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Formatting a countdown in text. Ellipses maybe?

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Tazlima

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So I'm writing a scene that combines a dialogue between two characters with a countdown from a third party like so:

"Ten."

"Pithy comment from character A."

"Nine."

"character B disagrees."

"Eight."

"Character A makes a good point."

"Seven."

"Character B calls Character A an idiot," dialogue tag here to help keep everyone straight.

Etc.

How should I format the numbers themselves? Should I use periods as in the above example, or should I put an ellipse after each number to indicate that the count is ongoing? Is there a third option that I haven't considered?
 
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Maryn

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I like the periods just fine. I have a thing about overuse of ellipses and believe them reserved for the times when the sentences doesn't make sense without them. This is perfectly clear.

Maryn, wishing all questions were this easy
 

Tazlima

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:) Periods it is then. That was easy! Thanks!
 

Maryn

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And James and I are in complete accord. (!) Have a good weekend, James. You, too, Tazlima.

Maryn...
 

Jamesaritchie

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And James and I are in complete accord. (!) Have a good weekend, James. You, too, Tazlima.

Maryn...


Have a good weekend yourself. Unfortunately, I have to carry and move furniture all darned day Saturday, and then help arrange it, which means muscle power, not fashion sense, on Sunday.
 

rwm4768

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I agree that it works just fine with the periods. That's how I've done it when I've had a character counting down in dialogue (during a hostage situation).
 

Fitch

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What you have there works for me. There is no doubt about what's going on. I like periods with the numbers spelled out. They provide an element of finality.

I would only change it if the person counting down is bluffing and I wanted to show that.

Fitch
 

WriterBN

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If the countdown is being done by a machine, as opposed to another (human) character, then you could use italics for the numbers, not quotes. Either way, I prefer periods over ellipses.
 

Tazlima

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And James and I are in complete accord. (!) Have a good weekend, James. You, too, Tazlima.

Maryn...

Have a good weekend yourself!

Thanks to everyone for the input!
 

Ken

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really depends on a number of factors
audience, genre, age of audience, etc

also the significance of the countdown

even all-caps might be in order in some cases:

ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR ...

So it depends.
 
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