Should I use ellipses or em dashes to denote pauses in speech?
I flipped open its latch and peered inside. A—gold tooth?
I flipped open its latch and peered inside. A ... gold tooth?
Was it an elephant? No, elephants didn't frequent beaches. It was—a whale!
Was it an elephant? No, elephants didn't frequent beaches. It was ... a whale!
What's the right symbol to use in the examples above?
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em dashes are usually used to denote an interruption or sudden change — whether in dialogue, thought or narrative — ellipses are for pauses, again in all respects.
'I just don't see why—
'I don't care what you think,' Johan barked, turning from me before I could protest.
'She was just...' His face turned pale as his memory returned to that night.
'Just what?' I asked, eager for more.
here are some resources:
Jodie Renner Editing
Novel Publicity
Writer's Relief
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I'd use ellipses for pauses, dashes are usually used for interruption.
"I found this - "
"That doesn't matter, look what I found!"
As opposed to:
"She... She's dead."
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I might use an M-dash for the whale example, because it's startling. For the gold watch, that's more of a thoughtful pause, so it would take an ellipsis.
Also related on this site: Using dashes in writing dialogue and How not to overuse ellipsis?
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