In Defense of Exclamation Marks

Feb 27, 2010 13:04

Most places that offer advice to new writers will tell you to not use an exclamation mark ( Read more... )

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cussedness February 27 2010, 23:34:31 UTC
I don't believe they have. A lot of it might have started with Hemmingway and his peers. But I believe that the general attempt to be literature with a capital L has also caused some of the trouble. Genre was meant to be rich in description without being overloaded with narrative and long monologues.

That's two of the basic evils that has ruined genre as gate to reading for young people and others.

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cussedness February 28 2010, 23:05:54 UTC
I fully agree. While I understand that Hemmingway et al were an antidote to some of the more overblown aspects of Victoriana, I believe the trend was carried too far. Most things do hit that point. I love Dickens.

I don't love having style dictated to me. We develop our own and I wish we had more freedom from the "do's and don'ts" crowd.

Robert E. Howard comes to mind also.

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