by Lisa Beach

Created on: May 26, 2009

Out of all the things writers worry about while creating a good story, punctuation and the effect it has on a reader is dead last, if thought of at all. Dashes; periods; commas; semi-colons and the like - who cares? Right?

Well as odd as it seems - as subtle as the effects of punctuation are, it DOES matter. Look at it this way: when you are talking to someone, and want to make a point, your pauses, adding phrases as after-thoughts, or additions to what you are saying - even listing different items [recipe ingredients for example] - ALL are examples of punctuation.

Or as you walk and talk to a friend, you mention a topic that reminds you of another. "Oh and by the way" or some similar phrase signals the topic is about to change, even though they are related.

It sets up the reader by using pauses: dashes, commas, colons etc., so the reader knows what to expect. A colon [:] indicates a momentary pause of thought that connects 2 related thoughts. Semi-colons are normally used to list things, where the writer wants more of a pause than a comma, and a comma [,] indicates a slight pause that has light impact a period does not.

Now as for the way punctuation creates transitions, the writer creates it by the punctuation mark [s]he chooses, and how it sets up one sentence for the next. But a bit of warning here: avoid using ellipses [...] and exclamation marks [!] unless they are absolutely necessary. An ellipse is a mere trailing off of speaking, and an exclamation point practically screams at a reader. Ninety-nine percent of the time, neither are needed.

For example, instead of yelling an exclamation, a writer could indicate the anger or feeling insulted through dialogue and/or description, as indicated below:

Allison pushed her chair back abruptly, startling Stan. She leaned forward; fingers splayed on the worn table, muscles taut in her arms, and said through gritted teeth, "How dare you talk to me that way." The corner of one eyelid twitched as she held back her anger: after all, they WERE in public. It wasn't her nature to make a big scene when others were around.

Notice not only how an exclamation mark wasn't needed to get the point across, but also the varied length of sentences. Because they are short, long, and medium, they give the reader a sense that Allison is angry, but not to the boiling point yet. Short, taut sentences convey not only a faster pace of story, and rising danger, but they also ratchet up the readers sense of something about to happen

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