#em dash

[joyland2022]

the em dash (—) is the most useful tool for splitting long sentences! the comma is overused, the full stop is too final, and the semi colon (;) is stuffy and academic. the em dash is airy, it's friendly, it loves fun tangents—it loves you.

#em dash #grammar #em dash my beloved

[one-time-i-dreamt]

My classmates and I were peer reviewing each other’s essays and this one guy (who’s a douche) used an em dash followed by a comma, like so: —,

#dream #text #April 12th 2023 #classmate #peer review #peers #essay #em dash #comma

[caffeine-and-computers]

today I found out I've used an em dash more times in my novel than I've used my main character's first name

#em dash #i regret nothing #you can pry this em dash for my cold dead hands #writer problems #writeblr #creative writing #writing #writer #fiction #fiction writing #write #writers #writers community #writers corner #writers on tumblr #writer life #writing stuff #writing struggle #shitpost #writer vibes #writer's problems #writer's life #writer's thoughts #writers and poets #too many tags #being a writer is #writer's block #character names #character creation #characters

[simmanin]

looking for ACOTAR quotes is just like “wow, sjm really fucking loves em dashes” 😭

lmao in fact, these are two random pages I went to. One from ACOMAF & one from ACOWAR. Apparently, she also lovesss a good ellipsis

#acotar #acotar critical #sjm #sarah j maas #sjm critical #em dash #acomaf #acowar #acosf

[itsoldtimey]

My life rn

#writing #writing memes #english #literature #literature memes #creative writing #writers on tumblr #meme #em dash #my post

[homoqueerjewhobbit]

Me punctuating my WIPs.

#I came late to the em dash Fandom and I'm making up for lost time #I should have included some ellipsises. They're so useful in dialogue! #But I'm done editing this stupid meme because #You should be writing #Writing #Em dash #Punctuation #post o' mine #homemade memes

[a7-notebook]

😔

#writing memes #en dash #em dash #grammar #writing #punctuation

[hjbender]

Not exaggerating—learning the alt code for the em dash (ALT + 0151) has changed my life.

#it's ingrained in me now #em dash #my beloved #alt codes #windows #writing #right up there with learning shortcut keys for drawing #or horizontal flip

[rayless-reblogs]

For the author ask game, 5 and/or 11?

5: How do you know when a story is "done"?

Hm, that's a good one... I've often started projects without a strict outline, but I don't think I've ever gone into a long project not knowing how it ends. But that's not quite what the question is.

Even if you know exactly how things are ending, there's still the question of "When have I written enough?" And I definitely have trouble with endings! Like I said last week or so, I want a story to have closure, but I never want it to feel too pat. Having an ending too wrapped up and perfect feels very artificial to me, and I enjoy some elements of ambivalence and ambiguity even as things close -- this issue wasn't resolved ideally, this thing could still happen, A was solved but B was a byproduct of it. The fanfic-writer in me likes the idea of fairly open endings, because that gives the reader room to speculate and put their own interpretation on events.

I think for me, the ending comes when I feel like the mood is right. Obviously I need to clear up everything the story requires to be cleared up, but after that I want to make sure the tone feels right, then I can hopefully land on a memorable closing line and make my exit.

With Eola, the most recent book, I struggled with its ending for literal years. I wasn't sure what was bothering me about it except that in some vague way, I didn't know if it was enough. Without outside help, it can be hard for an author to figure out if a feeling like this is a real problem, or is it the usual creative angst of your work not living up to the unattainable ideal you saw in your head? Unfortunately, there's no measuring cup you can pour your story into to make sure all the measurements are right.

I remember talking about it to a friend whose writing sense I really trust, and they reminded me about climaxes and how somewhere, whatever's happening, the protagonist needs a moment of choice and agency. Looking back over Eola's climax, I realized I hadn't done that, meaning that not only was my protagonist's arc weaker, the climax didn't offer much catharsis, so overall there wasn't a very strong sense of the story even ending. So I went back to the climax and beefed it up.

When it came to Eola's epilogue, I'd rewritten it many times. I'd added and subtracted details, but never entirely changed the ending itself, and I'd always felt discontented with it. But because I went back a step and improved the climax, it improved the ending too. Which made me feel better about setting it down and saying, "Okay, this is done."

So the best I can say is -- it's done when it feels done? That's not useful, I know. Someone needs to invent that measuring cup. The mathematical side of writing the ending is making sure you've covered all the narrative beats you want to. But the non-mathematical, emotional side is ending when it feels right.

11: What punctuation do you love too much?

