A few weeks ago, I started to read a book by a self-published author. As I chugged through the first chapter of this science-fiction novel, I was getting into the story, but one thing was annoying me. The author had really overdone it with the exclamation marks.
Now, I’m not saying never use an exclamation mark, but this guy overwhelmed me by ending every other sentence with this punctuation. I wish I were exaggerating. He took an otherwise interesting story and ruined it. I couldn’t get past the second chapter. Same thing.
Moral of the story is to avoid the temptation to use exclamation marks and let the words speak for themselves. No need to yell at the reader something exciting is happening.
I talked about this in my blog last year.
Here are some links to articles I came across this week while reading about the writing craft:
- 8 “Moments” You Absolutely Need to Deliver to Your Readers… And One That You Should Hope For
- Editing: The Three Levels Of Hell
- How the Highlighter Tool Can Help You Write Faster
- 10 Powerful Visual Storytelling Techniques for Writers
Photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels
Andrew M. Friday 