Everyone has a thing that they prefer not to do, or see, or use, or hear.
Either, but it depends on who or what is doing the impressing
“I’ll be fine in the sun.” ~Dash
RED LEAF WORD SERVICES
Editing and proofreading for authors of plant-themed fiction and nonfiction.
Editing for authors of speculative fiction with complex worlds and large casts.
Blog Post
Can't We All Just Get Along? part 1
Aime Sund • March 23, 2023
Confusing punctuation in dialogue
We all love writing dialogue in our stories. It's one of the best parts of being an author. You can make a character say all those things you've always wanted to say, and you don't pay the price.
Devious, but true, right?
But how do you convey those awkward pauses or angry cutoffs when writing dialogue?
And are there spaces between the periods in an ellipsis? Why do they look one way in one book and different in another?
Ha. Try being an editor who has to sort all this out! 🤓
These are a few of the things I run into regularly while editing, specifically in dialogue. Let's see what I've learned . . .
First up, the ellipsis, the wondrous little bit of punctuation that seems to be showing up EVERYWHERE. It's those three little dots that can mean either some text is missing (formal usage) or a trailing off in thought or speech (informal usage).
The conundrum surrounding this innocuous piece of punctuation is: spaces or no spaces?
Personally, I prefer no spaces, either between the periods or between the last word and the ellipsis. Alas, that isn't what copyeditors are asked to use.
The "rules" say spaces between and on either end, unless followed by quotation marks (or other punctuation, but we'll leave that alone for the moment 😏).
Anyone else starting to fidget? I get fidgety when "rules" make an appearance; I'm more apt to break them than follow them. But in this case, with my copyeditor hat on, I should follow them. But I don't want to. But I have to . . . (See 🙄)
Honestly, though. Which feels more natural and illustrates the d r a w i n g out of a word, emotion, thought, or moment, the first example or the second:
"But if that's true, then that means I'm..."
"But if that's true, then that means I'm . . ."
It's #1 all the way for me. The ellipsis illustrates the trailing off of the last word by connecting to it. There's no pause or hesitation; it just flows together into a softer end.
The second one doesn't say that to me, but nevertheless, I will conform to what I see in the style guides and the books I'm currently reading (yes, I do look for and see ellipses this way nine times out of ten).
Fidgeting again, conform does that to me as well.
However, I'd like to propose a compromise:
The informal use of the ellipsis for trailing off thoughts and dialogue can have no spaces, and the formal use for omission of text can stay spaced.
That would work, wouldn't it? It would make a lot of authors and editors happy, for sure, and provide a distinction for readers. #nospacesellipsis
What do you think? Drop me an email and let me know! Be sure to check out parts 2 & 3 of this blog series too!
