The em dash ( — ) is a handy way to show a character has paused. In the blog “Better Dialog,” I mentioned that “Mother” has a tell in her speech. She makes a statement, pauses, and then delivers the zinger: not only are they leaving Margo again, but it’s happening again in two weeks.
Mother stabbed at the underside of the mixer, the chrome shaft locking into place. “We’ll need to leave soon—two weeks?”
If you are a Mac user, the em dash is easy: Option + Shift + Dash. It gets a little complicated for Windows users and some android devices, especially if you have a laptop without a keypad. At the bottom of this blog is a link to an article about em-dash that is a better explanation for Windows users.
There are references to a “double dash” shortcut. On a Mac, you can press Option + Dash + Dash, and a long dash appears. Unfortunately, it is not a true em dash. I am not sure how Kindle would handle that, but the E-Book creating software, CaLibre, renders this as a double dash ( — ) on the Kindle devices. I have to tell you, it looks pretty ugly.
Technical Mumbo-Jumbo: The Html character for an em dash is a single character: &# 8212; (There is no space between # and 8, but if I write it correctly, it turns into an em dash. Ha.) The double dash, rendered on the Mac and web pages as a single long em dash ( — ), is actually two characters: &# 8211;&# 8211; As you can see, close, but no cigar. If you need an em dash for your website, you can write the &# 8212 (no space) in the text. Try it some time. Escape codes are fun.
Although I programmed for Windows for years, I try to avoid using Windows, and am not sure about the next statement: I am afraid that some Windows solutions that “produce” an em dash by hitting dash twice may result in the same double dash in Kindle books. One can hope Amazon KDP translates the double dash into a single em dash.
Quick Trick
Because there is no quick solution for Windows users, I suggest keeping a Notepad file with an em dash in it. Then when writing, decide upon three characters you can enter quickly. These characters need to be something that would never appear in a document. When writing I use ggg to mark my place in a document. This way, when I open it several minutes or days later, I can search for ggg and am able to continue my editing.
Instead of struggling with Windows’ inability to understand the em dash, you might type, “We’ll need to leave soon eee two weeks?” Do this on a backup file, in case all goes wonky.
The trick is getting the em dash correct when doing a search and replace. Em dash has no spaces, so in the “Find” field, put space eee space. Put a single em dash in the “Replace” field that you are sure is correct with no spaces. You may want to replace one at a time, as I found Sharon said, “Eeeendless discussions,” in MOTC.
As a sidebar, I taught 6th graders to substitute three letters for a long name. If the child was writing a paper about the Triceratops, it helped to type ttt and then search and replace later.
If you learned about the em dash—today—remember—like dialog tags—a little is a lot. Overdoing the em dash can irritate the reader—and me.
Link To Em Dash and Windows Flumdummery Article.
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