: Re: Using exclamation points in fiction I've heard some advice that you're only supposed to use an exclamation point every 100,000 words or so. I'm finding this advice very hard to follow; I've

@Gretchen741

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Here's a completely non-scientific random sampling based on a book I grabbed from my shelf, Honor of the Queen by David Weber. I opened random pages from around the middle third of the book (small paperback, 422 pages total):

1st random page: 1 exclamation point in dialogue
2nd random page: 0 exclamation points
3rd random page: 4 exclamation points in dialogue
4th random page: 2 exclamation points in dialogue and 1 in non dialogue (describing a character's strong feelings).
5th and 6th random page: 0 exclamation points
7th random page: 1 exclamation point in dialogue, 1 emphasizing an onomatopoeic description.

So, based on that sampling, exclamation points happen pretty regularly in dialogue and can happen in non-dialogue as well, but much more rarely which seems reasonable. I took another quick sample with Unseen Academicals by Terry Pratchett, and while he is much more judicious with his exclamation points, I still managed to find 3 exclamation points across 9 randomly picked pages (two in dialogue, one animal onomatopoeia).

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