# Staccato



## Scales (Aug 26, 2013)

Should be in questions or research? I have been switching between the two.

How do I show in dialog that a character has rapid staccato?

With ellipses or lines? 
“I... have... executed... two... of... the... damn... offenders!”
“I-have-executed-two-of-the-damn-offenders!”

Any ideas?


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## Nihal (Aug 26, 2013)

I believe it should be in writing questions.

If I had to chose between the two I would pick the hyphen. The use of the ellipsis signals trailing off, it would have an effect inverse than the desired.


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## Asterisk (Aug 26, 2013)

I don't understand what you mean by "staccato", but I would choose the hyphens. It gives it a short and disjointed feel.


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## Nihal (Aug 26, 2013)

I didn't know either, what is another good reason to go with hyphens. We both did read it in a way it's closer to the desired effect without knowing what it was supposed to be at first.


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## C Hollis (Aug 26, 2013)

Staccato - Talking like William Shatner acts.

Sorry.
Couldn't.
Re.
Sist.


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## Nihal (Aug 26, 2013)

Actually a period translates to a full stop during the speech. =P

From what I've understood, staccato pause is shorter than a comma pause, it takes just enough time to show the two+ words aren't a single one.


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## Scales (Aug 26, 2013)

Great video.
I will go with hyphens, but will publishers mind?


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## BWFoster78 (Aug 26, 2013)

Scales said:


> Great video.
> I will go with hyphens, but will publishers mind?



As a reader, I'd find it distracting.  Consider writing it as normal dialogue and referring back to the effect it has on people.


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## Scribble (Aug 26, 2013)

This scene came to mind from John Myers Myers novel Silverlock.

The main character is being led through the pit of a "Dante-esque" Hell by Faustopholes. On this level, there is a barker demonstrating the torment of this woman bearing the letter "A" sewn on her dress, who the MC mistakes for a girl he knew.

I'm not sure if that qualifies as stacatto, but it conveys the mode of speaking without drowning the reader in it. This work was published in 1949, and I think it works here. The character has only a handful dialogue lines. That worked for a short walk-on character, but for a character present throughout the book, I think I would tire of it quickly.

Anyhow, here's the scene:




> The baby she was holding did not hide the letter 'A' sewed on the front of her dress. In other ways, too, she was differently clad from when I had last seen her; but that didn't make the identification any less positive. It was Rosalette!
> 
> Convinced, I began to push through the audience of queer-hatted men and over-dressed women. Meanwhile the barker was going on with his harangue.
> 
> ...


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## wordwalker (Aug 26, 2013)

Actually, Scribble, that time it think it's being used not for staccato but to show that the barker is separating a syllable from the rest, slow-ing it down. I suppose the lesson is that punctuation suggests a particular speed, and could actually be slowing or speeding sounds depending on where they're used: unmarked is faster than a dash is faster than a comma is faster than an elipse is faster (well, less final) than a period.

And agreed, Shatner-speak is deliberately spread out, the opposite of staccato.


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## Scales (Aug 27, 2013)

From the MG, Woorak's POV:
A worn out looking wolf approaches the pair, “Stranger and dragon!” He said each word with slowness.


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## skip.knox (Aug 28, 2013)

Here's a general rule I follow. You can choose to follow it or not (see how generous I am?)

Never use typography to deliver meaning.

That is to say, write in such a way that the words themselves deliver the impact you want. Punctuation is necessary, but I try to control that, keeping exclamation points, colons, parentheses and other such riff-raff waiting on the porch. As someone once said to me, or I to them, this is about writing, not drawing.

It's a severe line to take, but rather like strenuous exercise, it can be salutary once you've done sweating.


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