Contributed by Margot Conor
I think the worst thing about my writing is punctuation. I use it incorrectly a lot of the time. I use commas where I shouldn’t and forget to put them where I should. I am never quite sure when a semicolon should be used. One of my editors took all of them out of my book saying they should never be used in fiction. It is a pet peeve of hers. But I see them used in fiction quite a lot and maybe that is due to auto correct programs.
I’m sure I didn’t pay enough attention to grammar rules in school. But due to the patience of my critique groups, I am learning to correct my bad habits. I also use a program called AutoCrit which is helpful in many ways and has improved my writing craft.
Here is one lesson that came to me not long ago. I had used ellipses in my novel to indicate a pause in the dialogue. My editor replaced most of them with an em dash. Well, I didn’t like the way that looked and put the ellipses back. But then my critique group told me they are not interchangeable. They have different purposes.
Both ellipses (…) and em dashes (—) are punctuation marks that serve to add rhythm, pause, or emphasis to writing, but they function differently.
Here are four examples of how to use ellipses:
To show that part of a quoted sentence has been removed. “The mission was successful… despite the damage sustained.”
To indicate a pause, hesitation, or that a character’s thought or speech trails off. “I thought I saw something, but it was probably just…”
They can stretch time or reflect uncertainty or suspense. “She stepped into the dark corridor… nothing moved… yet.”
They can imply something is left unsaid or is emotionally loaded. “You said you’d never lie to me…”
An em dash has lately been called out as proof you used ChatGPT or some other AI assistant to write for you. So many writers are hesitant to use them because of that, despite the fact that they have been in use forever, and AI learned how to use them from the books they were trained on.
Here are a few examples how they should be used:
An Em Dash represents a sharp break or cut-off in speech or thought. “Wait—did you hear that?”
“If we don’t—” he began, but the explosion cut him off.
It separates an inserted or emphasized clause—often more striking than commas. “The creature—twice her size—lunged forward.”
It marks a sentence shift or unexpected turn. “She wanted to run—but her legs wouldn’t move.”
It’s used in place of parentheses to de-emphasize less integral information. “The moons—bright and ominous—cast strange shadows.”
Quite honestly, I find all of that hard to distinguish, but I started using the Em Dash in my stories to get accustomed to how they should be inserted. For example, an Em Dash is for abrupt interruption, dramatic insertion, and sharp sentence breaks, it is sudden action. While the ellipsis is for omission, hesitation, trailing off speech, and soft pensive sentence breaks. It is used during slower paced interactions.
I’m hoping my manuscripts won’t be such a calamity of errors in the future. I am slowly learning the error of my ways.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Margot Conor has been writing for as long as she can remember, but it wasn't until the COVID lock-down that she had enough time to dedicate to the craft and bring something to completion. Having finished her first novel, she went through the grueling two-year process of editing. Now she has jumped into the author's world with both feet. Margot's debut multiverse adventure novel, Inverse, is available on Amazon.
She's spent the last year attending many writing retreats, seminars, and writers' events. She also listened to presentations specifically on the topic of publishing and book marketing. She will be sharing what she learns with the reader. Learn more about Margot at https://margotconor.com/
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