Execute the Exclamation!!!!
by Andrea Merrell
You might be wondering about the title and exactly what I mean by executing the poor little exclamation point. After all, what's he done that's so bad?
Actually, let’s look at it two ways, according to Merriam-Webster’s.
You might be wondering about the title and exactly what I mean by executing the poor little exclamation point. After all, what's he done that's so bad?
Actually, let’s look at it two ways, according to Merriam-Webster’s.
First, we can "carry it out and produce what is required or
expected to give validity to." We can also "perform the fundamentals properly and
skillfully."
Second, we can kill it—wipe it out—put it to death.
To prove this point (no pun intended), let’s look at a
portion of literary agent Chip McGregor’s blog post, What Drives an Editor Crazy?
Someone wrote to ask a favorite
question: “Are there certain editing errors that drive you crazy?”
Yes! Of course! Here’s one!
Novelists who use exclamation points as though the period key didn’t work on
their keyboard! I hate this! Really! What’s worse is the writer who needs to
use several at once!!!!!
As an editor, I say a hearty "Amen!"
Are we saying you can never use exclamation points (EPs) in
your writing? Absolutely not. The key is to know when and how to use them
properly. They are appropriate when someone is shouting or showing extremely
strong emotion.
Example: As three-year-old Susie was about to wander into
the busy street, her mother shouted, “Susie, stop!”
In most cases, writers use unnecessary EPs when they are
trying to make a point (pun intended), or they are very excited about what they
are sharing. I once edited a book that contained anywhere from 200-300 EPs—honestly—no
exaggeration. All but two or three were deleted from this otherwise excellent
book.
This is an issue that could cause immediate rejection of
your manuscript by an agent, editor, or publisher. Don’t take that chance.
Limit your EPs to personal e-mails, texts, tweets, and FB messages (notice I
said personal . . . not professional).
To eliminate this problem altogether, use strong verbs and more
showing. Trust your reader to get it. Anything in your writing that is
redundant (exclamation points, italics, quotation marks, ellipses, en and em
dashes, words, or phrases) will wear on your reader. We will touch on these elements
in another blog post. Until then, leave a comment and share your battle with
the infamous EP.
TWEETABLES
Execute the exclamation! via @Andrea Merrell (Click to tweet.)
How many exclamation points are too many in your manuscript? via @Andrea Merrell (Click to tweet.)
Execute the exclamation! via @Andrea Merrell (Click to tweet.)
How many exclamation points are too many in your manuscript? via @Andrea Merrell (Click to tweet.)
(Photo courtesy of rachellegardner.com)
Andrea,
ReplyDeleteThank you for this post. As a rookie writer, my editor gave me this rule of thumb for the use of exclamation points: "Only use if someone is shrieking." Now that I'm an editor, this is my policy as well.
Honestly, a submission with misused and overused exclamation points reminds me of an adolescent teenager writing a journal entry. The next thing I look for is whether she dots her eyes with little tiny hearts. It's unprofessional and has ROOKIE written all over it.
I second your post -- stay away from overuse if you want to be taken seriously as a writer.
Thanks so much for your input, Lori. This is one of the hardest habits for writers to break, but a MUST for clean and professional manuscripts.
Delete