When going through the final edit of a galley, the tension mounts. This is the last opportunity to make changes, fix rogue quotation marks, commas and capitals. It is during the ‘line’ edit that most arguments occur about capitals. At least that is what I am finding.
For fantasy writers, the names of races, countries, religions etc are fairly simple. They get capitals when proper nouns, and also when adjectives. Less obvious is the use of capitals for nicknames, common titles, like ‘outlaw’, ‘thief’, ‘captain’. At times they will be part of a title like Captain Jack, and that’s simple. It is when they are used to identify a person spoken to, they are often given capitals when really they don’t deserve them.
Anyhow, I digress. There are rules to help sort out the use of capitals and since they are now one of my pet peeves, I thought I would address their usage here. Comments are welcome!
Basic Rules For Using Capitals
1. Start each sentence with a capital letter. Can’t go wrong with that one.
2. Most lines of poetry start with their own capital letter. Not all, but in most cases. Not quite so simple, but not too difficult to follow.
3. When referring to titles of films, plays, books, works of art, or events the most important words each get a capital letter. Game of Thrones, Chronicles of Caleath, The Lord of the Rings, Pirates of the Caribbean.
4. Proper nouns always get capitals. George, Tolkien, Marshall, Mother, Dad. With Mum and Dad, if you refer to them as my mum, my father, they don’t get the capitals. Only when used as their name. This is where it starts to get confusing. ‘His mother told him to tell Father, it was dinner time’. But it would be ‘His mother told him to tell his father it was dinner time’.
Of course, if it was Father Ted, it would always have a capital, a religious title for a priest is Father with a capital. See how it becomes confusing?
5. Place names, cities, streets, countries, tourist destinations, all get capitals. George St, Sydney, Australia, The Opera House, The Harbour Bridge. Easy?
6. If an adjective is formed by the use of a proper noun then it claims a capital. Australian, French, American, or from the Chronicles I use, Ferran, Vergöttern, Karadorian etc. Pretty straight forward for capitals. Gets more complex when using possessive tense.
7. Ok, don’t forget yourself. The pronoun ‘I’ always gets a capital. Hey, because you’re worth it.
8. When using titles or abbreviations of titles, always give them a capital when they come before a name. Master Phillip, Mister Jones, Mr and Mrs Middleton, Miss Marple, Captain Tennant. When they are alone, they aren’t treated with the same respect.
9. If you break down words into acronyms they get capitals. RSVP, SWAK.
10. Days of the week, months of the year, and days we celebrate get capitals. Only when they are referred to as a proper noun. (second Wedding Anniversary, but on her anniversary he gave her…)
11. Trademarks or brand names get capitals. Mattel, Marvel.
So that’s not too bad. Easy enough to follow?
When do we decide we will NOT use capitals?
1. Don’t be tempted to use a capital after a semicolon. It’s not the place. UNLESS it’s a proper noun. A list of names, of course, would rate capitals.
2. The fantasy author often has a chance to refer to kings and queens, dukes, archimage, captains etc. So, you have, ‘The queen grants you an audience.’ But, “Queen Anne, grants you an audience.’ Unless accompanied by a name, or they are a proper noun, they don’t rate a capital.
3. Ok, the days of the week get capitals but for some reason, the seasons don’t. Does that seem fair? So, winter, spring, summer, fall/autumn… lucked out.
4. When giving directions, or setting your heroes off on their quest. Directions don’t rate capitals either. ‘Take your quest north, till you reach the crossroads, turn west, ride into the setting sun. When you reach the coast head south.’ Unless you are referring to an area, ‘The inhabitants of the South have been hit by plague’, or ‘the North Pole’.
My friend Wendy Laharnar author of “The Unhewn Stone”, commented on another rather confusing usage of capitals. Where ‘west’ becomes a proper noun, by placement. ‘The army approaches the West Gate, Sir Rudolph.’ But loses it in ‘at Altdorf’s west gate,’ where it is only a common noun.
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Now, although setting down points like this seems simple enough, when you come to editing, things become debatable. What seems simple now can become confusing when facing a query. If you like to use words like outlaw, captain, princess, maid, lady, my lady, bosun, shipmate, boy, mage, miss, master, sir, etc, be prepared to consider each usage. Unless they have a name with them, they shouldn’t rate capitals.
Whatever you do, if you choose to use capitals and it’s not questioned, be careful to keep whatever you use CONSISTENT. Many editors will accept your choice of capitalization, because it can vary from country to country. Germanic styles will always use capitals and rightly so because in German all nouns common and proper have capital. They have it easy! Fantasy can have its own set of rules. So, whatever you decide. Keep it consistent.
