When to Use an En Dash vs. an Em Dash

Among the most common problems I see when proofreading for my clients is confusion over the en dash and the em dash. Oftentimes, the confusion is so great that inconsistent styles are used within a manuscript.

First, some definitions:
• En dash – This dash is longer than a hyphen and often about half the length of an em dash (though modern computers’ font options differ and usually make this only an approximate), or the length of a capital N. Also called an “n dash,” “n-rule,” or “nut,” the en dash typically is used in a closed set of values, such as, “The score was 21–7.” You usually make an en dash on a computer keyboard by hitting the hyphen key and then a return.
• Em dash – This dash is typically twice the length of an en dash, or the length of a capital M. Also called an “m dash,” “m-rule,” or “mutton,” the em dash usually is used to show an idea that is set apart, such as “A character’s passions, desires and fears allow for conflict–and hence your plot–to occur.”

And now comes a whole new set of problems. No one really can agree how the spacing should appear after an em dash. “The Chicago Style of Manual” says no spaces should appear before or after an em dash, as in the above example. Canadian and United Kingdom typography organizations and publishing houses tend to prefer spaces around an en dash.

Confounding this is that software and computer engineers could care less about the issue. Because of this, there’s no key for an em dash on most computers. In addition, typographically the justification of text across a line sometimes makes text appear odd when the em dash connects two words. Spell checks aren’t happy with it, either.

I propose that like “who” and “whom,” the en dash and em dash are increasingly irrelevant and that a simplification of the rules is necessary. Unless an editor or a publisher specifically suggests following a specific format (such as “The Chicago Style of Manual”), I typically edit en dashes in closed sets of values to be a hyphen. When setting ideas apart, I replace the em dash with an en dash, and to make the justified lines more readable, add spaces before or after the em dash.

Call me a heretic, if you must. But most readers (let alone authors) don’t know the difference between an en dash and an em dash. Readers do know, however, when a line is typographically difficult to read. And if your publisher or editor doesn’t like it, she always can change it.

Whichever approach you use, though, always be consistent in its application.

______________

My name is Rob Bignell. I’m an affordable, professional editor who runs Inventing Reality Editing Service, which meets the manuscript needs of writers both new and published. I also offer a variety of self-publishing services. During the past 15 years, I’ve helped more than 400 novelists and nonfiction authors obtain their publishing dreams at reasonable prices. I’m also the author of the Storytelling 101 writing guidebooks, four nonfiction hiking guidebook series, and the literary novel Windmill. Several of my short stories in the literary and science fiction genres also have been published.

Check out some of my writing guidebooks:

Self-Awareness of Writing Process Aids Creativity

Many writers will tell you “there’s no system” to writing a book. They’re right in that the craft of writing can’t be reduced to an assembly line production, at least not unless you wish to churn out cookie-cutter stories and ultimately be incredibly dissatisfied with your passion.

Still, given that writers tend to share several personality traits – such as preferring to work in isolation, a love for the sound of language, introspectiveness, a desire to constantly read – we can draw upon other authors’ processes to inform our own. As an editor and a writer, I’ve discussed this process with many writers and have read hundreds of interviews in which they were asked how they write. Indeed, looking at how published authors of novels and nonfiction books and other writers, such as journalists, there does seem to be a general system that every one of them uses.

It consists of five basic steps – brainstorming, outlining, drafting, revising, and formatting.

One process but no single way to follow it
Of course, every writer is an individual and so utilizes his or her own approach to those five steps. For example, how much time writers spend on each step and how frequently they switch back and forth between them is entirely unique to each person. It even can change for an author with each story written.

So granted, there’s no single way to write. Sometimes you’re so inspired you can pen a masterpiece with no outline and minimal revising of the first draft. Sometimes you only need a minimal outline to get going. Sometimes you need an overly detailed outline from which you later must cut scenes. Sometimes you revise the piece dozens of times until it no longer bears any resemblance to the outline. Yet, the majority of the time, most writers still follow the five basic steps.

Thus, you might think of the five-step writing process described on this blog as a recipe. Just as every chef brings his or her own taste and flair to a dish, so each writer will bring his or her proclivities and style to a manuscript.

