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Exclamation Points!!! To what extent!

BWFoster78

Myth Weaver
I'm struggling with this one right now. My writing group got on me pretty hard a couple of times recently for using too many exclamation points in my dialogue.

By too many, they pretty much mean any.

On one hand, I agree with this statement:

If you can't express emphasis with your words, actions, and verbs, you don't help yourself by using artifical means like making the words ALL CAPS or using exclamation points!!!

On the other hand, this seems off:

He yelled at the evil guy. "I'm going to kill you."

Doesn't "I'm going to kill you!" work better here?

When and how often makes sense to you?
 

Caged Maiden

Staff
Article Team
I rarely use them myself, but when I do it is in the exact circumstance you gave. If people are being silly, let them. You are doing it right. That was what the exclamation point was invented for, to be used when one exclaims.
 

Ophiucha

Auror
I think exclamation points are fine when the character is exclaiming something. After all, you don't not use a question mark just because you could add "asked" or "questioned" as the verb. It still needs a question mark in order to be a question, so logically, it still needs an exclamation mark in order to be an exclamation.
 

T.Allen.Smith

Staff
Moderator
I don't mind exclamation points as long as they are few & far between.

However, I prefer to use action tags to describe things that make the reader understand there's heated emotion (reddening skin of the head or face, facial features contorting, a hand clenching down on the hilt of a sword).

You can also add to the effect by using italics to draw emphasis to certain words in dialogue. Combined with an action tag this can work very well as long as you choose the right word to emphasize.

I'm not saying don't use exclamations. I'm just saying sprinkle in some other techniques that aid you in communicating extreme emotion. Then when you do use an exclamation it elevates the dialogue to an even higher degree, not just blending in with the other exclamations that came before and therefore making all the emotion with exclamation seem the same.

I'm working right now or I'd offer some examples.... Hope that helps though.
 

Caged Maiden

Staff
Article Team
I think this is where people hate them: He ran for cover but didn't duck in time and his head smacked right into the wall!

Like then it's the narrator shouting it at the reader rather than the character shouting.
 

ArielFingolfin

Troubadour
My poetry writing teacher used to say you get one exclamation mark in your entire writing career, so use it wisely. But that was poetry (and not supposed to be taken completely literally). Still, the point remains: use them carefully. I don't see a reason to use them at all outside of dialogue because people don't really think in exclamations. And if you listen to the way people speak, they rarely speak in exclamations as well. When they do, it tends to be only a handful of words. In your example I think the exclamation is fine. However (and this is the point my teacher was trying to impress) you can't use an exclamation to inject emotion when it's not already there. If there's no emotions (anger, excitement, etc.) to back up and support the exclamation, then something needs to change.

And that's what I have to say about that :)
 

BWFoster78

Myth Weaver
I think exclamation points are fine when the character is exclaiming something. After all, you don't not use a question mark just because you could add "asked" or "questioned" as the verb. It still needs a question mark in order to be a question, so logically, it still needs an exclamation mark in order to be an exclamation.

Actually, I think the argument could be made not to ever use "asked" or "questioned" because it's redundant.
 

BWFoster78

Myth Weaver
I don't mind exclamation points as long as they are few & far between.

However, I prefer to use action tags to describe things that make the reader understand there's heated emotion (reddening skin of the head or face, facial features contorting, a hand clenching down on the hilt of a sword).

You can also add to the effect by using italics to draw emphasis to certain words in dialogue. Combined with an action tag this can work very well as long as you choose the right word to emphasize.

I'm not saying don't use exclamations. I'm just saying sprinkle in some other techniques that aid you in communicating extreme emotion. Then when you do use an exclamation it elevates the dialogue to an even higher degree, not just blending in with the other exclamations that came before and therefore making all the emotion with exclamation seem the same.

I'm working right now or I'd offer some examples.... Hope that helps though.

That's the thing. I'd never consider using italics, all caps, etc. to emphasize a word. That being my viewpoint, should I never use exclamation points? Still, saying "I will kill you." seems stupid without it.

I'm still torn.
 

