I am on a few psychological forums where these little symbols are available and they do help with what can look like a very dry answer when it is meant to be funny etc
I am on a few psychological forums where these little symbols are available and they do help with what can look like a very dry answer when it is meant to be funny etc
YOU were lucky tonight!
You WERE lucky tonight!
You were LUCKY tonight!
You were lucky TONIGHT!
(Please imagine italics or underlining instead of the capitals.)
Four sentences with the same four words... and four different meanings.
Er....no, actually. The meanings are identical, even if emphases differ. I think caps or italics or underlines would all be unnecessary in a written piece incorporating this sentence because context ought to give the reader a clue as to how it should read.
Jummy Frog when he's as pissed as a newt: %(
@ Dan, Jonathan, Daphne, Uncle Tom Cobbleigh et al:
I heavily regret the fact that so few graphic artists take part in these discussions... and on this site in general. https://www.writersandartists.co.uk should perhaps be changed to https://www.writers.co.uk
But, alright, most of us are writers. A writer should use every tool available to her to tell the story, report the disaster, make the reader laugh, whatever. I don't know who made up that rule about "the less adverbs [and adjectives], the better", but - as far as *I* am concerned - it's an OPINION: nothing more. A certain user also keeps repeating that description should be kept to a minimum: that action should tell all. So let's throw all of Thomas Hardy's output (to give just one example) on the midden.
A WHOLE PARAGRAPH OF CAPITAL LETTERS IS EXTREMELY ANNOYING, I WILL ADMIT. ONE GETS THE FEELING THAT THE WRITER HASN'T ANY TALENT AND THAT THE ONLY WAY THAT THEY CAN DRAW ATTENTION TO WHAT THEY WANT TO SAY IS USING THIS TECHNIQUE.
But the OCCASIONAL word emphasised - whether it be through capitals, italics, underlining, or a violet font - can actually ENHANCE a piece of writing. At least, that's my opinion.
You hate keyboard-generated emphasis? Don't read those authors who use them. You hate emoticons? Avoid fora that cater to them. You hate anagrams like IMHO, LOL, FYI, LMFAO? Don't travel in the USA. Or even visit LA. (Do you know what the official name of LA is? Look it up in The Guiness Book Of Records: most radical abbreviation of a place name. The USSR wasn't even near.)
It would take a real genius to write a complete (interesting) novel using ONLY emoticons. As there don't seem to be many complete geniuses on this forum, I'll throw out this lesser challenge:
Write a piece of flash fiction (about refugees) using only emoticons and submit it (http://la-granota.com/stranger.htm). I'll fight my co-workers - if need be - to ensure that it gets published.
Creativity DROOLS, OK!