Writing Tips

2 - Dashes and Hyphens

— is a dash
– is also a dash

but

- is a hyphen

Don't mistake them fam

The longest dash, —, is the em dash, which is typically what we use in fanfiction to cut off speech/add in an extra thought.

Example:

"Your mom gay—"

"No u."

The other dash, –, is the en dash. It is used to fill in a span of numbers or anything with numbers basically.

Example:

From 1992–2018, Chanbaek was real.

Now... this, -, the hyPhEn, is not a dash yo. It is used to create compound terms.

Example:

He stared at me with his hey-I'm-Chanyeol-and-I'm-gay-for-Baekhyun look, and I stared back like he was crazy because Chanyur oppAr is minE (please stop me)

Or more simply:

eye-opener
check-in
well-being
etc.

To be honest the first example I gave was cringey as hell, it's usually better not to create your own compound words unless it's a humour book (because that could add lots of laughs) so yeah

Do not do this:

"You're-"

"I'm-"

He grabbed my hand and-wait why is his hand blue?

Yeah everything up there just seems wrong doesn't it...

Now you may be wondering... where can I find the en and em dashes? If you have an Apple phone, holding the hyphen will open up three new choices and among those are the dashes. Idk about Samsung but maybe it's the same?? And if you write on computer/laptop, figure that out yourself but know that Macs cannot do that (unless I've been living a lie) and you have to struggle with the copy and paste if you want correct grammar.

Yup. Whenever there is a dash in my stories I open my notes, copy the dash I need, then paste it in my story. True dedication

Alternatives!

The en (–) dash is literally impossible to find? Use a hyphen because literally no one sees the difference between 1992-2018 and 1992–2018

Can't get the em dash or you're hella lazy to copy and paste?

Do a double hyphen! (Totally acceptable, this was how it was done in the past with typewriters.)

--

Now some phones may automatically turn it into the em dash if you put double hyphens (which just happened to me I had to copy and paste two hyphens from the internet) but doing this saves time and effort so yeah

Reminder, dashes replace commas, they are used to have a break in the sentence, so a comma is not needed after a dash.

Moral of the story: the em (—) dash is used to cut off a sentence/dialogue to create drama or whatsoever, the en (–) dash is barely used but if it is used then use it for numbers, and this (-) is a hyphen, ladies and gentlemen.

Do not overuse the em dash because it will make your writing look tacky. Like mine.

ur -10 writer is oot.