Dragaera

SPOILER for _Dragon_...what's up with Vlad, again?

Mon Feb 17 19:06:01 PST 2003


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