A friend of mine once posted on Facebook that she loves commas so much that she tends to overuse them. To which she received numerous comments from her geeky friends (including me) regarding which punctuation marks were their favorites.
One friend owned up to adoring exclamation points!!!
Another, ellipses . . . (and another, parentheses).
I, of course, love my em-dashes and hyphens and I use them constantly even when writing—pen-and-paper writing! I think it’s due to the fact that my brain starts and stops in thought and conversation—much like this—and I want to mirror that in my writing—to get my voice and inflection across.
Sometimes there are longer pauses as I fish for just the right word . . . I like to be precise and to make sure my point is well understood.
I also love exclamation points! They convey my zest for life, and the joy I find in so many things!!!!
And really, can one actually have too many commas? I submit that, when placed correctly, one cannot! There should neither be too few nor too many, but precisely the right number. Thank you, Mozart, for that fine line! (Amadeus (1984). If you haven’t seen it, it’s a great movie! Even if it is historically inaccurate.)
Perhaps . . . one can have too many commas. Or ellipses or exclamation points or even em-dashes.
Yet punctuation conveys personality in a character or in the writer’s voice itself.
Quashing them altogether dulls the shine, makes the specific tone of a writer generic or vanilla. You want to sound like you—not like someone else, or worse, no one in particular!
Work with me and we’ll find the balance together, neither too many, nor too few, but precisely the correct number of commas or exclamation points or [insert your favorite punctuation mark here]!
Adapted from an original post on April B, Soprano (November 6, 2013)
Ping me to set up a free consultation anytime!