So You Want To Write A Story

Yes ofc! Em-dashes are my favorite and my go too—but they are kinda hard to understand sometimes.

Em-dashes are made by typing the dash (-) twice in a row. Like: —

On most programs/typing systems, this will automatically make a single, long line (like above) which is known as the “m”-dash (because ideally—it’s the length of an “m”).

Em-dashes are basically your shapeshifter punctuation mark. They can be used in place of parentheses, commas, colons, and even quotation marks. In the case of dialogue, they also offer the “cutting off” effect that you, as a writer, will run into at least once or twice.

Dialogue

‘ “But I-I didn’t—“

“No one cares, Max.” ‘

Is a prime example. The character, Max, is cut off mid scentance. And instead of using a “...” which would normally convey a soft, trailing off kinda vibe:

‘ “But I-I didn’t....”

He didn’t know how to finish the sentance.

“No one cares, Max.” ‘

(Which can be useful in cases like this, when the tension you want to convey is softer and more depressing.)

But there’s more uses than just dialogue. Uses that are more grammatical, less.... ✨vibe✨.

“Exerts”

As I’m sure most of you know, or at the very least, I can review later, commas and parentheses can both be used to signal “exerts” mid-sentance.

Like I just did (isn’t that crazy).

And did again.

In a more obvious example:

“Billy bob joe, the oblivious child that he was, liked pineapple on pizza”

“Billy bob joe (the oblivious child that he was) liked pineapple on pizza”

This is just in places where you want to give information to the reader half way, but don’t want to create an awkwardly-phrased sentance. Descritption is perfect here.

Em-dashes can actually replace these in cases like this.

“Billy bob joe—the oblivious child that he was—liked pineapple on pizza.”

All are grammatically correct, and whichever one you use is up to you—it’s really just based on vibe.

Commas give a more casual transition feel, parentheses feel more whisper-behind-the-hand, and em-dashes give a more “oh! You need this info too!’ Vibe. But these are all relative to who you talk to.

Go nuts :)

Sorta a mix

This is sort of a mix of one and two—and can be used in instances half way through a sentance, to indicate an exert that finishes the phrase. This is usually in places where the original sentance is supposed to “cut off” (like in dialogue), but cut off in a way that is cut off by the “speaker”.

Can you call me—oh, never mind.

The only reason this isn’t in dialogue is that us can also be used in normal body-text, especially in first-person stories.

Also note—in cases like this, it takes the job of what a semi-colon can do.

Colons

No, not the organ.

This thing :

No, really. That thing.

Colons are used to introduce information at the end of a sentance, usually found in lists, but also in more “!” phrases.

“Sally knows where she wants to eat: the New Mexican restaurant!”

Or

“Sally hates three people in particular: Billy bob joe, Max, and Sam.”

The em-dash can just take its place.

There’s nothing else to it. Just replace.

Rules

Believe it or not—there are a few.

Em-dashes and hyphens (-) are completely different and cannot replace one another. More over, (information I should have placed in the beginning)

Em-Dashes Don’t Use Spaces.

Type your word, immediately place your em-dash, and add you following word.

Word—word word.

Not:

Word — word word.

Connect them.

Your words get lonely.

Em-dashes don’t believe in social distancing.

Anyway, hope this helped! Happy writing :)

✨paragraph breaks✨

To start out simple, we need to cover what paragraph breaks are—and what they do.

Open up your nearest book. Paragraph breaks are just breaks between paragraphs—where you hit enter on your keyboard, that kinda thing.

In their most basic form, they’re there to keep the writing organized and to keep your reader from getting confused. For example:

‘Sarah ran her hand through her hair.

“I dunno, Samuel...” she said, hesitation clinging to her words, “The place looks pretty abandoned—“

“Hey,” Samuel snapped, eyebrows dipping, “do you want the patch or not?”

“I do, but—“

“Then stop being such a crybaby and let’s go already!” ‘

Ignoring the not-so-good writing, the conversation between Sarah and Samuel is easy to follow. What action is specified is easily separated and identifiable, and the sudden paragraph breaks mid dialogue give the reader that sense of being cut off—which we want. This is in comparison to the same scene, without paragraph breaks:

‘Sarah ran her hand through wear hair. “I dunno, Samuel...” she said, hesitation clinging to her words, “the place looks pretty abandoned—“ “Hey,” Samuel snapped, eyebrows dipping, “Do you want the patch or not?” “I do, but—“ “Then stop being such a crybaby and let’s go already!” ‘

Yeah, much harder to get through.

A real quick acronym to help you remember where paragraphs are absolutely necessary:

Time

Place

Topic

Person

(TiPToP)

Whenever one of these things changes—is where a paragraph break is absolutely necessary. Think: whenever the camera “moves”. Whether from a person to another (such as in dialogue) or when you go from talk about guitars to ukuleles. That kinda thing.

But paragraph breaks aren’t just for organization and easy reading, they’re also really effective in conveying a mood. This is more common in poetry, and uses the blank space on a page in the same way an artist would.

“I am

falling.

I don’t know how to stop.”

It conveys hesitation in this case. The readers drags their eyes across the white before finally reaching: “.......falling.”

In addition, the large break contrasted by the lack of break in the immediately following sentence conveys a faster pace, while also keeping the melo mood established above.

(This also gets into word choice, but that’s a post for another day)

In more of a “novel” format:

‘Stop.

Please.

God—

Just stop.’

You’re generally not going to want to utilize the open space the paragraph breaks give you when writing a story, but that doesn’t mean they can’t still be effective.

Assuming this is internal dialogue, the short one-word lines give a firm stop in between each word, and only add to the evident level of desperation.

‘Stop. Please. God—just stop.’

Still gets the point across, but especially in more climactic, emotional scenes—the first one is probably a better bet.

There’s more, as there always is—but this’ll give you a nice overview and introduction on utilizing paragraph breaks! Just don’t forget to write paragraphs like you write scentances—vary the length and the structure.

Keep long paragraphs for description, shorter ones for more action-heavy pieces.

(Questions? Don’t be afraid to send an ask!)

I don’t know if this is going to get anyone’s attention, but I figured hey: worth a shot.

My name’s Novel, I’m a writer, and I have an excess of writing knowledge to share with the world. Plot, characters, descriptions—the whole shebang.

In a sense, I did the research so you don’t have to.

If that sounds cool with you, feel free to check out my blog. I’ll be posting as frequently as I can, and my ask box is always open :)

Hopefully, we’ll be able to get some incredible stories out and into the world.

Hope to see you soon,