is it OK to use ...

[seansshack]

Thanks again.

[Daysleeper]

Oh, brother ... dialogue.

Advisors all told me that my dialogue was too on the nose. Huh? Something about how people talk informally. So I investigated it and yeah ... every expert says avoid "on the nose" dialogue. As if I'm supposed to replace Are you OK? with You OK? throughout my script. I read a bunch of succesful screenplays that had on the nose dialogue, but with everyone against me I dug harder until I hit "Simone", which I thought was fantastic, so I patterned my dialogue after it.

In that script, the writer uses elipses, hyphens and double hyphens generously throughout. Some lines would be indecipherable if taken out of context. Anyway, I had too see what he was doing so I could duplicate it and it came down to this:

Use ... when a character is pausing before carrying on with the same thought.
Use - when the character is interjecting unto himself - with a seperate clause, for example - before finishing his original thought.
Use -- when the character interupts himself and goes with a different tack altogether, or if he gets interupted by events or another character.

I'm not saying this is good english or that the writer has the corner on the dialogue market, but it's what I chose to do ... only not so much. I think if I was established I'd stick closer to on the nose dialogue because it seems to me that ellipses and double-hyphens, colloquialisms and truncations, and even contractions, are directions. I'd rather leave it up to the actor and director.

On the other hand, Mamet seems to be on a quest to replicate human communication exactly. Personally, I think he's nuts, but it sure is entertaining.

[Write Or Wrong]

I tend to use ellipses to mark simple brief pauses in dialog.  If there's something I want the reader to pay more attention to, say if a character has a change of thought, for example, I'll stick in a beat now and again: (beat)

At least one book I've referenced warned against using (beats), but I've seen them all over the place in finished production scripts.  So I say if it's good enough for Diablo Cody, it's friggin' good enough for me.

This isn't to be confused with (pause), which is used to indicate a longer break in dialog.

It's my practice also to use ellipses at the end of a dialog block to indicate a character is trailing off.

If my character's dialog is interrupted, either by exposition or another character's dialog, I'll indicate with a dash at the end of the first block of interrupted dialog, then another dash at the beginning of the character's continuation.  If that makes any sense.

[Shindig]

I prefer to use elipsis to cater more for stutters in dialogue, rather than deliberate pauses.

[seansshack]

Thanks I much prefer it to (beat) or (pause).

[ScriptNurse]

In screenwriting, I would use the ellipse because it's not a speedbump to the reader like the parentheticals tend to be.

[padnar]

Yes I find many people using i elipse even when writing novels
in the critique circle . I am not surw whether to use them in a novel
padma

[seansshack]

yep. thanks

[Chuck58]

I've never read that they're a no-no as long as, like you said, they aren't overdone. I don't use either that much, but there are times when one or the other fits. The first Detective Gutierrez thing in my post below comes from my screenplay. There, an ellipse seemed to fit. The second example, I made up. I could have used it, except that it just didn't work as well......if that makes sense.

[seansshack]

Thanks. I have used pause and beat but prefer "ellipse" as Lloyd quite rightly called them.

I think it reads and looks better - so long as not overdone.

The reason I asked is another writer commented and slammed me for using ellipse(s). Saying they were a no no.

[Chuck58]

I do it both ways. Another example.

DETECTIVE GUTIERREZ

Okay, thanks for the help,

Gutierrez stands,

DETECTIVE GUTIERREZ

I gotta get this info on the air.

***

In other situations, if the character just stops to think, or hesitates for some reason,

DETECTIVE G.

Okay, thanks,

(Pause)

If you think of anything else....etc.

[LloJo]

Chuck does have a point, but I try to avoid parentheticals like the plague.
My try at formatting using that tricky HTML didn't work too well. Maybe I used the wrong enclosures.

[LloJo]

Called an ellipse, and I use 'em all the time. They may even be necessary at times, especially in a fast paced, action packed script. They should be used as you suggested, starting and ending a pause, IF the character is continuing dialog, but only at break point if someone else picks up the conversation.

RAY

Did you say I should...

Ray picks up the sword.

RAY

...actually cut this guys head off?

Or,

RAY

Did you say I should...

JOHN

Yes, dammit! Cut his freakin' head off!

[Chuck58]

I'm far from expert, but it seems to me you're using the example as a 'pause,' or 'beat.' I think they mean the same thing.

Why not something like,

BOB
Like I said,
   (pause)
I wasn’t expecting any
deliveries.

[seansshack]

I have a bit of a habit of using ... in dialogue when a character fails to finish a sentence or the dialogue is broken up with action.

Is this a big no no?

BOB
Like I said...

                    Bob lowers his hands.

BOB
... I wasn’t expecting any
deliveries.

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