Alright, again, I know I haven't posted anything in awhile. It's been super crazy since March 17th...lockdown! Isolation! 6 feet distances! Not to mention the melting of days into other days and the sheer boredom of trying to keep busy without going stir crazy. For me though, being multi-talented I have and I mean this literally, a room full of art supplies. So, I have been feeding myself with art, because before all this nonsense, I was writing. Now, I have all the time in the world, so art became my choice of recreation if you will. What does this have to do with punctuation marks? Nothing! I'm just spewing jibber jabber.
Punctuation marks...what the stylebooks aren't telling you. I am mentoring a new, young, author and so I post stuff like this for him and for others following the path of becoming published. The thing you must know is read...read...read some more, but for goodness sake READ! Read the genre you are writing about and then when you do, just write. Everyday! Write. Set a time for writing. In a place where you won't be disturbed. A place that transcends peace. A place where your muse won't get scared coming into and taking a long vacation.
Commas are subjective. One editor says this, another says that and you go back and forth; it can be exhausting. In the end, it's up to you. Use them to manage the flow of your sentences. Trust your instinct. It's sort of like Star Wars and being a Jedi when dealing with commas. "Use the force." (trust your instinct.)
Semicolons - Remove them from dialogue. People don't usually talk in semicolons unless they're trying to hide something. Most of the time, a full stop (period) rather than a semicolon will do the trick.
Question Marks- These are used to show the upward inflection at the end of a sentence. When someone is coming to a conclusion rather than asking a question, use a period instead of a question mark.
Exclamation Points - Usually, they lower the status of a character who uses them all the time, since they show loss of control. In a series of commands, because of escalation, the last one might have an exclamation point, but not the first. So, you might write, "Swim faster. Hurry! but not "Swim faster! Hurry!"
Italics - Use italics to denote thoughts and quotation marks to distinguish the speakers during dialogue. Using quotation marks for thoughts confuses readers, who won't know if someone is talking or thinking.
Em Dashes - (this is my weakness) In dialogue, use an em dash to show someone getting cut off: "Come here."
"No, I - "
"I said come here!"
Ellipses (another of my favorites to use) - Use ellipses to show that someone's thoughts are trailing off:
"Come here."
"No, I . . . "
A pause. "You what?"
"Oh, sorry, I lost my train of thought."
So, there you have it. This came from my favorite magazine, Writer's Digest. It is chalk full of great information, websites just for authors, agents, publishers, everything a writer, like yourself, needs to know.
Good luck with your writing. Don't get discouraged if your muse decides to sleep when you want to write. I put on music and that's what wakes mine up. "Happy writing!"
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