My name is Kristi and I have an addiction. Technically, I have several if you count chocolate and coffee, but in terms of writer-ly things, I have a small problem with em dashes. One of my critique partners called me out on the em dash addiction, and I went through my manuscript and removed a TON of those puppies. The problem is--they're so much fun. All you have to do is type two hyphens into Microsoft Word and the em dash appears--it's like magic. (Unlike Blogger, which is apparently not magic and won't let me transfer the formatted em dashes into this text)
Here's when it IS acceptable to use the em dash:
1) To indicate an abrupt change in thought. This can also include a parenthetical statement that needs to be set apart. The em dash is used here when you need more 'oomph' than a regular ole comma.
(e.g. One of the best ways to determine which em dashes to remove is--did somebody say chocolate?)
2) To indicate that a sentence is unfinished because the speaker has been interrupted.
(e.g. "If you think I'm just going to stand here, while you point that Taser at me--")
That's pretty much it. Me? My motto has been "Why use a comma when you can have the excitement of an em dash instead?" I haven't deleted all of them, but there was a serious em dash massacre in my house last week.
What about you? Anyone else have em dash love? Any other writing-related addictions you'd care to admit?
22 comments:
Oh gosh. Me. We could start meetings for Em dash overusers. I still need to make a pass just for those puppies, and I'm not looking forward to it.
Angela @ The Bookshelf Muse
Em dash lover as well!! Also a fan of the ellipses...
I definitely overuse the em dash. But it's just so handy!
Angela-once I started going through the manuscript, I couldn't believe how many I had in there. Good luck with your em dash massacre. Also, the idea of meetings is hilarious. :)
Me too. I overuse the semi-colon...and the comma. And ellipses, but you can see that.Lol.
I love me some em dashes! And parentheses! And now that I have Scrivener, I love em dashes even more, because in Scrivener when you put the em dash next to an end quotation mark, it doesn't turn the quotation mark backwards!
I love the ellipses... :D
Valerie-I'm writing my new wip on my MacBook instead of my PC, and I really want Scrivener. I'm not sure if making em dashes easier is a good thing or a bad thing for me. :)
Kristi - Scrivener is SO worth the money! (It also makes em dashes longer than Word does. More like what you see in finished books!
I do use em dashes a lot. Probably a lot more than I should.
Valerie-it makes em dashes longer? You're enabling my addiction-lol. :)
Oh, count me in for the em dash addiction! I also need to cut back once in awhile--but they are so much fun. :)
Wordpress has the same problem with formatting. You can switch to the html view, and type — wherever you want an em dash (with no spaces before or after). That should work.
Fun post!
~ Lisa
yep, i'm right there with you. i've become conscious of using it, though, and make an attempt to use it sparingly now.
-- Tom
Okay, my attempt at explaining the fix didn't work, since the code was turned into an em dash! lol
Here is it again, but do NOT put a space between the & and # when you use it in a post: & #8212;
More info: http://www.squidoo.com/html_numeric_codes
Lisa-thanks for the tip!
I have a pretty serious love of the em dash myself! I love your break down of how it's supposed to be used. Thanks, this will help my addiction!
Heather-you're most welcome. I'm all about helping fellow addicts. :)
*Hangs head in shame*
I am an em dash addict, but I don't think I have ever used it correctly. Thanks for the virtual bitch slap. I needed that.
Lol! I had a very similar post way back when. I think mine was focused more on ellipses. I am a total em dash lover.
Lacey-since you were the one who called me out on my addiction, I should have read your post a little more carefully-lol. :)
I am somewhat new to em dash love -- I only recently learned how to produce them properly in word. I use crtl+alt and then hit the dash above the plus in the ten key pad. There are other ways though.
Can't believe all you folks are sustaining your m-dash addiction with out the keyboard shortcut—it's so easy! On the Mac— which is what I have— it's shift-option-dash.
I say "m-dash" instead of em dash— is that wrong? It's from working for newspapers; the copy editors told me it's a dash that's the same width as the letter M, as opposed to the shorter, default n-dash.
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