How to use dashes in fiction: UK and US style

4 months ago 20

Are your hyphens, en dashes and em dashes giving you the run-around? Here’s a guide to conventional usage in UK and US fiction publishing.

Terminology
Dashes are sometimes referred to as ‘rules’, especially in the UK. Oxford’s New Hart’s Rules (NHR) refers to the ‘en rule’ and the ‘em rule’ whereas The Chicago Manual of Style (CMOS) discusses ‘en dashes’ and ‘em dashes’.

Both terms are acceptable but I’ll use ‘dash’ in this article.

A word on exceptions
Take a look at the likes of CMOS and you’ll see plenty of exceptions to the rules, which is why I don’t much like rules when it comes to fiction editing! What I’ve given you here is what I think you’ll need to know most of the time for most of your novel writing.

What do the dashes look like?
There are four dashes you’re most likely to use in fiction:

Hyphen: -
En dash: –
Em dash: —
2em dash: ⸺

Dashes that set off text and replace alternative punctuation
The EN DASH and the EM DASH can be used to set off an augmenting or explanatory word or phrase in a sentence that could stand alone without the insertion.

Brackets, commas and colons can act as alternative forms of punctuation. Here are some examples that demonstrate how it could be done:

That old dog (the black one) is as sweet as they come.
That old dog, the black one, is as sweet as they come.
That old dog – the black one – is as sweet as they come.
That old dog—the black one—is as sweet as they come.

She knew the name of that old dog – everyone did.
She knew the name of that old dog—everyone did.

That sweet old dog had a name – Patch.
That sweet old dog had a name: Patch.

In the UK, it’s conventional to use a SPACED EN DASH. This is not the law, not a rule, not the only way or the right way. It’s just the style that many UK publishers choose, though not all.

Here’s an example from my version of Stephen King’s The Outsider (p. 171):

The yard – every single blade of grass seeming to cast a shadow in the moonlight – was empty.

In the US, it’s conventional to use a CLOSED-UP EM DASH. Again, this is not the law, not a rule, not the only way or the right way. It’s just the style that many US publishers choose, though not all.

Here’s what King’s sentence looks like when amended according to US convention:

The yard—every single blade of grass seeming to cast a shadow in the moonlight—was empty.

Some style guides even ask for SPACED EM DASHES, though I see this usage less frequently:

The yard — every single blade of grass seeming to cast a shadow in the moonlight — was empty.

I recommend you stick to spaced en dashes or closed-up em dashes in fiction because that’s what your readers will be most familiar with. As for which style you should choose, think about:

where your target audience is based
what they’re used to seeing

If you’re publishing internationally, pick one style and be consistent.

Dashes in number spans
In fiction, number spans are often written out, though again this is convention rather than a rule that must be adhered to. Number ranges might make their way into emails, texts, letters and reports in your story, and they’re perfect for date ranges.

A CLOSED-UP EN DASH between number spans is standard in publishing, whether you’re writing in British English or US English:

Morning registration: 9.30–11.30 (full stops more often used in time styles in UK English)
Morning registration: 9:30–11:30 (colons more often used in time styles in US English)

See pp. 86–95

The 1914–18 war was the war to end all wars

07/03/1967–26/06/2019 (day/month/year; standard in UK English)
03/07/1967–06/26/2019 (month/day/year; standard in US English)

Note that the en dash means up to and including (or through in US English).

CMOS and NHR both recommend using EITHER the closed-up en dash in a number range OR a from/to or between/and construction, but not a mixture of the two:

Read from p. 86 to p. 95 (standard)
Read pp. 86–95 (standard)
Read from p. 86–95 (non-standard)

The war lasted from 1914 to 1918 (standard)
The war lasted from 1914–18 (non-standard)

I’ll be there between 9:30 and 11:30 (standard)
I’ll be there between 9:30–11:30 (non-standard)

Dashes as alternative speech marks
The CLOSED-UP EM DASH can act as an alternative to speech marks (or quotation marks) in dialogue in both UK English and US English.

Sylvain Neuvel uses this technique in Sleeping Giants and it works because the scenes in which it occurs take place in a secret location with an anonymous (even to the reader) agent running the interrogation. Each speaker’s turn is indicated with an em dash. The agent’s speech is rendered in bold.

Excerpt from the Kindle edition:

—There is no need to get angry.
—I’m not angry.
—If you say so. You have a problem with authority.
—You don’t need a test to work that one out.

It can be an effective tool for fiction that’s dialogue driven – almost like a screenplay – but it gets messy when there are more than two speakers in a conversation, and becomes unworkable if you want to ground your dialogue in the environment with narrative (action beats, for example). And, of course, the dialogue needs to be standout because that’s all there is.

