I don't have an issue with that, at all. That's using italics for emphasis, and some characters are just all about the emphasis. The Hero's Walk just happens to be a great example of how, when you really scale back on the emphasis, that when it does show up, it's like suddenly yelling FIRE in a silent theater. It stands out, double-time.
That said, certainly there are plenty of characters who are lots of fun and emphasize every other word. But if the story is also getting italics for any non-English word [used by them, in narration, and by anyone else], then you can see how the messages can get mixed: is everyone going extra-heavy (emphasis) on the foreign words, or is that use of italics just to tell me that it's not English?
I've read my share of stories where I've actually taken a character (or several) to be ultra-emphatic with non-English words, only to realize belatedly that it was just house-style: emphasis gets it, and foreign words get it, and I wasn't supposed to read every single blipping non-English word as WOAH LISTEN TO ME. Talk about getting a completely different take on the characterization, there.
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Date: 6 Jul 2011 01:12 am (UTC)That said, certainly there are plenty of characters who are lots of fun and emphasize every other word. But if the story is also getting italics for any non-English word [used by them, in narration, and by anyone else], then you can see how the messages can get mixed: is everyone going extra-heavy (emphasis) on the foreign words, or is that use of italics just to tell me that it's not English?
I've read my share of stories where I've actually taken a character (or several) to be ultra-emphatic with non-English words, only to realize belatedly that it was just house-style: emphasis gets it, and foreign words get it, and I wasn't supposed to read every single blipping non-English word as WOAH LISTEN TO ME. Talk about getting a completely different take on the characterization, there.