Submitting a story to FF.net

[lwf58]

Multiple question marks or exclamation points are a bad habit and are not used in publishing, so I guess I can understand why they might want to remove extras.

By the way... Interrobangs are written ?! when you can't used the real symbol, not !?. That's because the dominant punctuation is the question mark, not the exclamation point. The exclamation is just there to add emphasis to the question.

[Spokavriel]

I thought that it was question mark first because in most font sets when you do that it at least still keeps the marks in contact.

[Crescent Pulsar]

I favor !?, myself. Looks nicer. Plus, at least to me, it's easier to notice a question, before the end of sentence, than an exclamation. Spotting an exclamation before you reach the end of a sentence is usually done by following the context. Whereas you can spot a question by the kind of words used in a sentence. It's kind of like CSS logic, to me. The words are closer to the subject than the overall context. Since it's more likely to figure out a question than an exclamation, before seeing the punctuation, I prefer to use the exclamation first. But, in the end, I don't really see how it should matter.

Actually, I can probably guess that it's more proper to end a sentence with only one punctuation mark. But I'd like to think that prose should be flexible enough so writers can do it whichever way they like.

And this is why I don't consider myself a writer. ;p

[Ellen Kuhfeld]

Actually, I can probably guess that it's more proper to end a sentence with only one punctuation mark. But I'd like to think that prose should be flexible enough so writers can do it whichever way they like.

And this is why I don't consider myself a writer. ;p

Oh, I believe! But I too prefer to do it my own idiosyncratic way. For instance, I treat a semicolon as a strong comma, and parse my quotations like a mathematician rather than a grammarian. If a quote is only part of a sentence, the period comes after; if it's the whole sentence, the period is inside the quotation marks.

I remember one grammar book telling me that yes, my way made sense; but it wasn't how the rules worked, so I should do it their way. Never did get along with the argument from authority.

[AshK1980]

I guess each place where you post fanfiction has its own rules and regs. Oh well, *Shrugs* such is how life and writing works in mysterious ways.