Unnecessary Exclamation Marks are Erotic

[Spitfire_23]

Maybe I've just read too many stories with bad punctuation now, but I've started to feel that the exclamation mark adds an erotic suggestion to writing. For example:

“Are you sure you wouldn’t rather do something else?”

“Like what?” Derek asked, trying to avoid staring at her magnificent breasts.

“I was thinking we could fuck like rabbits for the next two hours!”

Seems a lot more arousing than:

“Are you sure you wouldn’t rather do something else?”

“Like what?” Derek asked, trying to avoid staring at her magnificent breasts.

“I was thinking we could fuck like rabbits for the next two hours.”

Which is far more understated. Either the exclamation mark has taken up a new meaning for me, or it's just the blatant exclamation (SEX!) is much hotter than the quiet statement (sex.)

I guess they both have their proper uses, but that exclamation mark there feels wrong from a literary perspective, but very right from an erotica perspective.

Opinions?

 

[tolyk]

"... for the next two hours.” she said as she sucked in her lower lip.


It isn't just the punctuation that can modify that example. However, I don't really agree with you. I don't find it more erotic with the exclamation mark. But it is bland without it. The context doesn't seem like she is shouting, or anything that would deserve an exlamation mark. The period version however seems drab and boring, which is why when you need added flare to a sentance, you add in description.

“I was thinking," she said as she sucked in her lower lip, "that we could fuck like rabbits for the next two hours.”

 

[BlackShanglan]

Exclamation points actually have the opposite effect on me, possibly because I have often seen them overused. I do concede that they add emphasis and can be useful, but one has to be careful with anything used for emphasis. You can't emphasize everything, or you end up emphasizing nothing - and that, in a nutshell, is my most common experience of exclamation points.

Shanglan

 

[shereads]

It's the rabbits that make it erotic.

 

[Guest]

I agree with you, Spitfire! But, then again, I am rather an exclamation mark whore.

It does make it feel more sexy and erotic. She said it with excitement and feeling. That's how it reads to me, anyway. Without the exclamation mark, it's more like a flat statement, rather than an incredibly horny invitation.

I even speak with exclamation marks at the end of my sentences. I can't help it!

Lou

 

[domjoe]

God, lou you really turn me on. You make me really horny. Oh, I'm coming. There, all done.

 

[Guest]

Now go lie down for a while.

 

[pop_54]

I agree with you, Spitfire! But, then again, I am rather an exclamation mark whore.

It does make it feel more sexy and erotic. She said it with excitement and feeling. That's how it reads to me, anyway. Without the exclamation mark, it's more like a flat statement, rather than an incredibly horny invitation.

I even speak with exclamation marks at the end of my sentences. I can't help it!

Lou

That's because it's phallic dear, question marks on the other hand suggest pain to me.

 

[Guest]

That's because it's phallic dear, question marks on the other hand suggest pain to me.

Heeeeeeeheeeeeeeeeeee!!!

That's a good point, actually! No wonder they have that effect on me.

 

[domjoe]

That's because it's phallic dear, question marks on the other hand suggest pain to me.

What does a colon suggest to you?

 

[Guest]

What does a colon suggest to you?

word association...colon... flacid...go figure

 

[gauchecritic]

Hello joe!

Don't know about erotic but when I see an exclamation I'm always put in mind of the Aus rising inflection at the end of sentences when making statements rather than asking questions. Y'know!

 

[dr_mabeuse]

I don't have a problem with either one. An exclamation point only means that the statement's made with emphasis.

It's:

“I was thinking we could fuck like rabbits for the next two hours!!!!!”

that I don't like.

And if you use too many exclamation points in your dialogue, then (1) you don't have a way of marking real emphasis when you need it, and (2) your dialogue comes off as sounding like your characters are shouting all the time.

Also, an exclamation point used outside of dialogue always looks very amatuerish to me. It breaks down that wall between the author and his audience, and is the print equivalent of an elbow in the ribs.

---dr.M.


---dr.M.

 

[carsonshepherd]

In the heat of the moment I sometimes use exclamation points. But then in the edits I take them out. I want the description and dialogue itself to be erotic and exciting, not the !!!!'s.

 

[Colleen Thomas]

I think I am more guilty of using exclamations with question marks. When something really shocking occurs I cant seem to resist the !?!. Luckily for me my editor can and does

 

[Guest]

I find nothing erotic about punctuation marks, except for the perfectly used comma (private joke).

Loulou, does a bold exclamation mark get you off faster?

Perdita

 

[Guest]

I find nothing erotic about punctuation marks, except for the perfectly used comma (private joke).

Loulou, does a bold exclamation mark get you off faster?

Perdita

Yes, the bolder the better, baby.

 

[pop_54]

Yes, the bolder the better, baby.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Guest]

!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That just sorted me out. Cheers, Pops!

 

[dr_mabeuse]

I think I am more guilty of using exclamations with question marks. When something really shocking occurs I cant seem to resist the !?!. Luckily for me my editor can and does

I always thought that ?! was a legitimate punctuations mark.

Remember the "interrobang"? It was a new punctuation mark that combined the exclamation point with the question mark and it was okayed by some official body (I don't know who: the World Advisory Committee on Punctuation Marks or someone) but it never caught on. ?! is just like a serial interrobang.

How else do you punctuate "What the fuck?!"

---dr.M.

 

[domjoe]

I invariably use it the other way round. !?

 

[Guest]

Remember the "interrobang"?

---dr.M.

That sounds like fun!

 

[domjoe]

First LOL of the day. Thenkyou.

 

[Guest]

I invariably use it the other way round. !?

I like to put the ! between Mexican ?s. Only for very special use though.
¿!?

Perdita

 

[Spitfire_23]

Other reasons exclamation marks are erotic:

They're naughty. Normal, polite people aren't allowed to overuse them

They're jarring. If the reader was drifting off, he has to snap to attention.

They're phallic, as already pointed out. Other punctuation marks are phallic too (the percentage sign comes to mind) but the exclamation mark is almost blatant.

Speaking of phallic punctuation, the letter B is extremely hot.