The pantser myth
Arguably one of the biggest mistakes aspiring authors makes is denying that these steps are necessary or that they even exist. These writers often say they don’t use or need outlines, that they write “from the seat of their pants” and proudly call themselves “pantsers.” Yet, they follow the process by brainstorming and outlining the manuscript in their head a split second before they commit their thoughts to paper. The more successful of these writers have internalized certain basic principles of writing – some novelists might always divide the plot into five parts or always ensure the protagonist is in conflict while trying to solve a goal – and imagination is enough to carry them. They are no different than the chef who bakes a pastry from memory rather than looking at a printed recipe.

So quit living in denial, pantsers.

Simply put, not being self-aware – or being only vaguely so – of one’s writing process is risking disaster. Imagine the chef who just wings it on the recipe’s steps and the ingredient amounts. The cake might turn out fine but probably not. At the very least, it could taste better. Likewise, with very few exceptions, manuscripts written by pantsing tend to require significant amounts of revision (a step, by the way, in the writing process) or even just tossing out the mess and starting over.

Productivity and creativity
Given this, awareness of the writing process helps balance creativity and productivity. Indeed, aspiring authors tend to underestimate the effort needed for their writing project. Because of this, they often feel overwhelmed and lost. A process can help writers break the project into manageable steps and to keep them on the road to completion.

Further, being aware of these five steps can allow you to better reflect on your own writing techniques and to pinpoint how you might possibly improve upon them. Sometimes when stuck on a story, you’ve skipped or not done enough work on one or more of these writing process steps, so an understanding of them can help you break through your block. Other times, these steps can provide a template to help you start and develop a great story idea that you love but feel ill-equipped to turn into a short story, a novel, or a nonfiction book.

Recognizing the uniqueness of each writer, the links below and posts elsewhere at this blog largely speak of the five-step writing process in general terms. When they do get specific, you may or may not find that particular technique useful, just as a chef may not want to add a certain spice or prefers to use a mix of milk and lemon juice rather than buttermilk. That’s all right. The goal here is to expose you to a variety of approaches, many of which you may never have thought of. Give them a try and see if they do work for you.

____________________

My name is Rob Bignell. I’m an affordable, professional editor who runs Inventing Reality Editing Service, which meets the manuscript needs of writers both new and published. I also offer a variety of self-publishing services. During the past 15 years, I’ve helped more than 350 novelists and nonfiction authors obtain their publishing dreams at reasonable prices. I’m also the author of the 7 Minutes a Day… writing guidebooks, four nonfiction hiking guidebook series, and the literary novel Windmill. Several of my short stories in the literary and science fiction genres also have been published.

Check out some of my writing guidebooks:



Five Great Quotations About Editing

“No passion in the world is equal to the passion to alter someone else’s draft.” – H. G. Wells

“Be generous, be delicate, and always pursue the prize.” – Henry James

“Proofread carefully to see if you any words out.” – Anonymous

“I always wrote with the idea that what I put out there is going to stay there. Once I publish something, it has been published. I’ve never deleted more than one or two posts from my site. I don’t think that there are takebacks. I don’t feel right about it.” – Alison Headley

“Some editors are failed writers, but so are most writers.” – T. S. Eliot

______________

My name is Rob Bignell. I’m an affordable, professional editor who runs Inventing Reality Editing Service, which meets the manuscript needs of writers both new and published. I also offer a variety of self-publishing services. During the past 15 years, I’ve helped more than 400 novelists and nonfiction authors obtain their publishing dreams at reasonable prices. I’m also the author of the Storytelling 101 writing guidebooks, four nonfiction hiking guidebook series, and the literary novel Windmill. Several of my short stories in the literary and science fiction genres also have been published.

Check out some of my writing guidebooks:

Finding Writer’s Holy Grail: ‘A Place to Write’

One of the obstacles facing beginning writers is finding a place where they actually can write. Too often our responsibilities and modern civilization’s many distractions don’t allow for a moment – or place – of peace and quiet in our lives. Yet, just such a place where we can put our fingers to keyboard or pen to paper for a while is necessary if we are to write.

To be a writer, you must find a place where you can write with few distractions. That means no new magazines or books in easy reach, no TV, email or Internet to take your focus off the task. It must be a place where others will not carry on a conversation with you. For some, this place is the kitchen table, for others a den, for yet more the coffee shop.

In addition, your writing place should be stocked with what you need so you don’t spend valuable time looking for those items. Always keep on hands items you need to write: laptop/desktop computer, paper, pens, dictionary, whatever it is that will keep you from getting out of the chair so words aren’t flowing from your fingertips.

