Question marks in descriptions.

[celesteon]

I don't think that question marks or forward slash or any other symbols not already allowed should be made allowed. Those symbols are excluded for a reason - they have no place in a body of text that is describing something. Rhetorical questions break the 'fourth wall', they border on second person, and they would make descriptions appear more like pages from a children's book or an angsty teenager's journal.

 

As for a forward slash, that can be substituted with '-', 'or', 'vs', 'versus', 'and', 'with', 'against', etc depending on the context and why one feels a slash is necessary. Slashes are a form of shorthand, they do not punctuate speech any differently than a hyphen (with which they can be easily substituted), and are more something for technical documents rather than literary documents. They would just look tacky on a site where you're inking on a magical scroll in ye olde medieval times.

Edited November 9, 2014 by celesteon

[CNR4806]

I don't think that question marks or forward slash or any other symbols not already allowed should be made allowed. Those symbols are excluded for a reason - they have no place in a body of text that is describing something. Rhetorical questions break the 'fourth wall', they border on second person, and they would make descriptions appear more like pages from a children's book or an angsty teenager's journal.

 

As for a forward slash, that can be substituted with '-', 'or', 'vs', 'versus', 'and', 'with', 'against', etc depending on the context and why one feels a slash is necessary. Slashes are a form of shorthand, they do not punctuate speech any differently than a hyphen (with which they can be easily substituted), and are more something for technical documents rather than literary documents. They would just look tacky on a site where you're inking on a magical scroll in ye olde medieval times.

With poetry and stories among other things being approved on a regular basis, the "description is just for describing" stance really doesn't stand.

 

And yes, there are workarounds to limitations that description writers have used in the past and will continue to use in the future if this is not changed. It doesn't make the exclusion of these characters any less unjustified.

[Snowwall]

I support this as my stupid English studying (literacy for all you non-English folks) had made my mind always type/write at such a high level of standard that many cannot understand me; that includes rhetorical questions.

Now I know that I'm not alone in being too learned in "Olde" English and other complications of the language for my own good... That's heartening

 

 

As for the subject matter, I support. Having used a rhetorical question once (and not having noticed that the question mark disappeared), I feel that this symbol is rather useful. Even if one has no wish to utilise first-person view or dialogues...

Edited January 5, 2015 by Snowwall

[Kakaru_of_DOOM]

I approve of this as well.

 

I occasionally quote my dragons (<Name> often says "_______.") and would love to have a dragon who has a favorite question to ask. Alas, at the moment a dragon like that must 'constantly inquire about' or some such. When dancing with the character limit, as I often do, it could really help.

[silver_tiger]

I don't describe my dragons, but I can see how this could be very useful, depending on what you're doing. I don't see anything wrong with people being silly or playing around with their descriptions; it's something for their personal scroll, after all.

 

Anyway, I support this.

[Sundew]

Bumping this since I just ran into the issue of trying to reword a question-heavy description myself.

[Pokemonfan13]

How are you using questions in your description? I believe the idea is that questions aren't appropriate in descriptions in the first place, which is why question marks aren't allowed.

[angelicdragonpuppy]

Question marks are a very basic feature of the English language. I don't describe any more myself, but I'm sure the many talented writers still doing so would appreciate them. Off the top of my head, dialogue and rhetorical questions, or other characters asking questions, or the dragon itself wondering about something... and there's probably dozens more I can't think of right now.

 

"Are you suggesting I'd mistake a pillow dragon for a PILLOW?"

 

What came first, the egg or the dragon?

 

What MIGHT she be doing with all those squirrels?

 

He often wonders to himself, what might lie out there, beyond the blistered hills?

 

 

 

There's plenty of descriptions that misuse basic words or punctuation or ignore the guidelines entirely (ie a description that is nothing but "this dragon is a red dragon born 3/4/2015"). Just because these basic elements can be used wrongly doesn't mean they should be banned entirely... and the same goes for question marks. "People might use them wrong" is a terrible reason to ban them from being used at all.

Edited June 24, 2017 by angelicdragonpuppy

[Sundew]

Yep, I was using them in similar ways to ADP's examples.

 

Dick Danger, retired crime fighter, was for a long time the sole enforcer of justice within a very, very, very small town. ... That was, at least, until he realized how incredibly unrewarding the life of a vigilante was. Aside from the money, the respect, the women, and the overwhelming sense of fulfillment, what was he really getting out of it? Nothing, that's what.

 

Madam Rosemary West spends her time in a small cone-shaped tent, where she sits curled around a swirling glass orb and waits for potential customers to wander in. She greets travelers with a soft purr, unwinding herself and asking for their hands. "Would you like to know your future?" she'll ask ...

 

etc. It is tiring to try to find ways to get around questions with different phrasing or resorting to exclamation points/commas instead. It just doesn't work as well.

[angelicdragonpuppy]

Yep, I was using them in similar ways to ADP's examples.