This is embarrassingly easy. The long hyphen, the em dash. I don't know why it started, or exactly when, but I do remember one of my high school teachers remarking to me, "I liked hyphens a lot at your age too." Well, I'm sorry, Mrs M, but I'm not that age anymore and I'm still drowning in hyphens. I'm making a conscious choice not to use any at this exact moment, but they fly in like darts most of the time.

I think part of it is that the em dash feels more expressive than a comma. If I write, "The Boxer heard a sound behind him, the evil pitterpat of Asher's cat," that works fine dramatically. The comma provides an adequate dramatic pause as you read. But ninety-nine times out of a hundred, I'm going to write, "The Boxer heard a sound behind him -- the evil pitterpat of Asher's cat." For me, it simultaneously pauses the reader for that dramatic beat and rushes them along, adding tension and energy.

And that's fine as far as it goes. But it goes too far. I will also throw that em dash into dialogue, and character descriptions, and onto the ends of paragraphs, and if I'm feeling really saucy, onto the front of paragraphs.

Reading my stuff over, I start to feel ridiculous. There's always a stage where I go through and try to kill as many em dashes as I can stand, making them boring little commas (ugh) or breaking lines into shorter sentences/fragments. Anything to stop there from being an Overdramatic Em Dash in literally every paragraph.

Maybe I haven't actually answered the question. Maybe I don't love the em dash. Maybe it's my greatest enemy.

Thanks for the asks!

Meme here.

#writing #editing #meme #em dash

[lucyamclaren]

I’m very sorry to the future editor of my book. I bloody love em dashes.

#author #fantasy author #writer #fantasy #dark fantasy books #fantasy books #dark fantasy #fantasy series #books and reading #fantasy nerd #book meme #em dash #writing #writeblr #am editing #writer life

[sophielovesbooks]

Em dash my beloved. <3 You are the bedrock of my writing both creative and academic, you are the piece of punctuation it all hinges on.

#punctuation #writing #em dash #academia #writers on tumblr

[tagitables]

Em dash is my favourite punctuation. 🙃😌

#tagitables #philosophy of language #semiotics #em dash #any fans out there ?? 👀

[moonbeam-fox]

"I give terrible advice please always takes it's worth as a grain of salt" —guy constantly asked for their advice

#em dash #my posts #me #i mean #look #it doesnt work out bad for them it works out bad for me #but my general sense is that ppl who allways give unsolicited advice are worse at it #bc they think theyre good #whereas im just constantly asked #n im like iunno man lets talk it out #just talkin in the tags #tag talkin w jack fox

[authorjennieelaine]

Writing fiction like

You can pry the em dash from my cold dead fingers

#writers on tumblr #writeblr #author #writerscommunity #em dash #meme

[ohmytiredheart]

"What's your favorite punctuation?"

Non-writers: my what???

Writers: em dash

#em dash my beloved #em dash i hardly know her #i have a friend whose nickname is em #its be funny if an em dash was just her sprinting #haha get it #cause #yknow #em dash #its funny #writer moment #writers #writeblr

[infinitesimal-dna]

One of the worst things to ever happen to me was developing an obsession with lesser known punctuation.

Like, now I know all of the grammar rules and proper context for all this shit, and no one ever uses them correctly because it's the internet and no one cares but I CARE SO BADLY.

Only problem is it's the internet so telling anyone anything about their punctuation usage just makes you look like an asshole.

I'm not trying to annoyingly correct anyone, I'm just trying to share one of my interests! Like, I've given speeches on punctuation! Leapfrog Storybook Factory's Punctuation Rock was my jam as a child! I just wanna share my fun punctuation facts with everyone else.

In the spirit of that, here's my favorite punctuation mark

This fun little fucker in constantly ignored in place of people just putting a hyphen, even though that's wrong and confusing and it makes my brain ache.

Just look at it—a magnificence to behold.

You need drama? Em dash.

You need panic? Em dash.

You need your dialogue to be interrupted or otherwise cut off in some manner? EM DASH

He's such a versatile little guy, and no one appreciates him.

Might expand on this later explaining all the uses for the em dash and how it relates in our brains to proper communication and therefore effective understanding between parties, but for now this is enough.

Just look at the funky little guy, appreciate him for a bit. You can type him on your own keyboard using special characters or alt codes (alt 0151 if your keyboard allows it). For mobile, just hold down the hyphen key and 3 options will appear, he's the guy furthest to the right.

In conclusion, I love the em dash, it is ungodly late, and a love of punctuation is exacerbating.

#english #punctuation #all the punctuation #em dash #hes just a little guy #i love him so much #interests