of a book series, such as the Harry Potter series, would not be italicized. I generally don't put a book series in italics, as I don't always know if it's an official name of the series.
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Post by Tanaya »

Thanks! I just went ahead and italicized to be on the safe side.
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moderntimes
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Post by moderntimes »

Bookowlie is correct. Italics for the actual name of a book or play or literary work. Don't use italics if you're just mentioning the series name in a non-official way.

But adding italics is okay. If you're consistent, that's the key. Later on, as your book or story or whatever gets published, the editors will make the needed changes. And editors or publishers do NOT care if you've departed from precise punctuation styles or rules, just so long as you're consistent. It's no biggie and all will get corrected in the galley proofs.
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Post by bookowlie »

Very true.
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jamesfcurry
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Post by jamesfcurry »

I think rules are very clean for everybody!
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moderntimes
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Post by moderntimes »

I had a recent "event" in my publishing journey. My 1st novel was published with no hassle. Then I approved the galleys for book 2 and it went into final setup. When my editor sent me the approved galleys just prior to printing, I quickly noticed that ALL the italics had been deleted! All of them.

As you know, for standard typography (mostly for fiction) italics denote a sound, a movie or TV show title, book titles, sub rosa comments made in the narrator's mind, and foreign phrases.

I immediately contacted my editor and she realized that there'd been a glitch. Apparently this new revision of print setup software had a bug and if you didn't set the options just exactly right, it would remove all special emphasis fonts, like italics. I'm guessing it would to the same for underlining or bold but neither of these are used in standard book print fonts, only italics.

Thankfully the glitch was fixed and my 2nd novel was published with the original italics in the proper place. Whew!
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Post by tortoise keeper »

Thank you! Very helpful information.
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