Wherever you do write, ensure that you can avoid ergonomic issues – repetitive motions (carpel tunnel syndrome, tendonitis), awkward positions, improper lighting. If writing becomes physically stressful, you’re not likely to keep at it. So avoid the library with the too low/too high of a table, the tree in the park that doesn’t offer back support, the coffee shop where the sun glares through the windows so you can’t see your laptop’s screen.

Remember, to become a successful writer, you must write. And part of writing is finding “a room of one’s own” to practice your craft.

______________

My name is Rob Bignell. I’m an affordable, professional book editor who runs Inventing Reality Editing Service, which meets the manuscript needs of writers both new and published. I also offer a variety of self-publishing services. During the past decade, I’ve helped more than 400 novelists and nonfiction authors obtain their publishing dreams at reasonable prices. I’m also the author of 80 books including the Storytelling 101 writing guidebooks, four nonfiction hiking guidebook series, and the literary novel Windmill. Several of my short stories in the literary and science fiction genres also have been published.

Check out some of my guidebooks that’ll inspire you to write:

Professional Book Editor in Boulder

An affordable, professional editor for more than two decades, I’ll deliver a thorough edit of your manuscript. I’m the author of several published books as well as short stories, hold a Master’s degree in English and a Bachelor’s in journalism, am a long-time writing teacher, and am an award-winning publications editor and writer. Well over a hundred of my clients – many from the Boulder area – have gone on to publish their books.

I handle:
• Fiction (novels, short stories; all genres; Chicago Manual of Style)
• Nonfiction (all topics; spiritual works particularly welcomed)
• Query letters and synopses for book proposals
• Dissertations and academic papers (broad range of subjects; APA, MLA styles)
• Admission essays
• Business plans, documents, brochures/fliers, catalogs
• Website text, blog posts
• Poetry collections, chapbooks

My editing services include:
• Proofreading – Editing for spelling, punctuation, capitalization and grammar
• Copy editing – Editing of mature manuscripts close to being published
• Substantive edit – Editing of an early draft of your manuscript
• Developmental editing – Guidance through the writing process
• Self-publishing – Formatting, uploading, writing back cover blurb/author bio
• I DO NOT GHOSTWRITE BOOKS OR ACADEMIC ESSAYS

Learn more about me and my writer-friendly rates at my website or email your manuscript’s word count for a price quote and estimate of turnaround time. Payment is accepted through safe and secure PayPal; references available upon request.

Why You Need to Market Your Book

You’ve spent a year writing your book, spent money on an editor to proofread it and a designer to create a book cover, then spent a week or two taking it through the publishing process. And now, after all of that hard work, your book – your labor of love – is available for purchase with its own page on Amazon.com and able to be ordered at your local Barnes and Noble.

All you have to do now is sit back and wait for fame and fortune to roll in.

Unfortunately, you may be waiting a very long time.

It’s the rare book that somehow goes virulent and captures the public’s attention and admiration all on its own. Indeed, more than 900 books are published daily in just the United States alone, so no matter how good yours is, the odds of it even being noticed are nil at best.

The reality is that indie authors and those who self-publish need to market their own books.

For most authors, the idea of marketing their book is anathema. Marketing for many writers means using guilt and fear to convince people to buy a product. Even for those authors who don’t hold such a view, they probably never studied marketing and have no idea of how to begin such an effort.

But the reality is that unless you’re satisfied with your book languishing in anonymity, you need a marketing plan. You’ll need to send press releases to media outlets. You’ll need a website and probably a blog to inform people about your book. You’ll need to do some book signings, some book readings, maybe some radio interviews. You may need to make some business cards and even advertise.

________________________

My name is Rob Bignell. I’m an affordable, professional book editor who runs Inventing Reality Editing Service, which meets the manuscript needs of writers both new and published. I also offer a variety of self-publishing services. During the past decade, I’ve helped more than 400 novelists and nonfiction authors obtain their publishing dreams at reasonable prices. I’m also the author of 80 books including the Storytelling 101 writing guidebooks, four nonfiction hiking guidebook series, and the literary novel Windmill. Several of my short stories in the literary and science fiction genres also have been published.

Check out some of my book marketing guidebooks:

Use Hashtags to Sell Your Book on Facebook

These days hashtags are ubiquitous on social media platforms. Most social media now use hashtags (sometimes simply referred to as tags), and Facebook is among them.

