Enough with the exclamation points, already!

Please don't use exclamation points in your work. Ever.

A friend who's judging a short story contest told me: "If there are more than two exclamation points on the first page, it's out."

That sounds like a harsh form of triage to me, but she's right. Exclamation points are a cheap way to try to add emotion to your work and are rarely necessary, especially in fiction. If you're writing a story, find a way to SHOW it. You don't need exclamation points.

If you're writing nonfiction and you're tempted to use an exclamation point, don't, unless you're quoting someone.

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