: Re: How to format common words that are made "special"? In my novel, there's something that the characters refer to as "darkness". It symbolizes the bad thoughts of depressed/suicidal people.

@Kevin153

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For this specific case, I don't see a reason to set it off. In fact, I would likely find emphasis-by-formatting distracting.

Here's why I don't think you need to do anything special:

You've already mentioned the darkness. You've described it in a vivid, visceral way. Then you immediately refer to it as "this darkness." Readers will know that you're referring to the special meaning that you've just described. The vivid expression, followed immediately by using that term, give it a great deal of weight in the reader's mind.

Later, when you repeat the word, that recalls the visceral description. The repetition gives the word all of the emphasis you need.

That said, if you don't format it specially, any non-special use of "darkness" may convey a meaning you do not intend. My advice for that: Find any non-special uses and reword those passages, either to use a different word, or to make clear from the context that the word is used in its normal sense.

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