Is there some way to a character ask a question that isn't finished, such as making "What're you doing?" into "What're you d-?" or something like "What're you d?..." Is there any way to make a question fade off as if the character stops speaking before the end of the sentence?
If they get cut off, or stop abruptly: "Hey! What are you d--" If they sort of trail off and don't finish their sentence: "Hey! What do you think of..." Then describe what caused them to trail off or be cut off, so it makes sense to the reader. Hope I helped!
You can write: "What are you do... ?" This indicates both that the speaker is trailing off, and that it is intoned like a question.
Ditto Malory. Don't know if it should be an em or en, but a dash would be better for a cut off word. -Frank
Thank you, especially Islander; I knew about how to end a statement with "-" or "...", but it's adding the question mark that gave me trouble.
yes... the double hyphen indicating an em dash is best for an incomplete word, while the ellipsis works well for an incomplete sentence...
