Elipsis prevalence...

[Stuart Dren]

In my first novel, I used elipsis 169 times in 95k words. 1.8 times per 1000 words.

In my current work in progress, it's 71 times in 45k words. 1.6 times per 1000 words.

Sort of consistent. Primarily in dialogue.

Does that seem excessive compared to published fiction? Or maybe counting them is being too arbitrary and I shouldn't think about it.

Thoughts?

 

[Rath Darkblade]

I don't think you should worry, as long as you know what to use ellipses for. I just googled them, and (according to Grammarly):

Ellipses ( . . . ) are three dots used to indicate an omission of words from a quotation, a trailing-off of thought, a pause in speech, or a nervous/silence in writing. They serve as a tool for shortening texts in academic writing and adding dramatic, emotional, or suspenseful pauses in fiction or informal communication.

That's what I use an ellipsis for, too -- to indicate a pause in speech or a trailing-off of thought. I do that because people in real life don't think in terms of complete sentences; they pause, go back, hum and haw and um and so on.

If one my characters is interrupted in the middle of a thought and someone else butts in, I use an em dash. According to Merriam-Webster:

An em dash (—) is a versatile punctuation mark used to add emphasis, indicate an abrupt break in thought, or replace commas, colons, or parentheses to set off descriptive phrases. It is longer than a hyphen or en dash, serving to create a strong pause or signal a dramatic shift in a sentence.

I don't know if this is "fashionable" or "prevalent", but to me, punctuation is just as important as spelling and grammar, the other basic building blocks of prose. So I try to get it right.

What do you think?

 

[defaux]

I use them a fair bit in dialogue or internal thought, as Rath described, to indicate pause, hesitation or incompleteness.

I've never counted. Neither can I say I've particularly observed it's usage in the literature I read. My feeling is that I probably use such things more excessively than most, but I also put it down to stylistic choice.

1.6 times in a thousand words? I reckon you'd find more than that in most of my 500 word flash pieces I've posted here. No idea if that's a bad thing.

 

[Hammer]

I used elipsis 169 times

First thing I need to get off my chest is that the plural is ellipses... There. Thank you. That's better.

I use them a lot in informal writing and in emails etc., but more sparingly in formal writing (as in the OP, predominantly in dialogue).

I am not sure what is "normal" but a quick look at Google NGram suggests that peak usage was at the turn of the C20th, declined until the turn of this century, but has been increasing since then so ride the wave!

 

[Banespawn]

If you use ellipses twice in the same sentence, are you counting that as 1 use or 2?

I would only count distinct sentences where ellipses are used. If you are counting each individual ellipsis, then try recounting by sentence.

If 1.8 per 1000 is by sentence, then that might be a bit excessive, but maybe not enough that a reader would notice it. It's hard to say. You'd need people to read it without being aware of the concern, to see if they pick up on it.

1.8 per 1000 is basically 1 every other page. Through 6 chapters of my Arch story (19k words), I average 1 sentence with ellipses per chapter. That's roughly .3 per 1000 words.

In Blood Oath, I only used 1 in the first 3 chapters, 8 in chapters 4-6, 2 in chapters 7-9, and 6 in chapters 10-11. In each of those sections, I used fewer than 1 per 1000. In total, that's 17 through roughly 37k words, which is just under .5 per 1000.

If you have a kindle/nook, you can probably search through your books to get an idea of how often those authors used them.

Another thing that might be increasing your usage is your narrative to dialogue ratio. If your writing is heavy on dialogue, then a better balance might help. My writing leans more toward narrative, so there are fewer opportunities for ellipses to be used.

 

[CatrionaGrace]

Oh, good grief. I read that and thought, "Why on earth would anyone use the word elipsis that many times in a story? Maybe it's a sci-fi thing."

I really should not try to communicate with the world until after 10:00 a.m..

 

[Stuart Dren]

First thing I need to get off my chest is that the plural is ellipses... There. Thank you. That's better.

I specifically wrote it poorly just to activate your almonds.

I am not sure what is "normal" but a quick look at Google NGram suggests that peak usage was at the turn of the C20th, declined until the turn of this century, but has been increasing since then so ride the wave!

Wow, that's interesting.

Oh, good grief. I read that and thought, "Why on earth would anyone use the word elipsis that many times in a story? Maybe it's a sci-fi thing."

I really should not try to communicate with the world until after 10:00 a.m..

Maybe I shouldn't try to communicate after 11 pm. Hammer pointed out the error there.

If you use ellipses twice in the same sentence, are you counting that as 1 use or 2?

I would only count distinct sentences where ellipses are used. If you are counting each individual ellipsis, then try recounting by sentence.

If 1.8 per 1000 is by sentence, then that might be a bit excessive, but maybe not enough that a reader would notice it. It's hard to say. You'd need people to read it without being aware of the concern, to see if they pick up on it.

1.8 per 1000 is basically 1 every other page. Through 6 chapters of my Arch story (19k words), I average 1 sentence with ellipses per chapter. That's roughly .3 per 1000 words.

In Blood Oath, I only used 1 in the first 3 chapters, 8 in chapters 4-6, 2 in chapters 7-9, and 6 in chapters 10-11. In each of those sections, I used fewer than 1 per 1000. In total, that's 17 through roughly 37k words, which is just under .5 per 1000.

If you have a kindle/nook, you can probably search through your books to get an idea of how often those authors used them.

Another thing that might be increasing your usage is your narrative to dialogue ratio. If your writing is heavy on dialogue, then a better balance might help. My writing leans more toward narrative, so there are fewer opportunities for ellipses to be used.

I'm relatively sparse on dialogue. I think these ellipses are more localized for certain parts; I'm just counting raw occurrences right now. I very rarely would use more than one in one sentence. Yeah, your numbers are a lot lower than mine. I'll try to get some more data.

I use them a fair bit in dialogue or internal thought, as Rath described, to indicate pause, hesitation or incompleteness.

I've never counted. Neither can I say I've particularly observed it's usage in the literature I read. My feeling is that I probably use such things more excessively than most, but I also put it down to stylistic choice.

1.6 times in a thousand words? I reckon you'd find more than that in most of my 500 word flash pieces I've posted here. No idea if that's a bad thing.

I'm not sure either. I do have a character with faltering speech in my WIP, which would would account for it, but my prior novel has a "lot(?)" too.

I don't think you should worry, as long as you know what to use ellipses for.

Solid take. I can't image they're a crutch for something, but I guess that's my main concern. And no, I'm not using them for interruptions.

 

[Homer Potvin]

Are you using them outside of dialogue? I can't remember an instance where I've ever done that.

 

[Stuart Dren]

Are you using them outside of dialogue? I can't remember an instance where I've ever done that.

Yes but very rarely.

If she knew privateers had buried something, and where, they would either have to keep an eye on her until its recovery or... But it would not come to that.

You had it or you had to take it, because, because...
He got up to take a piss.

If it was right there, waiting for something to move...
Minutes passed.

 

[Homer Potvin]

I'd say the first two examples that are in the quote function above are close enough to blur between interior monologue and dialogue, so the same functions would kind of apply.

Third one, not so much. I wouldn't use an ellipsis there.

 

[Stuart Dren]

I'd say the first two examples that are in the quote function above are close enough to blur between interior monologue and dialogue, so the same functions would kind of apply.

Yes. Strictly speaking, though, they are outside of dialogue.