Unfamiliar punctuation

I've seen it in many, many older comics and it's used to denote shock or surprise.

I think this particular punctuation is used almost as an aside, because the facial expression and vocal intonation convey more than just the words on the page.

(!) Can be roughly translated as any of the following: "He just said WHAT?" or "I can't believe it!" or OMGwhut?! or Wow that's impressively awful.

kborsden said:

I've recently seen this (!) in a graphic novel. I'm stumped as to what it is committed to convey and in which way we would vocalize it.

It was apparent from the caustic language of the character that he was being facetious (love that word, one of the few to have all vowels in the correct order we use to remember them) - is it thinkable that this is supposed to be a style of punctuating such language, i.e. sarcasm etc?

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Was it just on its own, or at the end of a sentence?

kborsden said:

Thanks - and is it then specific to graphic novels, comics and other illustrative story telling?

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No it's common in fanfiction and humor writing too.

kborsden said:

Thanks - and is it then specific to graphic novels, comics and other illustrative story telling?

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I've seen it in novels as well, especially in first person.

I use it all the time in online communication. I've not used it in fiction yet, but I can see it workinig for certain types of first-person narrators in a modern setting. Like the one in my current WIP (!).

(See how I did that there? The sentence itself doesn't take an exclamation point, but the '(!)' conveys a bit of surprise: in this case, it really would fit my main character's narrative style but I haven't used it and maybe I should....all conveyed in three quick keystrokes.)

It's often used to indicate that a particular piece of information would be surprising, rather than the whole sentence.

For instance:

At home, we have three dogs, two cats, and 75 (!) gerbils.

It's very casual, though. I'd be surprised to see it in fiction. Even fanfiction. It's the sort of thing I might use in a chatty email to a close friend.

It just sounds like he used it wrong, is what I'm getting.

kborsden said:

How does it contribute to the vocalization of a phrase?

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To me, it isn't about vocalisation but about facial expression. When I see '(!)' in text, I visualise the person speaking what came just before with raised eyebrows and a look of some surprise on their face. Like the aforementioned 75 (!) gerbils.