VERY! Moreover, this has become even clearer to me as of late, so I wanted to share with you something that recently happened. I found the experience rather hysterical (afterwards) and you should have seen the expression on my husband’s face.
Here’s my story:
My writer friend, Leanna Harrow, wrote a very funny post about chocolate and with her permission, I’m sharing it with you:
Myself: Oh God! Then we should eat the whole box and shut her the hell up.
So I commented under her funny post: LMAO! Let me have one!
When I’m checking my email later, I see a comment from Leanna but there’s no context to it and my husband reads it over my shoulder. It says: Did you not hear how selfish she is Author Blakely Bennett??? She’s a real bitch…and not the Beautiful Intelligent Talented Charming Honest kind! Lol
Without the context of the story and my quote, it seems like a horrible slam against me and yet in the correct context, it’s hysterical.
As for punctuation? Punctuation is as important as context to understanding the meaning. I had a brief stint in an online writers group where there was a lot of talk about editing and punctuation and how the standards, for many of the participants, didn’t matter. Well they matter to me and here’s a good illustration of why:
Enough said? Maybe not. 🙂 lol! Editing is an important function in a great story. Grammar and punctuation are the framework for expressing your narrative in a clear and enjoyable manner. You never want to throw your reader out of the story because of strange context or bad grammar. At least, I surely don’t.
Thanks to Leanna for allowing me to share her Facebook post (very funny stuff). As always, everyone loves to read your comments and hear about your experiences. Take a moment and let us hear from you. What’s the weirdest comma dysfunction you have seen? Make us laugh!
Warm hugs,
Blakely
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