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Standard punctuation for an incomplete sentence is ellipsis. But don't. Don't have one character interrupt another at all. Dialogue is not speech and the page is not the screen. The page is an a...
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#4: Attribution notice removed
by
System
·
2020-01-03T20:41:53Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/27629 License name: CC BY-SA 3.0 License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#3: Attribution notice added
by
System
·
2019-12-08T06:20:40Z (about 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/27629 License name: CC BY-SA 3.0 License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision
by
System
·
2019-12-08T06:20:40Z (about 5 years ago)
Standard punctuation for an incomplete sentence is ellipsis. But don't. Don't have one character interrupt another at all. Dialogue is not speech and the page is not the screen. The page is an asynchronous media. Events do not unfold in real time but in read time. It can take far longer to read the description of a complex event that happens quickly than a simple event that takes a long time. So time based effects, like interruptions, are impossible to dramatize well in prose. Instead, the drama should come through what is said, not the way it is said. As far as is possible, let each character have their full say. If one must interrupt the other, let it be a full and final interruption, a dismissal, not just two people talking over each other.
#1: Imported from external source
by
System
·
2017-04-20T19:05:46Z (over 7 years ago)
Original score: 0