BWFoster78

Myth Weaver
My poetry writing teacher used to say you get one exclamation mark in your entire writing career, so use it wisely. But that was poetry (and not supposed to be taken completely literally). Still, the point remains: use them carefully. I don't see a reason to use them at all outside of dialogue because people don't really think in exclamations. And if you listen to the way people speak, they rarely speak in exclamations as well. When they do, it tends to be only a handful of words. In your example I think the exclamation is fine. However (and this is the point my teacher was trying to impress) you can't use an exclamation to inject emotion when it's not already there. If there's no emotions (anger, excitement, etc.) to back up and support the exclamation, then something needs to change.

And that's what I have to say about that :)

I think you're probably right. As anihow also said, only use them a) exceedingly sparingly and b) when they're supported by other techniques.
 

ThinkerX

Myth Weaver
"Help me." or "Help me!"

'She died,' thought the anguished hero.

versus

'She died!' thought the anguished hero.

The man turned and charged straight into the fray.

versus

The man turned and charged straight into the fray!
 

ArielFingolfin

Troubadour
"Help me." or "Help me!"

'She died,' thought the anguished hero.

versus

'She died!' thought the anguished hero.

The man turned and charged straight into the fray.

versus

The man turned and charged straight into the fray!

I don't like the last one. I really feel that exclamations are best left to direct quotes or onomatopoeias (which also should be used carefully).
 

T.Allen.Smith

Staff
Moderator
BWFoster78 said:
That's the thing. I'd never consider using italics, all caps, etc. to emphasize a word. That being my viewpoint, should I never use exclamation points? Still, saying "I will kill you." seems stupid without it.

I'm still torn.

I wouldn't use all caps either but why are you against using italics to emphasize a word?

If its a stylistic consideration that's one thing but italics are perfectly acceptable to use in this manner.

Just curious....
 
That's the thing. I'd never consider using italics, all caps, etc. to emphasize a word. That being my viewpoint, should I never use exclamation points? Still, saying "I will kill you." seems stupid without it.

I'm still torn.

It is entirely appropriate[SUP]1[/SUP] to use exclamation points in dialogue, if a character is shouting. Any claim to the contrary is, frankly, absurd.

Using exclamation points in narration is generally considered to be a bad idea, with the exception of "personal POV"; that is, if the narration is in first or second person, or is in third person as if the narrator is a character telling a story, rather than an omniscient narrator. Even then, there's an acceptable case: When the narration is describing a character's thoughts. But it's easy to overuse them, so be cautious.

Here's some examples of where ! are entirely acceptable:

James turned the knob. Mary gasped. "Are you mad? That's going to blow up the ship!"

I never liked Mickey. He was always trying to feel up my sister. One time I caught him at it when we were at church. Church! I couldn't believe him.

Darrek looked out over the field. He bounced on his toes, excited at the prospect of a visitor come to their village. It had been years since the last one, and he'd been too small then to understand what was happening. Charley had said that the visitor might be a warrior–or even a knight! Darrek kept shading the sun from his eyes, trying to glimpse the newcomer.


An example (y'only really need one) where ! are ill-advised:

Tim came around the corner full throttle, and sprinted up the stairs. His legs ached, but he shouldered open the bedroom door, raised the shotgun, and fired!



[SUP]1[/SUP] "Appropriate" means "very few readers, if any, would be bothered by it." There are no hard and fast rules in grammar; there is only what you can get away with.
 

The Din

Troubadour
Inside of dialogue, an exclamation mark is simply punctuation, like a question mark or full stop. Sure there are douchebags out there that will turn up their noses, but they're probably the same ones that will use every other tag so as not to say 'said', or never ever use 'was' or 'as' and end up with convoluted fecal mush.

Course it should be used sparingly (say, when people are exclaiming), but to refuse to use them at all reeks of childish arrogance imo.
 
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Ophiucha

Auror
Actually, I think the argument could be made not to ever use "asked" or "questioned" because it's redundant.

Certainly. But then, you could just as easily argue never use "yelled" or "shouted", and that an exclamation point would suffice. I'm minimalistic in my writing, so I do tend not to use unnecessary dialogue tags, but given the number of people who do say "asked" after every question, I think you could get away with it.
 
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