Speech: Dash and ellipses

from:
2016 issue of Novel Writing (by Writer's Digest, maybe it is a magazine that is published only once a year)
column by Steven James entitled "Talking Points"
page 52, first paragraph

it says...

(Incidentally, notice how the dashes are used when a character is cut off, and ellipses when the girls thoughts trail off. Dashes and ellipses are not interchangeable.)

note: the parenthesis is part of the original.

the topic here is dialogue so it is something like...
"Char1 speaks..."
"Char2 speaks-"
"Char1 interrupts."

My question is, what if the interruption comes not from a person, should we still use a dash? Something like...

"Character speaks blah blah blah, something like-"
BANG!
gunshot fired few meters away from him (or branch of a tree fell in front of him, or a car slammed to a post next to him).


Thanks!
-Vernz

You haven't given us an example of where you want to put a dash. But this is an example of what you're talking about, I think:

Char1: "I don't care if you think it's safe. There's every chance that –"
BANG! An explosion rips through the house next door.

There's no dash or ellipses needed for the sound of an explosion.

Copyright said:

You haven't given us an example of where you want to put a dash. But this is an example of what you're talking about, I think:

Char1: "I don't care if you think it's safe. There's every chance that –"
BANG! An explosion rips through the house next door.

There's no dash or ellipses needed for the sound of an explosion.

no, not after the explosion, it's the explosion that interrupts the speech.
so in your example after "...chance that -"
so, you use a dash, which I think it doesn't matter whether the interruption is person or anything.

I did give an example though... I put the dash after 'like'

"Character speaks blah blah blah, something like-"
BANG!
gunshot fired few meters away from him (or branch of a tree fell in front of him, or a car slammed to a post next to him).

If you follow the guideline you quote, then you would use a dash whenever, and by whatever, a person's speech was interrupted.

You want to be a writer, so you can do better than "Character speaks blah blah blah, something like-" I didn't know what that meant because you have "character" in your dialogue. Just make something up, as I did.

Use a space followed by an en dash or em dash. Don't just stick a hyphen onto the last word or partial word.

Copyright said:

If you follow the guideline you quote, then you would use a dash whenever, and by whatever, a person's speech was interrupted.

You want to be a writer, so you can do better than "Character speaks blah blah blah, something like-" I didn't know what that meant because you have "character" in your dialogue. Just make something up, as I did.

Use a space followed by an en dash or em dash. Don't just stick a hyphen onto the last word or partial word.

Thanks. I'm sorry about the confusion.

Not a problem ... we're all here to learn. 👁 Wink ;)