Em-dash issues

[Bakkerbaard]

There doesn't seem to be an "idiot's guide to punctation" subforum, so let's mark this as research.

I'm getting betareviews back, and one reader has issues with the way I interrupt sentences. She suggests I use the em-dash, but I prefer using a double dash, like so:
"You need to use the em-dash because--"
"I told you I won't!"

I use the em-dash for an interjection, like more professional looking parentheses. Like so:
"I use em-dashes like parentheses—though probably wrong—because it looks more professional."
Does there need to be a space between the dashes and the words?

Also, I have no idea what an en-dash is for, so I've never used it.

I could look up the usage online, but results seem to vary per writer. And I'm curious how the double dash thing came to me. I distinctly remember seeing it in old books, and I wonder if that might be because they simply couldn't do one back then, or something.
Anyway, double-dash or em-dash? I interrupt a lot, so, that's the big one.

 

[Naomasa298]

Word will turn double dashes into em-dashes as you type, that may be why it came to you.

 

[Louanne Learning]

I would say go with the em dash. I've never seen anything about "double dashes" and doubt they are an accepted thing.

here's an article that might provide more information:

Em Dash vs. En Dash: How to Use Dashes​

 

[THUNDAIR]

I use em dashes for parenthetical and semicolons. I also use MS Word with a double dash that is set up to complete the em dash. I've shied away from them when the conversations about AI thought the identifying mark for things written with AI used em dashes a lot.

 

[Louanne Learning]

the identifying mark for things written with AI used em dashes a lot.

that's concerning, since I like to rely on a few em dashes here and there, but I certainly don't use AI!

 

[Bakkerbaard]

Word will turn double dashes into em-dashes as you type, that may be why it came to you.

Docs has that option, too. I turned the "hotkey" into three dashes so I could keep on using my doubles.

that's concerning, since I like to rely on a few em dashes here and there, but I certainly don't use AI!

And we should keep on using it. The robots can't have it, and I don't feel like catering to the people too dumb to understand it's a legitimate punctuation mark.
This is how they ruined the flag of Vinnland.

 

[Also]

Double hyphen is nothing but a manuscript convention. Unless you self-publish, a double hyphen will get transformed to an em-dash in pre-publication. (And if you don't do that, your book will look very amateurish.)

By default, Word treats double-hyphen differently based on whether you have spaces around it. With no spaces, it corrects to an em-dash. With spaces, it corrects to an en-dash.

 

[Bakkerbaard]

(And if you don't do that, your book will look very amateurish.)

...Excuse me. I have to go edit three other books.