Dashes that indicate end-of-line interruptions
To indicate that a speaking character has been interrupted, use a CLOSED-UP EM DASH, whether you’re publishing in US or UK English.

Here’s an example from Mick Herron’s

Dead Lions (p. 115)::

‘I got the guys at the Troc to pick it up on Clerkenwell Road. They tracked—’
‘You got the guys—’
‘Yeah yeah. Catherine got the guys at the Troc to pick them up.’

And another from Linwood Barclay’s Parting Shot (p. 380):

“Ms. Plimpton,” Duckworth said. “I don’t know if you remember me, but I’m Detective Barry—”
“I know exactly who you are,” she said, and reached out and took his hand in hers.

Dashes for dialogue interrupted by narrative description
Dashes offer clarity when dialogue is broken by narrative description and the speaker hasn’t finished talking.

Here’s how it could be rendered in US English using CLOSED-UP EM DASHES:

“We’ve talked about this monstrosity before”—he jabbed at the flock wallpaper—“and I’m telling you, it has to go.”

And if you’re following UK English convention, use SPACED EN DASHES:

‘We’ve talked about this monstrosity before’ – he jabbed at the flock wallpaper – ‘and I’m telling you, it has to go.’

Notice how I’ve also used double quotation marks in the US version and singles for the UK one. Again, this isn’t about being right or obeying a rule; it’s a convention, and one that’s not always adhered to. Consistency is king.

Dashes that indicate faltering speech
If your character is out of breath, taken aback, caught off guard, frightened, or nervous, you might want to indicate faltering speech with punctuation.

There are no absolute rules about how you do this; it depends on the effect you want to achieve.

If you want to denote a staccato rhythm, HYPHENS are a good choice. This works for

sharper faltering where the character stammers or stutters.

If the faltering related not to letters but to phrases, you could use a CLOSED-UP EM DASH (US style) or a SPACED EN DASH (UK style).

Ellipses are another option. They're not dashes but they're handy for faltered speech that has a pause in it. You can use these with your dash of choice.

Hyphens (staccato):
"No. I-I-I mean, not really. It was an accident. I just s-s-saw him standing there and I flipped," Marion said.

Closed-up em dash for faltering phrasing (US style):
"I can't—I mean I shouldn't—well, it's difficult to know what to do."

Spaced en dash for faltering phrasing (UK style):
'I can't – I mean I shouldn't – well, it's difficult to know what to do.'

Ellipses for pauses (in conjunction with dashes):
'I can't – I mean I shouldn't – oh God ... you know what? It's d-d-difficult to know what to do.'

"No. I ... I mean, not really. It was an accident. I just s-s-saw him standing there and I flipped," Marion said.

Dashes as separators
HYPHENS are the tool of choice here. They’re short and sharp, and are perfect in fiction when you want to spell out words or numbers:

‘No,’ Louise said. ‘That’s not how you spell it. It’s T-O-M-A-S.’

“That doesn’t make sense. The extension he gave me is 1-9-1-8. Are you sure it’s a five-digit number?”

Number separation comes in handy when you want to ensure your reader reads the numbers as distinct digits rather than inclusively. Compare 1918 (nineteen eighteen) with 1-9-1-8 (one, nine, one, eight).

Dashes that indicate connection, relation or an alternative
We use EN DASHES in place of to and and/or to show a connection between two words that can stand alone and that together are modifying a noun:

They’d nurtured that author–editor relationship for years.

“Those two have had an on–off relationship for over a decade. I wish they’d make their minds up!”

‘I’m going to get the Liverpool–Belfast ferry. There’s one at ten thirty.’
Danny would take the money and Sheryl would get her promotion. It was a win–win.

I couldn’t see us winning the England–Brazil match but I put a tenner on us anyway. Just for fun.

Amir was an Asian–British scholar and something of a polyglot. ‘Languages float on the wind in my grandparents’ village,’ he once told me.

Dashes with adjectival compounds
Either EN DASHES or HYPHENS are used here, regardless of where you live.

When one adjective modifies another adjective, these words create a compound. If this compound is placed before a noun, it usually takes a HYPHEN for the purpose of clarity. When the compound comes after the noun and a linking verb, the hyphen can be omitted:

He buttoned up a navy-blue shirt.
but
His shirt was navy blue.

“That well-read woman you were talking about? She’s called Sally.”
but
“Sally sure is well read, no doubt about it.”

Care should be taken, even in fiction, with regard to weighting. Let’s revisit the example of our polyglot Amir. Consider the differences between the following:

Amir was an Asian–British scholar and something of a polyglot. ‘Languages float on the wind in my grandparents’ village,’ he once told me.

Amir was an Asian-British scholar and something of a polyglot. ‘Languages float on the wind in my grandparents’ village,’ he once told me.

