If you have a sentence containing an aside surrounded by em-dashes, and the aside is in the form of a question, how should the question be punctuated?
I came across the situation in a SOL story recently. There was a question mark at the end of the aside and preceding the second em-dash. IMO it didn't look right. And yet I've just done the same thing myself.
TIA,
AJ
There was a question mark at the end of the aside and preceding the second em-dash.
That is correct.
Xxxxxxxx—xxxxxx?—xxxxxxxx.
Yes, if you follow that style.
I avoid em dashes like the plague as they do not render correctly in every web page or every e-book reader, and when the render bad they really mess up the text.
edit to add: there's a similar issue with the use of an ellipsis as well.
Yes, if you follow that style.
Technically, an aside is NOT a complete sentence, so you really can't add a question, though I can see why you'd want to, especially for 1st person 4th wall scene (where you're directly addressing the reader), but it's still not valid.
On the other hand, I frequently aside in parentheses (or more accurately an aside ending in a question), but only here in the forum, where readers won't think I'm a complete moron (since the authors on the Authors Forum already know that for a fact).
In short, it's fun to break the rules like that, but there's really NO context where it's correct. But then, if you're already breaking the 4th wall, obviously you don't mind breaking form.
I avoid em dashes like the plague as they do not render correctly in every web page or every e-book reader, and when the render bad they really mess up the text.
I have no idea which browser you're using, as I've NEVER had a problem with using em-dashes. The key is that browser engines are who powers the html in most eBooks, so they SHOULD always display correctly.
Thus, I'm not sure whether you're using an ancient system, or whether it's an inherent Linux flaw (Linux browser behavior maybe?). Though, if you post your SOL files using text, then the em-dashes will NEVER work, simply because that an exclusively html function.
Vincent, a lot depends on what you're doing in the aside question. I must admit I was not thinking of someone using the aside as a 4th wall break, but something like and aside comment to another character close by while have a distance discussion with another person.
Example: The new Head Coach was yelling across the field to the new player on the wing, "get in there and challenge for the ball," when he lowers his voice to ask his assistant, "Does he know how to make a legal challenge?" as an aside before shouting at the players again.
Xxxxxxxx—xxxxxx?—xxxxxxxx.
This.
You can do other, even higher-order games with em-dashes and ellipses, but for the aside that's a question, that's the standard treatment. Some publishers make it their house style to put spaces around their em-dashes precisely to make this (and other combinations) look slightly better.
Some publishers make it their house style to put spaces around their em-dashes
I thought on a webpage there are spaces around the em-dash, but in a book there are not.
Typically but not universally.
FWIW, that spaces are more common than in print developed when monitors had low resolution. Now that almost everyone has a screen that can be read easily, they aren't needed anymore, and the house style of many online publications has evolved to reflect that.
I personally think that NOT putting spaces around em-dash is an atrocity of style. I can't wrap my mind around how such an obviously absurd convention could have happened.
Rules and guidelines be damned, as far at all possible I would never tolerate space-less em-dashes in any text I have any modicum of control over. Yes, I have unreasonably strong opinion about it, backed up by absolutely nothing but personal perception of beauty and usability.
Thanks SB and Quasirandom.
The aside is actually the 1st POV protagonist asking himself a question. And as a Brit, I've actually cheated and used our multipurpose dashes instead of em-dashes, so there's no problem with my violating my '.txt format only' standard.
I still don't like the look. I may try to reword it.
AJ
The easiest fix, if you don't like it, may be (if I may suggest it?) parentheses instead of dashes. If your narrator's voice supports it, anyway.
I would use parenthesis in narration but em-dashes in dialogue. It's hard to 'hear' a parenthesis (at least for me), but people do use asides while speaking, and an em-dash is a reasonable approximation of the subject shift.
Em-dashes work fine on SOL when posting via docx, by the way, so more than just pure HTML works. I export from Scrivener to docx and post that. I could export to HTML, but I don't, partly because docx is (very slightly, at least for me) easier to deal with if I need to do a very quick fix and repost.