Hashtags can help Facebook users who aren’t your friends or haven’t yet liked your book page to discover you. Whenever a Facebook user types in a hashtag that you’ve used, your post will come up. In addition, each hashtag receives its own unique page at Facebook, so if a user finds one he likes, that page might be bookmarked and returned to. That helps ensure future hashtagged posts you make will be seen.

Unlike X, however, hashtags aren’t as central to the use of Facebook. That’s because Facebook largely remains a social network between acquaintances and relatives, though a number of users do market their books and businesses on it. Indeed, at least one marketing study shows Facebook hashtags have no significant effect on reaching an audience. Don’t let that discourage you, though, as there is plenty of anecdotal evidence to the contrary, especially with promotions.

If you decide to make Facebook a component of your book marketing strategy, you’ll need to determine which hashtags exist that will draw people to your books. Generally, the same hashtags popular on X, Bluesky or Instagram work on Facebook, so this can save you some time if you’re already using them on the former.

Don’t go overboard on hashtags at Facebook! Those with one or two hashtags receive far more interactions than those with three or four, which receive far more interactions than those with five or six.

______________

My name is Rob Bignell. I’m an affordable, professional editor who runs Inventing Reality Editing Service, which meets the manuscript needs of writers both new and published. I also offer a variety of self-publishing services. During the past 15 years, I’ve helped more than 400 novelists and nonfiction authors obtain their publishing dreams at reasonable prices. I’m also the author of the Storytelling 101 writing guidebooks, four nonfiction hiking guidebook series, and the literary novel Windmill. Several of my short stories in the literary and science fiction genres also have been published.

Check out some of my book marketing guidebooks:

Mainstream vs. Self-Publishing

“After being Turned Down by numerous Publishers, he had decided to write for Posterity.” – George Ade (U.S. dramatist & humorist, 1866 – 1944), “Fables in Slang,” 1899

For the past three decades, publishing houses increasingly have printed fewer books and cutting back on the number of titles they print. In addition, there already are a sparse number of magazines printing short stories, novellas and serials. As a consequence, many good writers who’ve written good books and short tales simply aren’t being published.

These days, a number of beginning and entrepreneurial writers have turned to self-publishing as an alternative way of getting their book in print. Though once reviled as a vanity press, more books now are being self-published in both paper and digital forms than mainstream publishers are putting out.

The advantages of self-publishing are numerous:
• You’ll actually get published – You can bypass the literary agent, magazine editor and the publishing house and quickly get to your destination, which is to see your name and book in print. It’s fast, too; within a matter of hours you can have your book up for sale online.
• You can make more money – Your royalties will be higher if you self-publish. In some scenarios, you can earn more than half of the book’s retail sale price by self-publishing whereas mainstream publishers give you less than 10 percent of the earnings. The result is you only need to sell a couple of thousand self-published books as opposed to tens of thousands of mainstream published books to achieve the same profit margin.
• You control the book – Publishing houses and magazines can limit how you promote your book and your ability to reuse material from it. By being your own publisher, you can use the book however you like to promote your business or causes.

Of course, there are some downsides to self-publishing:
• It can get expensive – Self-publishing is less expensive than you think; many authors do it for under $40 a book. But if you need your cover designed, the text proofread and edited, and the book formatted – and if you want be the publisher of your book rather than Amazon.com or Lulu.com (and being your own publisher is a good idea) – the costs can rise into the hundreds if not thousands of dollars.
• You need to market your book – Making sales requires a concerted effort on your part at marketing your book. A website, a blog, tweeting and a Facebook page mark a good start, but it’s probably not enough to sell hundreds of copies of a book, at least not in a matter of a few days or weeks. As many writers simply don’t enjoy marketing, they often give up too early on their promotional efforts. You’ll still have to market your book if you go through a traditional publisher, but arguably the promotional mountain is steeper when you self-publish.
• Some won’t give your book the respectability it deserves – A bias still exists that books printed by mainstream publishers or magazines sold in stores are better written. After all, if you weren’t good enough to work through a major publisher’s vetting process, why should your writing be given a look at by anyone else? Because of this, most newspapers and magazines won’t review self-published books.

Given the existing (though fading) bias toward mainstream publishing – I always recommend that writers first try the traditional route to getting their works in print. Set a time of six months and see if a literary agent, publishing house, or magazine editor is interested in your work. If they are, congratulations!

