: Re: Are modern authors still using colons and semicolons in dialogue? Not sure if it's just my idea but I rarely see colons and semicolons in dialogue (especially in modern novels). Is it because

The real answer here is:

Whatever makes your message the most clear to your readers.

Learn to use punctuation as properly as possible, because this is what people learn at schools. Since they learn it there they tend to understand it as common usage and it's easier for them to gather meaning. And since most people learn to read at school, a common set of expectations arise.

Imagine if everyone defined their own meaning for the period. Some might use it to indicate a contraction such as don.t (don't) and others might use it to indicate a capital word such as .sally (Sally.

It could get to be a ridiculous mess.
So, the answer is:

Learn the rules of writing that the largest number of readers will
recognize.

Isn't it interesting that no one worries this much about speaking?
So, if you make your writing sound very similar to your speaking, then you'll probably match the greatest percentage of readers anyway. I generally speak without any use of a colon or semi-colon.

Besides those symbols originally simply indicated length of pause for a speaker who was using notes.

Can you read this:

"I'm extremely annoyed," said Ted.

"What do you mean? Is it because the mail is late today," Julie
asked.

"What? No." Ted waved a piece of paper frantically in the air. "The
city just hit us for 6 months of taxes. All at once."

"Oh no."

"Yep, it's that new semicolon law; the one that charges .00 for
every time a person speaks a sentence with a semicolon in it."

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: How Much $ For Advances? My friend and I are writing a fly fishing book about the renowned and unknown rivers in Oregon. There is a decent audience from this book and we have had two publishers

: Re: Are modern authors still using colons and semicolons in dialogue? Not sure if it's just my idea but I rarely see colons and semicolons in dialogue (especially in modern novels). Is it because

More posts by @Phylliss352

: Criteria used by acquisition editors (for Fiction or Non-Fiction) What are the criteria an acquisitions editor uses to judge whether or not s/he accepts a manuscript for publication?

: Differences Narration often employs first person point of view, using words like "I" and "me," while other modes including description do not. The biggest difference between the two is that a

: Why are the paragraphs of a document often indented and not vertically separated? A quick side by side comparison of two layout styles: Left: no indent and with white space; right: indented,

: How Much $ For Advances? My friend and I are writing a fly fishing book about the renowned and unknown rivers in Oregon. There is a decent audience from this book and we have had two publishers

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