Can someone explain to me what is so wrong with semicolons? I think they're great, and I use them wherever they're appropriate, fiction or non-fiction. I know Kurt Vonnegut hated semicolons, but he was just wrong.
I don't see any problem with them when they are used correctly i.e. to join two independent clauses that are connected by conjunctive adverbs or transitional phrases. The problem is when people use them interchangeably with commas and spray them around like confetti
A semi-colon's a perfectly good piece of punctuation. I use them as appropriate. I think some people don't understand how to use them and have therefore gotten the impression that they're stuffy or something? I'm not sure.
I hate the use of acronyms, particularly acronyms that don't exist (ATDE). You don't see it in fiction, but in non-fiction (NF) they are annoyingly common (AC). These AC ATDEs mostly appear in books on social, psychological, scientific and political subjects (SPSP) written by people who must be one-fingered typists (OFTs) who suffer from index finger fatigue (IFF) because they don't seem able to type out two or three word phrases more than once. These OFTs with IFF who write NF SPSP books with AC ATDEs must be stopped!
Creating all sorts of confusing character names that serve no other purpose than to confuse your future audience.
1) Being unimaginative 2) Repetitiveness (try to avoid it like the plague) 3) Relying too much on what you've read as an inspiration 4) Writing what you consider popular with the audience 5) Taking yourself too seriously 6) Trying to impress the reader by showing off your skills 7) Compiling an entangled plot without a clear plan how to resolve it and ultimately, re-reading your work every other day
