[writing] The Conned Artist (PT 1 of 5 in op)

[Proton]

It's written in novel format, not comic book format :/ the narration style, I believe the proper term is the narration 'voice' pokes fun at how comic books are often narrated outloud.

I know.

Which is why I was surprised you wrote it as you did.

If you wrote it in comic book format or as a forum post,
I wouldn't have said anything about ellipses, but rather I'd speak of your lack of direction as you have no page formatting or panel detailing to make it comic book formatting.

Huh…say, what's in that box anyways…

Here's an example of why you overdo it/put it somewhere it shouldn't go.

Asking a question.
A question
should not,
will not
and cannot
end with an ellipsis like this.

Not even in a comic book.
This is you writing it because you think ellipses are needed because you think the reader doesn't know the tone you are portraying.
They will. They know how a question will work.
The audience most definitely passed Grade 3.

The problem is that even if I have the key it won't turn no matter how hard I try…" Donavan responded

Here's why you don't understand ellipsis.
Somewhere along the line,
someone used "..." to mean pause.
It never was grammatically correct.

The comma however,
does.


A neat writing trick is to just say the sentence and then say how the character feels.

The problem is that even if I have the key it won't turn no matter how hard I try," Donavan replied with despair.

This is how you build a vocabulary, and a variety of words or descriptions makes a story more vivid, detailed and colourful.





Ellipsis are used for the omission of statements in quotations.
You are not quoting a document,
or a person
or anything that can be quoted.
You do not use them in a novel format the way you are doing now.

If you even knew what it was,
you'd know never to use it in this format.


I just want you to realize you shouldn't use them.

It isn't just because of grammar.
It makes you look like a sloppy, weak "writer."

I take that you're new at grammar, but you should have actually looked into what you were using before you used it.
It'd be like saying a word before knowing its meaning.



And yes,
the ellipsis has become colloquial enough to be found in things like comic books or forum posts.
You are using that informal and incorrect use.

It does have a different meaning in those kinds of writings (comic books or forum posts; not always the case in them, though), but you shouldn't take those meanings into writing.
It'd be like making someone just say 'k' when they want 'okay.'
That's just abhorred writing.