How do you write interruption of conversation between 2 characters? - Writers Forum

jmsx521 · 05-08-2007, 10:59 PM

For example let's say John's statement is interrupted by Mary:

John said, "Mary don't go there because"
"Oh, stop it!" she interrupted.

or

John said, "Mary don't go there beca..."
"Oh, stop it!" she interrupted.

In real life we don't necessarily finish the full word when we get interrupted from saying something, but I can't remember having read any story/writing that shows an incomplete word, such as the example above.

Other more-complex samples will be appreciated.

Thanks.

lisajane · 05-08-2007, 11:13 PM

I would put that as:

John said, "Mary, don't go there because - "
"Oh, stop it!" she interrupted.

One rule to remember is, written dialogue is different to speech dialogue. Also, I would use '...' for an interruption if John were to trail off before Mary spoke, expecting her interruption. Her interruption however is quite sudden, and so there should be a sharp break in his dialogue.

killned3 · 05-08-2007, 11:48 PM

Two dashes are actually the correct method of punctuation . . . or "em dashes", as they're called.

"Mary, don't go there, because--"
"Oh, stop it!" she interrupted.

jmsx521 · 05-08-2007, 11:52 PM

lisajane, I don't understand the dash after "because"; is that the appropriate way to signify an interruption?

jmsx521 · 05-08-2007, 11:53 PM

Do you put a space between the m-dash and the word, or is it straight after the word?

killned3 · 05-09-2007, 12:31 AM

No pause; it goes straight after.

In case you don't know this one, either, here's how to punctuate a pause and continuation of a single quote.

"He seemed to be very . . ." Jake thought for a moment, then resumed with a smile curving his lips. ". . . respectful . . . yes, that's it. He seemed to be very respectful."

You can alter that however you want, of course, but that's the basic model.

Mike C · 05-09-2007, 03:40 AM

you can also lose 'she interrupted'. It's redundant, and we can see from the dialogue that she has indeed interrupted. Don't feel that all dialoge needs tags:

John said, "Mary don't go there because..."
"Oh, stop it!"
"No, really..."
"Didn't I just tell you to stop?"
"Mary, did I ever tell you you were impossible?"

You know who's speaking at any given point, so don't clutter the flow of dialogue with tags you don't need.

lakotadan · 05-09-2007, 07:34 PM

John said, "Mary don't go there because..."
3...periods are called ellipsis, which show omissions within a quoated passage. They are not used to show interruptions
--emdashes are used to show interruptions in speech or omission of letters f---
"Oh, stop it!"
"No, really..."needs emdashes, not ellipsis unless you are leaving some of the dialouge out of the sentence Example. "No, really...what I told you is all I know."
"Didn't I just tell you to stop?"
"Mary, did I ever tell you you were impossible?"

This punctuation was taken from "Webster's Concise Dictionary" of the English Language

mammamaia · 05-09-2007, 09:57 PM

ellipses are more often used for both interrupted and unfinished dialog, regardless of the rules... the writing itself should make it clear which is which... the double hyphen is just a substitute for the real em dash, which is a long hyphen [the width of the letter 'm'] and will often be automatically inserted by your ms word program...

and i was going to note the same thing mike did, that 'she interrupted' is not needed and intrusive...

Mike C · 05-10-2007, 01:24 AM

Whilst I note the correctness of your response, lakotadan, the ellipsis is as correct because it's representing text omitted due to the interruption. It's also (more?) widely used by convention than the em-dash. Either is correct.