I want everyone to read that title.
Okay, got it?
Now do the exact opposite.
Never, ever use emoticons in your writing. Never.
No book (or story for that matter) should have emoticons.
It's not even about professionalism (though it sort of is), it's about laziness. If you're writing something, a story, what does that say about you if you chose to forgo descriptions and use emoticons instead? It says that you're too lazy to even write out words. So what are doing writing a story? It's a contradiction in terms.
Beyond that, it's annoying as all hell.
"She glared at me and I was like O_O"
" "OMG guys! <3<3<3 I love you guys!! <3<3<3"
These are just some of the things I've seen on here. And it's painful.
I mean, I love emoticons. Chat with me anytime and you'll see that I use a ridiculous number of emoticons. It's actually is a bit worrying now that I think about it.
But I would never include them in my works. Ever. Well, maybe if I wanted a transcript of text messages. Even then, though, it would seem wrong.
Writing is about putting words on a page and generating emotion for the reader from that particular combination of phrases. It's most definitely not about using symbols (note: not words) to describe emotion. That's what the fine arts are for.
PS: Sorry for all the examples of the things that annoy me these last few posts. But they're just so damn annoying that I couldn't help myself. Some shit needs to be called out.
