Kinda ironic to use social media as a cautionary tale, but it needs to be said! Before you hang up on me, let me be clear, social media has a language all its own - one that should not be used when you write your book!
Now, if you are writing YAF, or an urban tale, you would have to take liberties. Truthfully though, don’t drive your editor crazy using the uselessly abbreviated social media language in a book. Texting, tweeting, booking all force us to speak in this abbreviated fashion, maybe because our thumbs and fingers can’t take it. Maybe it has made us lazy but for those avenues - it’s okay!
I love that fb is the one place where I can write without capitalization, make up strange abbreviations that everyone seems to understand and lol or even better LOLOL!
When writing a book or formal document, however, we do not lol, ttyl or use memes, selfies, or smiley faces. We spell words out. We use standard capitalization. We spell words correctly and we actually use punctuation! A well placed comma can make all the difference in the world.
So while I understand how important it is to be socially relevant, I also understand how important it is to be understood and standard english, like taught in school, is by far the best way to make your point!
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