If not, don’t despair. Instead, self-publish. Indeed, one route to finding a literary agent and publisher is through self-publishing. The magic number appears to be 5,000 … that is, if you can quickly sell 5000 copies of your book, you probably can catch the interest of a literary agent or a publisher.

If you don’t sell 5,000 books, still don’t despair. Instead, get working on that next book. Perhaps that one will catch on – and then readers will discover that masterpiece you’ve previously written.

________________________

My name is Rob Bignell. I’m an affordable, professional editor who runs Inventing Reality Editing Service, which meets the manuscript needs of writers both new and published. I also offer a variety of self-publishing services. During the past 15 years, I’ve helped more than 400 novelists and nonfiction authors obtain their publishing dreams at reasonable prices. I’m also the author of the Storytelling 101 writing guidebooks, four nonfiction hiking guidebook series, and the literary novel Windmill. Several of my short stories in the literary and science fiction genres also have been published.

Check out some of my self-publishing guidebooks:

5 Sci Fi Writing Prompts – Novums

Science fiction stories typically arise from a novum, a scientifically plausible concept that is a “reality” in the tale. The novum might be an mechanical device like robot servants, artificial intelligence, or faster-than-light spacecraft; it also can be a hypothetical idea such as “The Earth is a scientific experiment run by aliens to determine the meaning of life” or “The government outlaws books.” The author then asks “What if?” exploring how the world with this novum is different than ours.

Among the problems of many novice science fiction writers is instead of introducing a new novum they rely on used furniture – that is, they borrow novums from popular SF series. After all, how many novels have you read that use starships exploring the galaxy for the Earth-based Federation? Barely changing names to appear as if you are not appropriating – a starcraft seeking M-class worlds for the Earth-centered Alliance – still doesn’t cut it as original or fully using the potential that science fiction offers to examine our culture or humanity.

To help SF writers, here are some novums of potential near-future inventions from which stories could be built:

Human pheromone trails
What if each morning when children washed up, the soap included synthetic pheromones that left a trail of where they’d gone, so in case of kidnapping, a child could be more easily found? What other applications are there for this technology, such as espionage or monitoring parolees?

Mach-powered interstellar spacecraft
What if mach effects – described by NASA as “the transient variations in the rest masses of objects that are accelerating and undergoing internal energy changes” – could power interstellar spacecraft? How would this propulsion system work?

Nanobot toothpaste
What if nanobots were placed in toothpaste to fight plaque and prevent cavities? What other toiletries might nanobots appear in to keep us healthy?

Smartflower
What if flower-shaped solar “petals” could follow the sun through the day, providing energy to homes and buildings. How does the widespread use of solar energy change our energy infrastructure?

Zillionics
What if a new science, called zillionics, was invented to deal with finding patterns flowing from the unrelenting torrents of data arising out of always-in sensors? Philosophies, theories and practical applications will be needed to distill, index, archive and find meaningful signals in data coming from zillions of sources.

______________

My name is Rob Bignell. I’m an affordable, professional editor who runs Inventing Reality Editing Service, which meets the manuscript needs of writers both new and published. I also offer a variety of self-publishing services. During the past 15 years, I’ve helped more than 400 novelists and nonfiction authors obtain their publishing dreams at reasonable prices. I’m also the author of the Storytelling 101 writing guidebooks, four nonfiction hiking guidebook series, and the literary novel Windmill. Several of my short stories in the literary and science fiction genres also have been published.

Check out some of my writing guidebooks:

Liven Up Your Writing: Replace Overused Verbs

Even when using active verbs, sentences still may sound flat. More than likely, those active verbs are also overused.

An overused verb is one that’s commonplace and dull. Among the many active verbs that tend to be overused in our daily language and writing are sat, looked for, felt, enjoy, gave, and became.

Using such commonplace verbs amounts to inefficient writing and hence inefficient storytelling. Such words don’t give you the most value for your writing dollar.

Instead, invest in verbs that reveal mood. For example, replace a word like sat with slumped or flopped.

______________

My name is Rob Bignell. I’m an affordable, professional editor who runs Inventing Reality Editing Service, which meets the manuscript needs of writers both new and published. I also offer a variety of self-publishing services. During the past 15 years, I’ve helped more than 400 novelists and nonfiction authors obtain their publishing dreams at reasonable prices. I’m also the author of the Storytelling 101 writing guidebooks, four nonfiction hiking guidebook series, and the literary novel Windmill. Several of my short stories in the literary and science fiction genres also have been published.

Check out some of my writing guidebooks: