On Mon, 17 Feb 2003, Steven Brust wrote:
> At 06:19 PM 2/17/2003 -0800, Philip Hart wrote:
>
>
> >On Mon, 17 Feb 2003, Steven Brust wrote:
> >
> > > At 05:58 PM 2/17/2003 -0800, Philip Hart wrote:
> > > >I don't in fact use exclamation points.
> > >
> > > I do, occasionally. I'd miss them if they were gone.
> >
> >Outside of dialogue? Here's another example of why I'd like to have
> >your works accessible by search engine.
>
> I can't think of when I've used them outside of
> dialogue. But...uh...dialogue doesn't count for some reason?
>
On the one hand, if they're not good enough for you outside dialogue...
On the other, dialogue is a specialized part of writing, it seems to me -
something rare outside of fiction and I mostly write poetry and no
dialogue so this is an academic discussion for me. But anyway, here's
early SKZB:
The jhereg had taken the power, and was handling it all, by the green
scales of Barlen!
I remember I found that sentence to be weakened by the exclam. Now I
don't feel that quite as strongly. Here's some recent:
"There!" said Sethra, suddenly.
"Vlad!" said Sethra sharply...
"_Left_!" said Loiosh...
In the first sentence I'll grant you the exclam. if you drop the
",suddenly". In the second I think you could do with just the "sharply".
In the last I think having Loiosh "say" something is weird but the exclam.
is needed.
> >I'll call it the AOL-effect if you don't mind me overgeneralizing. A
> >simple example is the conversion of many Shakespeare quotes into cliches.
>
> Perhaps a poor example. No matter how hackneyed the cliche has become, a
> really good writer can still invest new life in it. Witness: _Too Too
> Solid Flesh_ I believe the title is, by Nick O'Donahue. SF murder
> mystery. Highly recommended, if you can find it.
To me this example works in my favor - I would be less likely to buy _Too
Too Solid Flesh_ than say _Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said_ or _Darker
Than You Think_ - I would be wary of someone trying to cast schlock as
literature by quoting the Bard of Avon.
- Philip