Y is for YELLING, and how to punctuated it. |
Each
post for the A to Z Challenge is the challenge I set for myself.
I'd yell if someone made me wear that hat. |
Y is for Yelling and how to punctuate it.
There are a variety of words to say someone shouted but if you have already put an exclamation mark (!) it is telling the reader the
character shouted.
Most of the time, if the speaker is obvious, it is fine
to omit the redundant word: screamed, shouted, bawled, bellowed, hollered,
howled, roared, whooped, yelled etc.
These words are useful if the speaker is screaming a
question.
“You want me to put your food on a silver plate?” shouted Hal.
“If I find one, I’ll be happy to do that. And, drop it on your head!”
The exclamation mark is not used for sarcasm. It is not
used in the narrative either (eg All day, the wind had cut through the courtyard and
bitten at Hal until hands were red and raw!) This is author intrusion. Yelling only takes
place in dialogue.
Could YOU have been gifted with the ability to identify
and eliminate weak and brittle phrases from your work? To the uninitiated,
these interlopers look like quality imagery.
CLICHÉ RAIDERS: REWRITE!
• year in,
year out
• you can
bet your last penny
• you can
lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink
• you
can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear
• you
can’t teach an old dog new tricks
• you
can’t win ‘em all
• you
could have knocked me down with a feather
• you pays
your money and takes your choice
• your
guess is as good as mine
• you’re
only young once
FOR Y, I CHOSE YELLING AND ITS RELATED PUNCTUATION. WHAT IS
THE SUBJECT OF YOUR Y POST?
I love you're post. Sometimes the exclamation mark is entirely over used.
ReplyDeleteHi Patti
DeleteExclaiming all over the place can be a character trait, but one you'd be hoping the character grew out of ;)