Sometimes being fancy for the sake of being fancy (multiple POVs) is a no-go for sure. It takes a lot of skill to pull off and even those rare authors who do it well still won’t appeal to as large of an audience. I tell people there were plenty of people who LOVED ‘Pulp Fiction’ but probably more who hated it. We always need to ask if the POV shift is adding anything to the story.

While I am a person who LOVES high-brow vocabulary and robust description it can be tedious. I’m listening to a book right now my mom loved and I want to SCREAM. It jumps all over time periods and it is just page after page of description. I want a story, not to become a horticultural expert of what plants grow in rural England. I would have given up a LONG time ago except I promised my mom I’d read it. Description is NOT CONFLICT!

Thank you VERY much for your two cents worth, and fabulous to meet you!

Loved your post. My brain fixed all your “mistakes” even without the edit, but I know what you mean with the ellipses. I try to use them sparingly unless my character really does stutter that much.

Yes, I definitely agree, Kristen. 🙂

The key is use sparingly :D. I see it used instead of making the dialogue do the work.

As a fiction editor specializing in fast-paced,suspenseful fiction, I always suggest exclamation marks when someone is screaming or yelling loudly or in pain or there’s some kind of urgency. If someone’s just burned their hand on the stove burner, “Ow,” just doesn’t convey the intended reaction!