Credit to: Ukos Sa'cea Rienn
Textica: Emphasis.
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Anything written is written in a particular style, and with the intention of getting an idea across to its audience, whether that audience is one’s self, or others. The style changes depending on the author, but the intention – despite the fact that the message it is conveying may be completely different from one work to the next – is always present. In an effort to get the right message across, we emphasize certain parts of what we write.
There are many different ways of emphasizing any piece of text, but in order to portray what you want to portray, you need to be sure to employ the right kind of emphasis. In this Textica, I will explain four of the major kinds of emphasis, explain what makes them different, and show examples of each.
The five types of Emphasis I will be focusing on are:
1) Spacing Emphasis.
2) Punctuation Emphasis.
3) Font Style Emphasis.
4) Word Capitalization Emphasis.
5) Separation w/ symbols Emphasis
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1) Spacing Emphasis.
Spacing emphasis is extremely simple to understand. Basically, it consists of separating what you want to emphasize from the rest of the text, generally through creating a very short paragraph for it and it alone.
Typically, this kind of emphasis looks like this:
He dropped from the top story all the way to the floor.
Ten seconds later, his leg exploded in pain.
Which is a lot more interesting then if it weren’t separated, like so:
He dropped from the top story all the way to the floor. Ten seconds later, his leg exploded in pain.
By spacing what you are trying to emphasize like it is done above, you give the impression of a new thought (as though something just occurred to the speaker and they cut themselves off), a new speaker (whether or not there is in fact a new speaker), or an interruption (can take many forms, one example of which is an explosion, another is another characters entrance).
Though this kind of emphasis works well when used in the right context, it looks really odd when misused. This is probably the least used form of emphasis, not because of its ineffectiveness, but because of the rarity of its applicability.
If you intend to use spacing emphasis, be sure to double check that it makes sense, but don’t hesitate to take advantage of its usefulness.
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2) Punctuation Emphasis.
As a contrast to the previous form of emphasis, Punctuation emphasis is not only easy to use, but also very common.
Punctuation emphasis is fairly simple. It consists of the use of one of three types of punctuation: the comma (“,”), the brackets ( “(“ and “)” ), and the dash ( “-” ).
Many people use the first two, and the third occasionally sees use, but they are all equally important.
What few people think of immediately is that each of the three types of punctuation carry a different weight or importance.
The comma gives the impression that what is being separated is of equal importance as that of the preceding information, the brackets give the impression that the new information is of a lesser importance that it’s predecessor, and the dash gives the impression of greater importance.
As an example of comma emphasis,
The squad moved into the open (despite the tank bearing down on them) and opened fire on the infantry opposite them.
Bracket emphasis, on the other hand, looks like this:
The squad moved into the open, despite the tank bearing down on them, and opened fire on the infantry opposite them.
Whereas dash emphasis looks like this:
The squad moved into the open - despite the tank bearing down on them - and opened fire on the infantry opposite them.
Now that you can see the difference between the different sorts of punctuation emphasis, you have the tools to make the best choice for the impression you want to give your readers.
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3) Font Style Emphasis.
Font Style Emphasis is also a common form of emphasis, particularly on these boards. Since the boards come equipped with an easy method of applying different styles to your text, they can be quickly applied to emphasize your text.
Font Style Emphasis, however, should be applied sparing or carefully when used in writing pieces for “publication” as, as will be repeatedly noted, they can quickly make a piece seem unprofessional.
Amongst the numerous forms of font emphasis are these main three: bold text, underlined text, and italicized text.
Emboldened text is a useful way of making what is being said/written seem louder, stand out, or seem like it’s separate from the current events in the text.
The carnifex broke through. I’d heard stories about these things before, but none of them bore sense on reality. It was immense. It dwarfed buildings. We ran.
The above is a good example of emboldened text, to emphasize a small section. It can plainly be seen that emboldening the text emphasizes the text in question, but it also needs to be noted that it tends to look unprofessional, unless very well applied, and thus should be avoided, rather than encouraged, except in the right circumstances.
Underlined text has a similar function in emphasis as emboldening the text, in that it causes what has been written to seem as though it was stated more strongly than the surrounding text, or as though it was more blatantly obvious.
It tends to look like this:
“Are you telling me no one thought to look in the crates? When you knew that we were facing these things?!?”
Also like emboldened text, underlined text can look very unprofessional if over-used (i.e. used to much in a single place OR too often throughout the story), or even slightly misused, and thus should be shunned in favor of other forms of emphasis unless time is spent to ensure that it looks right, or unless the circumstances are good.
Italicized text, unlike the two previous forms of text emphasis doesn’t have the effect of making a piece of text seem louder. In fact, the use of italics can cause sections of text to seem whispered, to seem as though they were silent thoughts, or as though they are happening somewhere far distant.
The following is a good example of italicized text (and also of spacing emphasis):
“He couldn’t take much more of this.
So hungry…
Shaking his head violently, he...”
Italics also have additional uses. For example, when naming ships, writing the name in italics makes it more recognizable and memorable.
Also like emboldened text and underlined text, the over use or misuse of italicized text can quickly cause a piece to look unprofessional, and should, like all the other forms of font style emphasis, be used with extreme caution. With careful application, or a good situation, italicized text can be perfect, but time should be spent to insure it’s appropriateness.
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4) Word Capitalization Emphasis
Capitalization is one of the quickest ways of emphasizing a piece of text. All you need to do is hit the shift key, or “caps lock” until you’ve capitalized the whole section you want to emphasize.
Unfortunately, capitalization of large sections of text tends to have the effect of not only looking unprofessional, but simply looking bad. Capitalization tends to be used to show that a speaker is yelling, or speaking loudly.
For example:
“I’M TALKING TO YOU, SOLDIER!!”
It is plain that the character is shouting in the above “quote”, but if this were to continue for any extended period of time, it would begin to get terribly annoying.
Luckily, the same effect as using all capitalized letters can be easily done in a different manner. For example, the use of an exclamation mark, and the inclusion of a descriptive sentence afterwards can have the same effect, but can avoid the appearance of the capital letters.
Doing so looks like this:
“I’m talking to you, Soldier!!” screamed the sergeant in the in-attentive recruits face…
The amended version of the same sentence manages to avoid using all capitals, but still shows plainly that the character is shouting. I suggest avoiding using Word Capitalization as a from of emphasis when possible, but that doesn’t mean it must be avoided all the time, merely that attention should be paid to it’s use, and that overuse should be careful avoided.
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5)Separation w/ Symbols Emphasis
While this sounds rather complicated, it is actually very easy to do.
It works really well at easing the reader into the understanding that a change in perspective, place, or time has just occurred.
It tends to look like this:
“If only you knew.”
* * * * *
Thermo-nuclear explosions tore through the planet’s cities
To get the full effect, it really needs to be in the context of a full story, but it should be apparent that it works well.
Also, the symbols used in separation can be designed to the desires of the writer. One warning though, is that when designing your own symbols, they should be symmetrical, as that tends to look better.
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With the right application of any of these five different types of emphasis to any thing you write, you might just find that people see the story more like you do, understand it better, and enjoy reading just that little bit more. By emphasizing the right parts of your stories in the right way, you pave the way for a better reception.
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I hope that those who read this article find it useful. Sorry for it being so long.
If there’s something that you think should be written about, either in this textica or future texticas, don’t be afraid to message me and tell me what you think. Or just post. That’s good too, and probably easier.
Good luck with everything you all write in the future!
-Ukos