First, let me note that I have not yet published any fiction, and am not likely to change my mind anytime soon.
Even so, I still receive quite a few fiction manuscripts, which is what prompts the following comment. I have yet to read a fiction proposal that punctuates dialogue the way I would. It seems to be a common problem, or, I am overly fond of punctuation marks, but when I see a sentence in dialogue like “Get back here you bratty little shit!”, I would add a comma after “here.” Similarly with “Shit shit shit! ”I would render it either as “Shit. Shit. Shit!” or “Shit … shit … shit …”
Not enough commas = big turn-off for me.
Michael — I agree –”Shit shit shit” could be what the author meant to convey, so it might be correct here.
In a lot of fiction manuscripts I read, the incorrectness of the punctuation is not even debatable. A lot of people seem to believe that dialogue shouldn’t have any punctuation within it at all.
I’d agree with you on the first, but I think there are some subtle differences in the second. “Shit shit shit” seems hurried and muttered under one’s breath, like keeping cadence while rushing after a missed train; “Shit, Shit, Shit!” is more emphatic, pounding one’s fist on the bar after making an important point; and “Shit … shit … shit …” is more contemplative, perhaps while reading an essay by Spinoza that suddenly makes everything clear.
How about non-quoted dialogue, implying a faultily-recalled, not-quite-verbatim line? (Raymond Carver and Andre Dubus frequently did this.) Or the non-quoted dialogue preceded by a dash, so it looks almost like lines from a play? (I think of James Joyce’s short stories, and a few contemporary Europeans, when I see this style.) So long as it’s consistent through the piece–mixing and matching dialogue formats would be a mess–I like the clues that dialogue style can offer about a story.