: Re: Eliminating the Dash in Prose Writing I have been accused — shock, horror — of using the dash (the one that indicates a three-quarters pause) too much in my fiction. Thing is — I quite

@Carla500

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The answer is quite subjective because the "em dashes" sometimes work really well in a sentence while sometimes they are just disruptive to the flow of the thing you attempt to say.

The key part is trying not to overuse the effects you try to create. A reader will quickly be bored by the predictability of such effect.

I have been accused — shock, horror, of using the dash too much in my
fiction (the one that indicates a three-quarters pause).

I quite like the use of the "em dash" here because it appeals to an emotion. Nobody likes being accused and people related with these emotions well.

Rewriting this would turn it into:

I was shocked, horrified, to know I was being accused of using the "em
dash" too much in my fiction.

Mind that this is just one way of saying the same thing, however this time we are saying the same thing about how we feel about this accusation without stopping the flow of the reader.

Thing is — I quite like the effect it has on my writing and I'm rather
reluctant to part with it unless I'm given an excellent alternative.

This second example bothers me a lot. You haven't even started the sentence yet. No information, action or feeling give and you already interrupt the reader.
Instead I would go with a much less disruptive way or saying the same thing.

However, I quite like the effect it has on my writing and I'm rather
reluctant to part with it unless I'm given an excellent alternative.

After the rewrite the sentence flows more natural and tells us the very same thing.

So in short, while the use of the "em dash" is not bad thing, you should consider what you are trying to say. What you want the reader to feel as you say it. And not try to obstruct the natural flow of the reader too much.

I hope this helps you clear things up a bit. This is the way I see it.

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