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The affectation that gets to me most is the omission of quotation marks around dialogue. In novels you sometimes can't even tell whether a quote is a quote.

Writers often seem to leave out the quotation marks in an attempt to achieve a stream-of-consciousness effect. But there are ways to do that and still make clear, for example, who is speaking.

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Janice Harayda
Janice Harayda

Written by Janice Harayda

Critic, novelist, award-winning journalist. Former book editor of the Plain Dealer and book columnist for Glamour. Words in NYT, WSJ, and other major media.

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