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

I am revisiting my em-dashes.

Here's the thing. You aren't supposed to use too many semicolons either, and you are supposed to have varying sentence length, and watch your commas, and and and ...

I don't see how to write a nice long sentence (the average in the 1800s was something like 50-word sentences; closer to 30 in the early 1900s, etc etc) without these devices (commas, colons, semicolons, m-dashes.). My average sentence length is 10. I have no idea how one would get it to even 15 given the short dialog sentences that balance out the narrative.

Colons are right out. Search it here on SE. Can't use them. Exclamation points? No sir. One per manuscript (Okay, perhaps that's extreme, but it has been suggested by some, truly, one in a manuscript and that is IT.). Question marks? Slightly more tolerable but no inane conversation ... and guess what, this translates to a reduction in question marks.

Compound sentences? Tread with care. Use too many and it becomes repetitive.

Commas? Play this game long enough and people will accuse you of (shudder) abusing commas.

Truly the only good answer is that all of it is absolutely fine. (well, not the colon, I mean come on.) Balance. Balance it. Same with adverbs. Balance them. Balance all of it. You have so many tools. Use each and every one. That's the answer.

Including the m-dash.

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: 'The Chosen One' paradox In many books novels or other forms of fictional writing, the reader is introduced to a so called 'chosen one'. This character or being is of higher power or in general,

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

More posts by @LarsenBagley300

: What makes for a successful resurrection? If you've seen Avengers: Infinity War, you'll recall the line "No resurrections this time" being said in the scene just after the first (arguably second)

: Is it important to research the topic of your novel/story before writing it? Let's say you're writing a story about magic. Does it have to be based on real facts and real magic or can you

: Do I need to Cite Multiple Quotes From the Same Source Multiple Times (APA)? If I am using multiple quotes from the same source back-to-back, do I need to cite each quote? If it was a

: 'The Chosen One' paradox In many books novels or other forms of fictional writing, the reader is introduced to a so called 'chosen one'. This character or being is of higher power or in general,

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