: 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.

I can see a case for leaving the word alone entirely, or for capitalizing it, depending upon your intent/vision.

If the darkness serves primarily as an abstract perception throughout your story (possibly not even serving as a key focal point - just another background element of the setting), then I'd forgo any special formatting. The descriptions and the reactions from your characters (great snippets, by the way) will continue to convey its special qualities on their own.

If, however, the Darkness effectively takes on a role as a primary character in your tale, then you should consider capitalizing it. This would be further justified if the Darkness starts exhibiting disease-like, or life-like qualities. These could run the gamut from actively targeting/spreading to those without apparent cause to feel such a depression, to interacting with characters and beginning to assume a tangible presence or malevolence. In these cases, you essentially have a proper noun.

There could even be a singular transitional event which takes place to signify the recognition of this character by the actual people (or primary character and/or narrator) in your story. After this point, the Darkness could be capitalized, reinforcing this recognition. This could be a bit messy if you are presenting multiple viewpoints or have to juggle preserving the mystery versus dealing with quotes from other people who may have already recognized it for what it is, but it's another potential tool in your toolbox.

Lastly, while they have their places, I'd recommend staying away from special formatting (bold, especially) simply because they are eye-magnets. They can be quite distracting and can unintentionally lead readers to jump straight to them, potentially missing crucial details in the surrounding context (or at least causing them to re-read passages).

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: 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.

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