"First shalt thou lay thy hand upon the period on the keyboard. Then, shalt thou type a period three times. No more. No less. Three times shalt be the number thou shalt type, and the number of the typing shalt be three. Four times shalt thou not type, nor either type thou two times, excepting that thou then proceed to three. Five is right out! Once the number three, being the third number, be reached in thy typing, only then shalt thou continue."
“You shall have my ellipsis when you pry them from my cold, dead fingertips…”, he snarled.
Is this correct then? There’s that double quote separating the statement from the speech assignment. Does that count as a clean break for punctuation rules?
That's the way I've always done them (with no spaces). But again, my current editor disagrees.
CMOS 13.50 and following, pp. 728-29 in the 17th edition, refer to an ellipsis as "three spaced periods" (using nonbreaking spaces to keep all three on the same line. The space before and after isn't mentioned but seems to be implied in the examples.
All of that said, Raconteur Press can do whatever it wants in its own style sheet.
🤷♂️ I like getting paid, so I set my copy of Scrivener to remove the spaces around the ellipsis. And when the rights revert, I'll make a copy "with" the spaces to make it easier for dyslexic folks like my brother to read my stories. 🙂 This is not a hill on which to die, IMHO.
I agree it's a teeny-weeny bogus anthill, but when one, like, notices a pattern in the way our accepted submissions format what should be a standard punctuation mark, it, like, needs to be addressed and nipped in the bud.
Absolutely. 👍 As a publisher, you want to present a professional level of appearance, which helps my stories to sell. 💰 I'm just a sloppy creative type and can get away with an "eccentric style" to a point. 😁
Unfortunately, the point you were attempting to make with the first example was undermined by Substack's formatting (at least on my laptop). The line wraps just before "malfunction", so the presence or absence of the space following the ellipsis is indistinguishable.
The Deluxe Transitive Vampire: The Ultimate Handbook of Grammar for the Innocent, the Eager, and the Doomed
Informative, funny, and with something vaguely resembling a plot if you squint at it hard enough. Plus Victorian-style cartoons, of course. Required reading and reference material.
"First shalt thou lay thy hand upon the period on the keyboard. Then, shalt thou type a period three times. No more. No less. Three times shalt be the number thou shalt type, and the number of the typing shalt be three. Four times shalt thou not type, nor either type thou two times, excepting that thou then proceed to three. Five is right out! Once the number three, being the third number, be reached in thy typing, only then shalt thou continue."
Glad to know I'm not the only one who thought of this.
“You shall have my ellipsis when you pry them from my cold, dead fingertips…”, he snarled.
Is this correct then? There’s that double quote separating the statement from the speech assignment. Does that count as a clean break for punctuation rules?
James Copley, the following is, like, correct:
"'You shall have my ellipsis when you pry them from my cold, dead fingertips…' he snarled."
You do not, like, need the comma after the quotation mark. The ellipsis serves as separation and end of the dialogue.
K, thx!
Uuuuhhh... okay... [backing away slowly]
Quotation marks are punctuation.
Interesting! My current editor insists on a space before an ellipsis and a space after. That never has looked right to me...
I've heard that too. So should ellipses be like this . . . or should they be like this...?
(My editor friend starts quoting the Chicago Manual of Style until my brain vapor-locks.)
...
No spaces between the periods.
That's the way I've always done them (with no spaces). But again, my current editor disagrees.
CMOS 13.50 and following, pp. 728-29 in the 17th edition, refer to an ellipsis as "three spaced periods" (using nonbreaking spaces to keep all three on the same line. The space before and after isn't mentioned but seems to be implied in the examples.
All of that said, Raconteur Press can do whatever it wants in its own style sheet.
How are y'all for using the autocorrected or Unicode ellipsis, … as a single glyph, in mss.?
Raconteur Press's preference is always to avoid special characters, as they may have to be handcoded, which we will not do.
Thanks. I have trouble keeping this straight. Because reasons.
Gag me with a spoon! you are so right, girl!
🤷♂️ I like getting paid, so I set my copy of Scrivener to remove the spaces around the ellipsis. And when the rights revert, I'll make a copy "with" the spaces to make it easier for dyslexic folks like my brother to read my stories. 🙂 This is not a hill on which to die, IMHO.
I agree it's a teeny-weeny bogus anthill, but when one, like, notices a pattern in the way our accepted submissions format what should be a standard punctuation mark, it, like, needs to be addressed and nipped in the bud.
Absolutely. 👍 As a publisher, you want to present a professional level of appearance, which helps my stories to sell. 💰 I'm just a sloppy creative type and can get away with an "eccentric style" to a point. 😁
Unfortunately, the point you were attempting to make with the first example was undermined by Substack's formatting (at least on my laptop). The line wraps just before "malfunction", so the presence or absence of the space following the ellipsis is indistinguishable.
I had to change my display settings to a smaller font, to view the examples as intended. And squint a bit…
"There's this orc who keeps telling me 'Thou shalt use ellipses like this...!' and my thoughts just tail off..."
The Deluxe Transitive Vampire: The Ultimate Handbook of Grammar for the Innocent, the Eager, and the Doomed
Informative, funny, and with something vaguely resembling a plot if you squint at it hard enough. Plus Victorian-style cartoons, of course. Required reading and reference material.
Like, that's a totally awesome recommendation. Thanks!