When writing, there are certain things you can use judiciously--such as the word "said" when adding dialogue tags--and things you should hardly ever use at all--such as the interrobang. Most things fall somewhere in the middle, though. This article concerns those things that fall toward the latter end of the spectrum, based primarily on observations I've made while perusing fanfiction over the years.
You can't really write a book without most of these things, but you do want to be careful when using...
1. ALL-CAPS
ALL-CAPS DENOTES TWO THINGS: YELLING AND YELLING.
Nobody likes being yelled at, so cool it with the all-caps sentences. They're great for flavor now and again, but if you find yourself making frequent use of them, go over your work and ask yourself if it's really necessary. Most of the time your audience can already tell a character is excited, either from context clues, or written cues, or the content of the conversation they're having; there's no need to patronize them.
Personally, I try not to use capslock at all, but I do find it slipping in every now and again, which again, is fine: all things in moderation is basically the thesis statement of this listicle. Personally, I find caps to be most appropriate,
a) When a character is really, really SUPER angry, and needs to scream his little lungs out,
b) When a character off-stage is talking to a character on-stage, and vice-versa (ie, yelling downstairs to Mom or out the window to Best Friend)
c) When you need to emphasize a word but italics and bold type don't seem to give it the right sort of oomph (see a)
and d), When viewing a written work that is in all caps, such as the name of a store, or if a character has chosen to use it in some type of correspondence (letter, chatlog, twitter, etc.) either because it's simply in their character to do so, or because of something tied more to the plot--a secret code, maybe, or bad handwriting, or she forgot to check to see if caps was on, etc.
(I bet you can guess which is my favorite)
2. ¡¡¡¡¡¡Eclamation!!!!!! ¡¡¡¡¡¡Points!!!!!!!
I see!!!!! That you're!!!!! Excited!!!! And that's good!!!!! But we got it!!! The first time!!!!
Exclamation points are really handy for telling us very quickly that there's some oomph to what's been said--especially useful are the upside-down exclamation marks that people of the Spanish tongue use, but if you're in American, unless you're using them in the Spanish language or for a special effect at a certain part of your novel (see above), I would resist the urge to sprinkle your manuscript with them, as they are nonstandard punctuation and would likely never make it into print.
So yes, exclamation points are really useful, and help us do away with a lot of clunky adverbs and replacements for "said," but littering every other sentence with a slew of them ultimately results in their devaluation; it appears amateur, childish, and over-enthusiastic but under-practiced.
Some would say not to use exclamation points in narration at all, but personally I would say to use them sparsely in your narrative, and to choose carefully where they're placed. Make sure also, when writing dialogue, to keep in mind the type of character you're using--would the grumperpuss who mops the floor really use that exclamation point right there? Or would he be more likely to putz and putter around with periods or dashes or ellipses?
I'd also suggest that--except in cases of character correspondence--you avoid the use of multiple exclamation points in a row. Overdoing it can be just as dangerous--if not more so--than underdoing it.
3. Question???? Marks?????
I??? Think????? My personality????? has been consumed????? by???? uptalk???????
Much like the above, the overuse of question marks in your writing appears childish and inattentive, and overdoing it makes you seem incapable of moderation, has the reader wondering if your keyboard is broken, and, when use in dialogue, can make your characters seem indecisive, over-excited, and, at times, very valley-girl-esque.
That being said, like always, there are exceptions--namely correspondence, but--and perhaps it's a matter of taste--an extra question mark slipped in here or there never killed anybody. Question marks have a lot less zest than exclamation points, and you can probably get away with a second or a third in dialogue with a particularly excitable character, which could help you avoid the awkward union of exclamation point and question mark (that could be so easily done away with if only the interrobang were considered proper punctuation *heavy sigh*).
Which brings us to--
4. "'"'Punctuation Combos!?,.:;"'"'
"And then they were like, "You're skipping the example line!?'..."
Punctuation combos can be both necessary and difficult. What do you do when a quote ends with a period, but is posed as a question, for example? Or if your etc. is the end of the sentence, or if it needs a comma afterward, what do you do when you really need to show that this question is a loud, excited, and astonished one, what if what if what if.
Yes, combos are completely necessary! But they can also be confusing. You could always try using nonstandard punctuation, but again, it's unlikely to get past your editors, and some of it is still copyrighted. Basically, your best course of action is to be careful and keep a watchful eye. Do your best to minimize the need for combos, structure your sentences in such a way that they're obliterated.
As suggested above, you could use a double question mark to denote excitement, or put a sentence IN ALL CAPS? Which produces a different effect!? But might be the one you're looking for!!
And if worst comes to worst, you can always ask a fellow writer friend if they think it looks right, or if it's too confusing. Not confusing the reader is the entire reason we have grammar, after all.
If the reader is irritated with our story, we want it to be because the bad guy is winning or because the hero did something stupid, not because the structural components have been overdone. I've honestly walked away from decent storylines before because the writer didn't know when to shut off the capslock, or how many exclamation points to cap it at--a lot of these flubs go hand-in-hand, and are usually drawn in a sleigh of bad grammar in general.
Keep an eye on such things. The characters and plotline are tantamount, surely, but most people won't stick around to learn about either if they feel that the structure is getting in the way. (No one wants to look at the scaffolding, we just want to see the house.)
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