 

 

 

 

 

etc. It is tiring to try to find ways to get around questions with different phrasing or resorting to exclamation points/commas instead. It just doesn't work as well.

Your first description made me snort

 

But yah, there's tons and tons of uses for them. Just pick up your average book and see how long it goes before one appears! As I said, they're a basic aspect of the language.

 

 

[Peachycupcake525]

Support! I had to figure out a way to rephrase it with her description. It was the firs time that I knew about this. I think that it would have been better with a question mark. Question marks aren't only used in first and second person point of view. Quotes from the dragon can use question marks and there can also be rhetorical questions and stuff.

Edited June 24, 2017 by Peachycupcake525

[Pokemonfan13]

I wasn't suggesting that question marks aren't appropriate in the English Language... I was saying that the kind of writing that is appropriate for descriptions, at the very least, has very little use for them.

[angelicdragonpuppy]

I wasn't suggesting that question marks aren't appropriate in the English Language... I was saying that the kind of writing that is appropriate for descriptions, at the very least, has very little use for them.

We just off the top of our heads gave you half a dozen uses for them...

 

There is very much a good amount of use for them.

[Lagie]

This dragon - https://dragcave.net/view/nfAQm - has a decided lack of punctuation, but there was no other way around the problem! Question marks would have been very useful.

[olympe]

I wholeheartedly agree with this. Questions in third person narrations (or descriptions) are a matter of style, a way to include some humor.

[skwerl56767]

I didn't realize this was a thing, but I support it as well! A question is an inquiry, and even though you the author might not be asking the question, that doesn't mean the dragon you are describing - or another dragon it knows - won't ever ask a question. Adding excerpts and quotes from different dragons in related descriptions ties all of the dragons on your scroll together, and if you're writing according to the perspective of the dragon, there will absolutely be questions that it can ask! While question marks are typically uncommon in narrative, they aren't nonexistent, and some people use punctuation stylistically to add flair and character to their writing so it doesn't read like a flat textbook. So with all of that in consideration, I don't see why question marks should be banned on the account of being inappropriate for describing. On terms of breaking the fourth wall, I don't see why it should even matter; that's a choice for the author to make, and if it's written well, then great!

 

Also I just want to say that coding isn't a valid excuse for excluding certain characters as well. If you do it right, then a person's description should be seen by the code as a string, which is a quoted argument; that means every single character in that string is printed on the screen as-is, so none of the characters inside it will interfere with the surrounding code; even if those characters form their own code, they won't be parsed that way! Now, I know I shouldn't assume things about TJ's code... but I trust his capabilities entirely, and the ability for people to use other characters like bang (!) and parenthesis in their descriptions tells me that the code is interpreting descriptions as strings. Why exactly question marks specifically were excluded is beyond me... could be something internal about how the machine "sees" certain values... but it certainly doesn't make much sense.

[Glamburgers]

I also support this, for the purpose of rhetorical questions and the like. I have one dragon who I described as questioning her very existence, and I really needed to use question marks. I couldn't. (I worked around that, but I would like to be able to use question marks, and will definitely go back and change the description if question marks are added.)

I would also like the addition of backslashes. I can see how they would be useful for an upcoming dragon description of mine.

[Guillotine]

Question marks would be strongly appreciated. I haven't run into the issue, but I can see a lot of ways in which that could be a problem.
 

[love_HP]

I do wish question marks are allowed in descriptions!

I just wrote a draft description that contained such a sentence:

"Though he could give wise answers to those that seek answer from him, he had his own bewilderments: why was he bound to earth?"

[Sazandora]

Why is this not a thing already? The thread's given plenty of good examples on how to properly use question marks in dragon descriptions while staying within the guidelines.

+1 support.

[Lurhstaap]

I know. I'm necroing. But please. I'm begging you, TJ. Fix this. I write a lot of descs. Many of them interlock. For example, if two dragons are mates, their descs may refer to each other. Or if both are involved in similar activities. My Dragons are, apparently, huge rumormongers. Anyway, point is, I don't use dialogue or write scenes in my descs. They may focus more on personality and behavior than looks, but they're still pure third person. Yet the need to avoid certain punctuation is, at times, maddening. Especially with a character limit that feels low to a hyperverbal person like myself. I already have to prune and tweak my descs for length, sometimes brutally. I can live with that, but having the question mark would be so very helpful. 

[LibbyLishly]

Oh look! A suggestion I supported back in 2014 is still making the rounds!

 

Here's an example of how a question can be properly used in a description. I have a dragon named after its code (Are You Eight). The first sentence in his description, as approved, reads as follows: "Are You Eight is a lippy little hatchling who earned his name by asking any dragon who telepathically spoke to him in a baby voice if they were eight."

 

A far less awkward way of phrasing this would be: "Are You Eight is a lippy little hatchling who earned his name by asking "Are you eight?" of any dragon who telepathically spoke to him in a baby voice."

 

Viva la question mark!