Amir was an Asian British scholar and something of a polyglot. ‘Languages float on the wind in my grandparents’ village,’ he once told me.

Amir was a British Asian scholar and something of a polyglot. ‘Languages float on the wind in my grandparents’ village,’ he once told me.

In the first example, with an EN DASH, Amir’s Asianness and Britishness have equal weighting. In the second, with the HYPHEN, ‘Asian’ is modifying ‘British’ and carries less weight. In the third and fourth, where the dashes are omitted, the weighting is ambiguous.

The dash of choice (or its omission) can tell us something about Amir’s identity – how he, or the narrator, or the author perceives this – so it needs to be used purposefully.

Dashes indicating omission
You might want to omit words, fully or partially, because they’re profane, or to indicate that some of the letters are illegible, or to disguise a name.

There are several options for managing omission: em dashes, 2em dashes, en dashes and asterisks. Spacing comes into play. There are different conventions for US and UK style.

NHR recommends the following for UK style:

To indicate partial omission of a word, and the number of letters that have been omitted, choose the SPACED EN DASH (or unspaced asterisks):

‘The scandal featured a certain Mrs H – – – – –. Can you believe it?’

‘I told you to p – – – off!’ he said, spittle flying.

‘I told you to p*** off!’ he said, spittle flying.

To indicate partial omission of a word with a single mark, choose the CLOSED-UP EM DASH:

‘The scandal featured a certain Mrs H—. Can you believe it?’

‘I told you to p— off!’ he said, spittle flying.

To indicate complete omission of a word with a single mark, choose the SPACED EM DASH:

‘The scandal featured a certain Mrs —. Can you believe it?’

‘I told you to — off!’ he said, spittle flying.

CMOS recommends the following for US style:

To indicate partial omission of a word, choose a CLOSED-UP 2EM DASH:

“The scandal featured a certain Mrs H⸺. Can you believe it?”

“I told you to p⸺ off!” he said, spittle flying.

To indicate complete omission of a word, choose the SPACED 2EM DASH:

“The scandal featured a certain Mrs ⸺. Can you believe it?”

“I told you to ⸺ off!” he said, spittle flying.

Summing up
Using dashes purposefully, and according to publishing convention, will bring clarity to your fiction writing. Think about your audience and what they’re used to seeing on the page, then choose your style and apply it consistently.

Consider, too, whether your choice of dash will amplify or reduce the significance (or weight) of your words when you’re using dashes as connectors or modifiers.

And if you’re still bamboozled, ask a pro editor. We know our dashes!

Hi,
What about dashes used for stuttered speech?
e.g. He-- he-- he didn't do that.
or
W-wh-what do you mean?

Louise Harnby

4/9/2019 07:52:34 pm

Hi, MJ.

There are various options. It depends on the faltering. I've amended the post to show some different options, including for stuttered speech. See the heading 'Dashes that indicate faltering speech'.

Hope that helps!

I use word. I can create an em- dash, and a hyphen is easy, but I have no idea how to create an en- dash.
I am from the UK, and I have never heard of a dash being called a 'rule'. I've been around a long time, too.

Louise Harnby

4/9/2019 10:48:30 pm

Hi, Vivienne. See New Hart's Rules published by Oxford. Here's a quotation the uses the term 'rule':
'4.11.1 En rule
The en rule (US en dash) (–) (Unicode code point U+2013 en dash) is longer than a hyphen and half the length of an em rule. (See 4.11.2 for a definition of an em). Many British publishers use an en rule with space either side as a parenthetical dash, but Oxford and most US publishers use an em rule.'

It also gives you the unicode you can search for in the Symbols window (click on Insert, then Symbols).

I've set up a keyboard shortcut to create en and em dashes, though in my version of Word the en appears automatically if I type a word followed by a space followed by another word.

Hope that helps.

David J

10/9/2023 11:18:59 pm

In Word, use ctrl+- for an en dash and alt+ctrl+- for an em dash, where "+" means hold the keys down together and "-" means the minus character on the numerical keypad.

Erin

8/9/2019 02:53:06 am

This is probably the clearest article on this that I've found! It's also super helpful to see which conventions are more popular in which area of the world. Very helpful, thank you.
Only one thing: it took me rather a long time to find what CMOS stood for, and I was only able to find it through Google because, as an editor, I figured out that MOS stood for Manual of Style. I think, outside of America, the Chicago Manual of Style may be a little obscure for the acronym not to be expanded upon first use? Just a thought :)

Louise Harnby

9/9/2019 04:56:40 pm

Thanks, Erin!

I expanded NHR on first use and meant to follow suit with CMOS. Just a little slip-up.

I admit, however, that I thought CMOS was as well known to UK editors as US ones! I'm a British editor and I use it every day because it's so comprehensive. That'll teach me not to make assumptions!

