Should weapon names be in italics?

[Harbinger]

I know GRRM uses it for his names but I wasn't sure what the 'proper' format calls for.

 

[T.Allen.Smith]

In my opinion this is a purely stylistic choice. Whatever works best for you.

I probably would not but only because I tend to reserve italics for the few times I want to draw close attention to internalized thought.

 

[Myshkin]

In my opinion this is a purely stylistic choice. Whatever works best for you.

I agree with this. Though one technique I've always liked is simply turning the name into a proper noun. Capitalize it the same way you would a character's name.

 

[Anders Ämting]

I say no. They are just names, like person names or city names or pet names.

Really, why would they be in italics?

 

[Ireth]

I would just capitalize them. Italics aren't necessary there. I would, however, italicize the name of a boat or ship, as it seems to be the norm.

 

[Benjamin Clayborne]

I know GRRM uses it for his names but I wasn't sure what the 'proper' format calls for.

No he doesn't. Ice and Longclaw (and all the others I could find) are written in plain text, not italics.

 

[SeverinR]

Using Italics and Underlining

The rule on italics.

Names of vehicles yes, names of weapons...not seeing it in this rule.

Personally, I like seeing the rules when they are available.

 

[psychotick]

Hi,

Like the others I'd say no. If a weapon has a name like Excaliber, it's just a proper name as far as I can see. And despite the rule quote above I wouldn't do it for ships either. I'd reserve Italics for particular seperate sections of text, for example showing what's printed on a page of another spell book or what have you. And even then if I had the MC actually reading it out loud it'd simply be in normal text as a line of speech.

Cheers, Greg.

 

[thedarknessrising]

He swung Cleaver in an arc over his head, destroying waves of goblins as they advanced.

He swung Cleaver in an arc over his head, destroying waves of goblins as they advanced.

I guess it all depends on your style, huh?

 

[Benjamin Clayborne]

I think this is a rule that exists only because there's widespread agreement. I can't think of any logical reason why ship names should be italicized but weapon names shouldn't; it's probably just the way things developed, and so now it's "wrong" to italicize a weapon name simply because generally people don't italicize weapon names.

 

[Jared]

I think this is a rule that exists only because there's widespread agreement. I can't think of any logical reason why ship names should be italicized but weapon names shouldn't;

Ships (and named vehicles more generally) are typically named after some understood reference (people, places, things). There's a difference between taking control of the Golden Hind and of the Golden Hind, or going to the Shenandoah and to the Shenandoah.

I don't know if that's the reason, but it is a reason. Of course, it could have arisen out of a desire to visually distinguish the proper noun from the surrounding text (Google's not telling me when this norm developed), just like you put a book's name in all caps in a plain text query letter.



For the latter, it does open up the plausibility that in-world writings could do something different to visually separate out named swords in kept records.

So, to Harbinger, I would echo everyone else in saying that real-world rules say to just capitalize it, but don't be afraid of having your in-world documents do something different if swords are important enough that they'd want their names to stand out on paper.

 

[Benjamin Clayborne]

Ships (and named vehicles more generally) are typically named after some understood reference (people, places, things). There's a difference between taking control of the Golden Hind and of the Golden Hind, or going to the Shenandoah and to the Shenandoah.

I don't know if that's the reason, but it is a reason. Of course, it could have arisen out of a desire to visually distinguish the proper noun from the surrounding text (Google's not telling me when this norm developed), just like you put a book's name in all caps in a plain text query letter.

Sure, but why would ship names need distinguishing and other names not? I honestly think it's more likely just an artifact of earlier English. Ship names got italicized (they were written about a lot); weapons were named very rarely and so nobody bothered.