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Update on The Use of Exclamation Marks
Posted on November 5th, 2009 4 commentsI feel a wee bit wee-taded (retarded) admitting this… but I just figured something out. Because I may have mislead folks with my omission in my post on exclamation marks I feel the need to readddress the use of exclamation marks.
I quoted writer Elmore Leonard and said, “You are allowed no more than two or three [exclamation marks] per 100,000 words of prose. If you have the knack of playing with exclaimers the way Tom Wolfe does, you can throw them in by the handful.”
The first time I read this quote, I freaked. Only two or three exclamation marks per 100K!!! <faint> It wasn’t until my brain calmed down a bit (several weeks later) that I noticed the vital word in this above quote: Prose. Not dialogue. Prose. He’s saying don’t slam your prose with exclamation marks.
Your characters can still have shouting matches. They can yell out warnings. They can show surprise. IF it is in dialogue. Now of course, this doesn’t give us license to have everyone exclaiming all over the place (which one of my first stories did), but it allows us to portray real reactions within our dialogue. Whew!
How do I do when it comes to exclamation marks in narrative or prose? Well, I honestly think I come in well under the two or three per 100K. Yes! (There is no accounting for my blog posts though. I likey my exclaimies in bloggies.)
4 responses to “Update on The Use of Exclamation Marks”
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Ooooh, does this mean we can keep posting excitedly amongst ourselves?!?!?!?
Many thanks, Grammar Guru!
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Yes!!! I’ll put a block on the punctuation police, just in case.
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Wahoo!!!! I’m ridiculously attached to my exclamation points in blog posts. I’d be very sad to stop using them.
Also glad to hear the “rule” doesn’t apply to dialogue.
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I say, in blogs, use them freely! Like adverbs!
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I am an aspiring fiction writer (children's, women's and commercial) and an agented nonfiction writer. I am also a member, critiquer and site moderator over on AgentQueryConnect.com. And, I also blog with other fabulous writers at all stages of the writing game on From The Write Angle.
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Cat Woods November 5th, 2009 at 11:02