Writing 101: And the worst advice I've seen · 1:57am Aug 29th, 2021
Writing is about putting words together, so that the reader can understand you.
It's about the choice of words. It's about the order and syntax. It's about language and linguistic, accent and dialect.
That is the foundation of writing, and any writer who aspires to become an excellent writer must understand that.
The Internet is filled with advice on writing, but the worst advice is here on fimfic.
I love colours, and bold and italic text are both great ways to emphasise things.
This is the worst advice I have ever seen IF you want to improve your WRITING.
You will spend time and energy on the wrong solution instead of the vocabulary and the vernacular, which I mentioned is the foundation.
You will fix bad sentences or poorly conveyed imagery with formatting instead of fixing the prose.
You will never improve your writing as you add more and more layout as a crutch.
You (and your circle of fans) will create your own make-belief on how formatting is to be interpreted. What bold means. What italic means. Perhaps make up a legend so new readers can understand your color-coding, typeface changes, underline, sub/superscript, fontsize and other tricks you invent, but your prose will never evolve as it can't be judged by itself. (It may also alienate readers with another opinion on formatting.)
I'm not saying you shouldn't use it, but IF you use it, be aware that you are NO LONGER WRITING, you are engaging in typography, typesetting, desktop publishing, and layout. That's not writing.
If you must use bold/italics/color for the reader to get the point and understand you - you are a bad or lazy writer. 
I agree that style and formatting can be an excellent help to explain, and using a smiley (a bad thing for a writer) will help the reader understand I'm not too serious. Or as this wannabe writer once said: "When words fail, use a smiley!"
Many people feel they must use formatting or the sentence will be misunderstood.
Let me borrow this excellent example from Jatheus blog.
I never said we should kill him.
I never said we should kill him.
I never said we should kill him.
I never said we should kill him.
I never said we should kill him.
I never said we should kill him.
I never said we should kill him.
When you have a one-liner like that, it's time to step up as a writer. Since your text must be free from all formatting you either need a clear context or you must rephrase it. (Context: When we read Pinkie Pie says "That's fun" we will interpret it differently from when Cranky donkey says the same thing.)
- "It wasn't I who said we should kill him."
- "I would never say that. Never!"
- "Him? I never said we should kill him!"
- "I never said that everyone of us should kill him."
- "I never said we should actually kill him."
"I never said we should kill him," she berated the violent solution.
Or if you're about 2/3 of the writers here:
- "I never said we should kill him," she chuckled.
(Yeah, the chuckle-one was a joke, but I made a lot of text-analysis on how that word is used.)
When all the readers who don't know you, or your world, or had training with your prose, still managed to interpret your text correctly and what you're trying to convey - THEN you can add some formatting, if you think it's a good idea.
For some type of literature it may even be essential.
If you're writing computer code, most editors will color-code keywords and variables.
A book about coding will usually switch between regular fonts and monospaced depending on explanations or examples.
If you're writing poetry, line-breaks are usually essential to structure it in a way so people understand it is poetry. Especially if it rhymes your line-breaks will be needed.
Any book where the publisher used bold/italics or anything like that, will explain as early as possible what they mean by it. (Check the Dummies series for example.) If your fiction doesn't explain what bold/italic means, then you can't presume the reader will understand it the same way you do.
If you succumb to layut-writing instead of using words, be aware that a majority of the population on this planet doesn't use the latin alphabet.
Anyone trying to translate your color-coded desktop publishing painting to CJK (Chinese/Japanese/Korean) will have a hard time since those glyphs doesn't have the same history with formatting.
Yes, even the "obvious" bold and italics, can't be directly translated to many foreign languages... because it's NOT writing.
So in Summary: Nobody is omnipotent and very bad advice can be mixed with very good.
For example the advice in this blog are bad if you write for fun, and the layout is what makes it fun.
But otherwise don't be afraid to always draft, edit and evaluate your own and anyone else's writing as pure text. (Download .txt and... Go Notepad!)
You may also notice I'm a hypocrite since I use CAPS LOCK at some places in this text to underline the point. I use it in blogs for emphasis and in fiction to emulate shouting, while being fully aware that there is no easy way to differentiate "hello" and "HELLO" when translating to CJK. (Old famous writers never had to resort to caps lock.)
I'm gonna be honest with you - I LOVE CAPS LOCK, just like EZN love colors.
But I made my homework, and I'm also aware that in the old days (pre computers) capital letters was NOT shouting even though I use it like that.
Fun Fact: All caps seen in today's EULA comes from tradition. They're not using it for emphasis. They're not using it for shouting. It's so the old crummy fine print in the most important section (according to company lawyers) should be easier to read, hence they used block letters.
Note: Although most writers toss in formatting to strengthen the prose and compensate for lack of adverbs and adjectives, there are a few (very few) who add it as a way to enhance the text and readability, similar to punctuation. I believe My Fluttering Heart (by Titanium Dragon) on how it can be well done. (And still enjoyable if your EPUB reader lacks formatting.)
caps lock for shouting is fine because that is how everyone reads now.
5574948
Since I love to use caps I will definitely agree with you.
You do know that's not the advice they were giving, right?
5583851
Yes I know. It's a huge post full of pretty much the best advice in various categories. The section about colors and how to emphasise things is a small subset line I decided should preface this blog when I talk about the dangers of moving on to work on the layout instead of editing the text until it's finished.