How do you indicate text on a plaque in a Story?

[SonicSouls]

The text in question I have is on the long side out of necessity. As such I think it looks clunky when it’s not in its own paragraph. I understand that you need a phrase like “The plague read:” preceding it. However, would I make the plague’s text a different font to differentiate it? Or, would a space before and after it be enough? Or are both needed? Thanks.

 

[Montero]

Plaque...
I'd go with italics probably.
The plaque read SonicSouls lived here
Might put quotes around it too.

Could go with descriptive variants like "the white lettering on blue plaque on the wall beside the window read/had the text/announced", or the "cast iron plaque at the foot of the statue" etc.

 

[SonicSouls]

Thanks for that advice. Also, why the smile emoji after "Plaque..."?

 

[Kerrybuchanan]

Thanks for that advice. Also, why the smile emoji after "Plaque..."?

Because your post autocorrected plaque to plague. I really hate autocorrect!

And welcome to Chrons, by the way. It’s a good place to hang out and hone your skills.

 

[Bren G]

@SonicSouls

Welcome. It's really up to you. I've a few areas like this in my novel. In one such area, my editor suggested to have it in a separate font, bold and centred. It's only three words long though and the words represent a critical part of the story.

Below is an example where the inscription possesses much less gravity, and she changed it so that the word 'open' is simply part of the sentence. Note though the 'O' is written in regular caps, and the 'pen' in small caps (I lost the formatting when I copied it in here.)

He spied a small white sign that hung behind the glass at the door’s center, the word Open imprinted upon it in bold red letters.

Hope this helps.

BG

 

[Steve Harrison]

I just centre italicised text for plaques, signs, names/titles on doors, text messages etc so I don't have to think about it.

 

[tinkerdan]

And the inscription read.

Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch'intrate​

If you mean to emphasis it then italics is good and maybe by itself a then centered on the page.

 

[paranoid marvin]

Highlighted as italics or perhaps capitals in bold; either way different to the standard text. Personally I think it reads better in it's own paragraph, but perhaps not to be repeated too often in the text. I don't know what others think but it may be worth considering the use of a colon? Also I think the use of quotation marks is optional, and it may depend on what context it is used in, so the following

The label read 'Drink Me'.

The label read Drink Me

The label read:

"Drink Me"


could all work, but may not be appropriate in the case of a plaque on a door it may help to use capitals

The sign on the door simply read:

OPEN


Or if used as part of a sentence '.... had the words DON'T PANIC printed on it in large friendly letters.'

 

[SonicSouls]

Oh, I didn't realize that. Thanks.

 

[Laura R Hepworth]

I'd use either italics or a different font. You wouldn't need to use a different font though, I just do it because I really love fonts . While the series I'm working on isn't epistolary, I do have a lot of letters in it and use a different font for each person's handwriting. I have a spreadsheet to help me keep track of them. A good thing to note though is that using different fonts can be tricky for ebook formatting and really only work well with physical copies.