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Hello, my name is Anne, and I may be using too many ellipses and dashes in my dialogue.
When are ellipses in dialogue OK? When are they overused? Are there any guidelines about how often is too much?
I usually use ellipses if someone says something but doesn't finish the sentence. For example, "Could it be?..." or "But..." (One of English teachers told me I should use dashes for that instead, but I thought dashes were used only for interrupted dialogue.)
However, sometimes I'll use it in the middle of a sentence, to indicate strong emotion. And while looking at a line of dialogue today, I realized it can be very easy to abuse ellipses. For example, this line made me laugh:
"Too much bleeding. The ... dagger... cut into his liver."
It's supposed to show his emotion, but when I read it again, I thought it made him look not very bright. Like he had to to look at the weapon and think before remembering what it was called.
Or am I reading too much into those ellipses?
And what are the guidelines about breaking dialogue at the end of a line with dashes? I've heard some writers point out that you shouldn't do that too often because people generally don't interrupt each other as often as happens on newbie writers' pages. That's probably true in most settings, so I try not to abuse it. But how do I know what's appropriate and what's dash abuse?
When are ellipses in dialogue OK? When are they overused? Are there any guidelines about how often is too much?
I usually use ellipses if someone says something but doesn't finish the sentence. For example, "Could it be?..." or "But..." (One of English teachers told me I should use dashes for that instead, but I thought dashes were used only for interrupted dialogue.)
However, sometimes I'll use it in the middle of a sentence, to indicate strong emotion. And while looking at a line of dialogue today, I realized it can be very easy to abuse ellipses. For example, this line made me laugh:
"Too much bleeding. The ... dagger... cut into his liver."
It's supposed to show his emotion, but when I read it again, I thought it made him look not very bright. Like he had to to look at the weapon and think before remembering what it was called.
Or am I reading too much into those ellipses?
And what are the guidelines about breaking dialogue at the end of a line with dashes? I've heard some writers point out that you shouldn't do that too often because people generally don't interrupt each other as often as happens on newbie writers' pages. That's probably true in most settings, so I try not to abuse it. But how do I know what's appropriate and what's dash abuse?
