: Personally, I wouldn't use punctuation to indicate the tone change at all. Punctuation marks are like modifiers - use them too often and they loose their effect. This is commonly acknowledged

Personally, I wouldn't use punctuation to indicate the tone change at all. Punctuation marks are like modifiers - use them too often and they loose their effect. This is commonly acknowledged with the exclamation point especially, but holds true for many and perhaps all punctuation marks, with the possible exception of the period and quote marks during dialog.

If I wanted to convey a change in tone, I would actually describe the tone I was after or use descriptions of gestures or facial features to explain it.

"Well he's a," she paused for a moment, her mouth working silently as she racked her brain for the right word, "well just a different sort of person, I suppose." She made air quotes with her free left hand when she said "different."

All standard punctuation, but the text itself should help explain the tone and meaning.

If you must use punctuation rather than words, Kate has provided a variety of useful suggestions.

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: Personally, I wouldn't use punctuation to indicate the tone change at all. Punctuation marks are like modifiers - use them too often and they loose their effect. This is commonly acknowledged

More posts by @Alves689

: Is it possible to figure out the ROI of an MFA? Given that there are a few jobs where an MFA (Masters of Fine Arts) in creative writing is preferred as a writer or editor, is it possible

: How should I break up chapters in a novel? Is it acceptable to pace my chapters in terms of an event? Can I get away with a 4 page chapter here, and a 30 page chapter there? Are there

: Will science fiction as a genre ever go the way of the western? It is a fairly undisputed fact that the genre of western fiction has had a declining audience for decades. The Western Writers

: Are there good writing exercises for compressing expression? I recently sat down and wrote a poem after a long hiatus. It was a narrative poem with a formal rhyme scheme. I'm pretty dissatisfied

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