This is sort of a disclaimer: I've received conflicting information from a total of three different editors regarding whether or not to italicize an unfamiliar term in
Silver Awakening.
First Editing, the company I hired to do all the spelling, grammar, and punctuation, their editor italicized objects only––not titles or names or vague English descriptions of an unnamed object or idea, etc. They missed a few, but I went back and followed that format. Since then I've had two other editors/proofreaders tell me that it's not necessary to do this in a scifi/fantasy, but whichever way I go just be consistent, which is what I thought initially and why I never bothered to italicize anything when I first wrote it. So here's the thing––I do have a record of the terms I used and how they're used––I call it my Kai Language Decoder. Basically, as the publisher/author I'm making the executive decision to leave the italics on specific made up terms that are supposed to be part of the Kai'ling language, and only the Kai words that refer to an object or device, but no italics on any ideas, names, or titles, etc. I'll also italicize a Middle English term that is supposed to be a shared word, a part of the Kai language and a real word on Earth that is no longer used (I might build on the idea of shared words if I do a sequel). So, I won't italicize when it's a word that is part of Earth's languages if it is not part of the Kai'ling canon. For example, Caelestis Meditari I'm leaving alone because it is not a part of the Kai'ling language and at some point, if I write a sequel, I want to give this a name in the Kai'ling language. Caelestis Meditari is just Latin words being used to express an idea for a Kai'ling word that is difficult to translate according to a character in the story. That's it. That's the extent of my italicizing. Honestly, I thought about going back and
un-italicizing what First Editing did to my manuscript, mostly because I think it would be easier to not worry about this, plus this
is a scifi/fantasy novel, but the idea of trying to go back and undo it in both the eBooks and then re-uploading yet another print file is too daunting. I've made two updates to the eBooks already,
one for punctuation and
another to keep consistent with design editing for the print edition––updating the eBooks is quite a hassle. And every time I make a change to the print file I have to go through the entire approval process again. Besides, the terms that are currently italicized are kind of the important ones for a reader to get familiar with since they are part of the Kai language and are things that the reader needs to know. So, I think the way I have it now is good for the paperback edition.
However, considering the many strong opinions editors and publishers in the professional world have about things like this: I apologize to anyone who might scrutinize this and call it an amateur decision. I'm an indie author...I do what I want.
To my readers: I have considered sharing my Kai Language Decoder as I believe it might be a fun and helpful tool for those who are reading
Silver Awakening. The only thing stopping me is that it would be kind of a spoiler if I shared it since it contains some of my thoughts and plans for possible subsequent stories. I'm debating this...hmmm....any thoughts?
–JNP
P.S. Here's a glimpse of my Kai Language Decoder and some terms that will be part of the Kai canon that I'd like the reader to get acquainted with:
