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robertreams said:

Boy, Julia did you strike a note with me on this one. It isn't only far out fantasy that can be ruined by slangisms (my word). Using that third person narrative embedded with just lots of cool slang is just what the doctor mostly didn't order. Strange how one or two words can make so much difference. I was editing a story for someone else the other day. Right in the middle of a hot sex scene,she said her character had a "nice" penis. Instant deflation.

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JuliaHandel said:

Great thread idea! It would help many of us for an editor to discuss proper usage of these punctuation marks: exclamation point (!) – SINGULAR, ellipsis (. . .) – THREE dots. Some of us still space our dots. How about you? Thanks!
JuliaHandel -- on the Coast of Middle Earth

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sr71plt said:

Publishing spaces the dots, so I do too. I don't use the ellipsis on the computer. (and when I edit I have to change all of those by hand. Nearly everyone uses the computer ellipsis.)

The exclamation point is hardly ever used ("An exclamation point (which should be used sparingly to be effective) marks an outcry or an emphatic or ironic comment." Chicago Manual of Style 6.71)

"An exclamation point should be placed inside quotation marks, parentheses, or brackets only when it is part of the quoted or parenthetical matter" (CMA 6.74)

An interesting point is that exclamation points can sometimes be properly used where many would put a question mark (CMA 6.72)

"How could you possibly believe that!"
"When will I ever learn!"

(no, not both a question mark and an exclamation point.)

Other than that, there's not much to say about exclamation points, because publishers don't want you to use them.

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rexbrookdale said:

I tried to find out if this has been discussed before. I apologize if this has been discussed and my question is redundant.


That said, here's my question: in a sentence, is the 'g' in 'g-spot' capitalized, as in: G-spot?

Maybe it can be written either way, as in either 'g-spot' or 'G-spot', and it doesn't matter?

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sr71plt said:

Would you believe it's in Websters(?) G-spot (G capitalized)

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