Punctuation What about This? ---> !

Wow. after looking at that, I would need a bottle saying "Drink Me"!

 

I think the point is, use them where they're needed, but make sure first they really are needed.

Say, if I were transcribing Meg Ryan's exhibition in the cafe in the movie When Harry Met Sally, I'd be using exclamation points. A lot of them.

 

What are people running to count their exclamation points?

 

No the "F" word.

 

I'm just using the search function in my processor (Libreoffice). Find all tells me how many characters and words are selected. Not sure how it works in Word.

 

Same. Ctrl-F, type in an exclamation mark, get the count.

 

In the current WIP (sequel) there are 30 exclamation marks. (44,125)
To be fair the MCs get thrown into loud situations, where normal
talking is not going be an option.

 

Oh, the ellipsis. I am SO guilty of that one. I use it a lot in my informal writing. For some reason, it's second nature to just key in three (or four) little ...s.

They are very useful when they are needed—to indicate something is trailing off rather than ending abruptly, for which you'd use the m-dash, or ending normally, for which you'd use the full stop/period. But they are a pain in the arse if they're used like salt and pepper, to season a piece of writing.

They are one of my worst personal writing habits, and I always need to go through and take them out. Always.

 

When I was younger I wrote this character (and he was a main character) who had the verbal quirk of trailing off with every single sentence. Even if he had a couple sentences to a line, he'd trail off between each one. I still go back and forth between finding it hilarious and cringing.

 

OMG. Are we twins?

 

“Look out!!! Jump, Jimmy!!!! Now!!!!!”
The exclamation point is used to provide emphasis and to convey a sense of urgency. Many inexperienced writers seem to think that if one point is good two or more is better. No! One exclamation point is all anyone needs to achieve the desired emphasis. Using more than one or using the exclamation point too often only offends the reader. -Dan Baldwin ,Author-

I Stole this off a writers page on FB. What do you all think of this mess of a tip, from an author?
To me it just seems sloppy and amateurish.

 

The tip seems to be to not use more than one exclamation point, which seems to be what you're agreeing with, so... I'm not sure how it's a mess of a tip?

I'd certainly agree that using that many is silly. I can't say I'd never use more than one, but I can't recall ever having done so.

 

I must have misread it then.

 

Using more than one definitely comes off amateurish to me, and I don't think you would see it in a properly published book. It's as ridiculous as using three commas in a row to,,, I don't know,,, emphasise that a new clause is coming?!

Mind you, I do like the old interrobang.

 

I'm an ellipsis whore. To be fair, since I'm writing smooshy romances, there's a lot of trailing off that happens when my characters are flirting or gauging interest in each other. But yeah, I use them a lot in dialogue.

Regarding the OP, I'm shocked that there are only 114 exclamation points in my first book. There's a lot of shouting in cooking competitions, and when it comes to the intimate stuff I enjoy writing loud, vocal sex scenes. I'd have thought there would be a lot more!.

 

Well, shoot. I prefer WordPerfect to Word, but it doesn't let you run counts of individual words or punctuation marks. Phooey.

But I think I have an app for that.

 

Okay, I found an online app. At the moment, I have 286 exclamation marks in 51,196 words, and that includes the places in my outline notes where I go, like, "Research this!"

Meh. I'll look the text over and take a lot of them out. But not all. I hope that won't cause my crit partner too much anxiety.