What's the difference between "--" and "..."?

[TheEndIsNigh]

Thanks. It's something that I've never really thought about before (sweet innocent lad in the ways of the world that I am).

Now you've set them out so clearly it is quite amazing the difference it makes.

Have you any take on italics. I have a character that has telepathic abilities and occasionally this leads to a dual conversation situation. The following is the best I could come up with on the spur of the moment.

"Are you quite sure 'Try and get behind him Cid' that shooting him will solve you problems," Bill said.

Or do you think this is too hard for the reader to follow .

I think it's more immediate and gives a better sense of urgency than waiting for the next sentence as in:-

"Are you quite sure that shooting him will solve you problems," Bill said.
At the same time he projected” try and get behind him Cid"

Obviously posts crossed in the post if you see what I meen.

 

[Erin99]

This is only my personal opinion, but the first example is hard to follow. However, what you're asking reminds me of Robert Redick's novel, and he got around the problem a different way.

In one part, only this one boy could hear the speech of this weird mini human/creature/thing, and at the same time a man was also speaking to the boy. I won't dive into the book and find the quote, but it went something like this:

The captain spoke to Pazel:

'And an Ixchel's heart beats six times as fast as a human's, so what poison would kill me in six minutes would kill him in two.'

('Your heart stopped beating years ago, Captain.')

Pazel tried to ignore the Ixchel's mutterings as he listened to the Captain speaking.

See - doing it this way shows that the Ixchel was speaking at the same time. But it's using parentheses.

Hope that's a help. I recommend the book, BTW. It's the best one I've read in ages! The Red Wolf Conspiracy.

 

[TheEndIsNigh]

Yes, see what you mean.

Ah well, back to the keyboard - oh wait, I'm already there.

Thanks.

 

[Erin99]

You could always post some in Critiques and see what others think. You get great advice there. But in the end you must listen to what you want. I spent years perfecting my novel so everyone would be happy - and then I realised I could never please everyone.

 

[TheEndIsNigh]

Mmm... Not quite ready for the critiques yet. Those claws look pretty sharp - hey new avatar whats happening

 

[Grimward]

(With apologies to Samuel Morse!)

...---...! The Chrons has been attacked by a punctuation thread! ...---...!

(Ok, ok, I couldn't help it!)

There's also the convention of using the dashes (and this one seems to vary widely in terms of the number of dashes used) to portray a difference in the "sound" of the voice speaking, or even exchanges carried out in telepathy, a la

Picard: "I'm afraid I can't allow you to do that"
Borg: ---you will be assimilated---

 

[TheEndIsNigh]

(With apologies to Samuel Morse!)

...---...! The Chrons has been attacked by a punctuation thread! ...---...!

(Ok, ok, I couldn't help it!)

have you tried -.. -.. .-

Dot Dashers Anonymous

There's also the convention of using the dashes (and this one seems to vary widely in terms of the number of dashes used) to portray a difference in the "sound" of the voice speaking, or even exchanges carried out in telepathy, a la

Picard: "I'm afraid I can't allow you to do that"
Borg: ---you will be assimilated---

I think this breaks up the flow too much. I think (and of course I speak for the whole of humanity here) people are used to the concept of () or ,, as an aside or break in thought. I'm not sure they are ready to assimilate the concept of ---

 

[Grimward]

have you tried -.. -.. .-

Dot Dashers Anonymous

*Chuckles!*

The answer, of course, is -. ---!

Regarding the use of the dash/hyphen to represent a different "sound", it definitely does break up the flow, but I'm afraid the cat's out of the bag; this is already out there! Terry Brooks comes most immediately to mind, but I'm sure I've seen this with other authors, too.

The rest of humanity has my sympathies, of course, but I'm sure we'll get through these flow interruptions somehow!