Thanks for the heads-up!

Excellent article Louise. It's clearly explained and will be very helpful. best wishes

Louise Harnby

11/9/2019 11:45:11 am

Thanks so much, Suzanne!

Simon Ellberger

23/5/2020 12:32:48 pm

What about a dash used as a terminal end point in a sentence that is not part of a dialogue.
For instance: He jumped into the waves and swam away. He was never seen again--
Does it have to be closed on the left side of the dash? And must it be an em-dash?

Louise Harnby

23/5/2020 01:31:03 pm

Hi, Simon. It's an interesting style choice but one that might confuse readers precisely because there is existing standard punctuation to indicate a terminus: the full point. Dashes are usually interpreted as indicating either an interruption or some sort of open loop ... in other words the reader imagines there would/could have been more to say (either in dialogue or a narrative).

So this would make sense to me:

He jumped into the waves and--
or
He jumped into the waves--

Now there's suspense because the reader's wondering: did he swim away, did he drown, did he nearly drown but manage to swim away? Something else? And perhaps that will be unveiled later but for now it's a mystery.

But if he jumped into the waves and swam away, that's it - job done. An em dash would confuse me because I wouldn't understand what it was indicating.

As for which dash, and whether to have a space, as I said in the blog post, it's a style choice but for open loops and direct interruptions, it's usually a closed-up em.

However, I could imagine that kind of dash being used if a viewpoint character were remembering something but is then interrupted by a speaker or an event that distracts them from their musing. So, as an example in narrative:

He unfolded the picture. Him, Tom, Jerry. Just kids really. And carefree, their whole lives ahead of them. And then, in not two years later, Tom had jumped into the water and swum away--
"Simon. Hello? Anyone home?"

So in that kind of situation, I'd use a closed-up em dash to show the interruption but leave the musing unresolved for the reader.

Not sure if that helps! These kinds of decisions are so dependent on context. The post above aimed to give general guidelines that can be applied universally but there are always exceptions depending on what's going on in the story and what a writer's intention is.

This article is precisely what I needed. Thank you so much for this :)

Louise Harnby

5/6/2020 12:48:27 pm

You're welcome!

Jayne Lewis

7/8/2020 04:09:32 pm

Signed up for my free trial of CMOS, received the activation link and… half an hour later it's still 'thinking about it'! A bit of googling, found your site instead and had my answer straight away, so many thanks.

Louise Harnby

7/8/2020 06:18:23 pm

I aim to please, Jayne! CMOS is worth waiting for though. Great resource that I turn to often!

Thank you, I found this really useful when self-editing a third draft.

Kitty

2/4/2021 08:06:22 pm

Ah, this is fantastic – thank you! I'm please to see that I was already mostly correct in what I was using.
I have a question. If a character asks a question but is interrupted, does it require a question mark?
(Excuse the mixed formatting – I'm using the US-style speech marks but with UK-style-everything-else!)

Eldunai hadn’t realised she’d dropped her hand and stopped breathing. She became suddenly aware of how hard her heart was beating.
“Taur—?”
Falco abruptly stopped speaking when she threw herself against his chest.

Louise Harnby

2/4/2021 08:51:01 pm

I'd say it's a style choice, Kitty, and depends whether the question mark is absolutely necessary for sense. I don't have enough context to make a judgement call here so I'll leave it to you! Either choice is fine grammatically though.

Kitty

3/4/2021 03:52:48 am

Ah, brilliant! In this case, I think I'll keep it. Thank you so much!

Lily

21/4/2021 05:54:56 am

How do I format the dash in this correctly? It's rather important for my novel, and I'm only 13 so I'm not amazing/experienced at grammar. Thank you.

Back then, she had gotten upset, and he had hugged her, forced all the sadness out until there were only tear stains to remind her of what she had felt. She tried to concentrate on that moment, tried to remember what had made her feel upset, why she had--
He kissed her.

Louise Harnby

21/4/2021 08:11:12 am

Hi, Lily. You need the em dash. See the section in the post called: 'Dashes that indicate end-of-line interruptions'

Mary McGovern

5/9/2024 07:29:17 pm

Love your article. Very helpful! Thank you!

Aimee

11/9/2024 04:39:27 am

Hi, if by chance you are still answering on this article, I have a question. In a work of fiction, could a hyphen be used to enhance the way a compound noun is read. E.g "Pah! Singed jungle-cat(Em dash)go now!"
I feel that the hyphen cues the reader to read "jungle-cat" as more blurred together than just "jungle cat". But I can't find much back up in CMOS apart from under "Hyphens and Readability": A hyphen can make for easier reading by showing structure and, often, pronunciation.
Is this use legit?