Why Writers Use Em Dashes—and Always Have

Em dashes have been in use since the 15th century, emerging during the printing revolution, and the symbol later gained popularity in the 18th century. Em dashes have been a punctuation mark for centuries at this point, yet for some reason, after roughly 2022, many people are shocked when they see one and say to themselves, “There’s no way a human would use one of those!”

Lately, many people have been saying that em dashes are a giveaway of AI writing. But anyone who knows how to articulate the English language, or has a high school–level education, should be familiar with the em dash beyond AI generations. If you’re writing fiction where emotion, hesitation, and afterthoughts need to be conveyed, avoiding an em dash is as silly as avoiding an ellipsis when one is needed.

Below is a video of my manuscript drafts from 2013 to the 2025 published draft of Vanguardian: Book I, showing all the em dashes I’ve utilized in my character-driven, dramatic fiction. Regardless of beta feedback and professional editing rounds, my em dashes remained and even increased. I also leveraged em dashes in my old posts on this blog, which dates back to 2014, after I joined my first writers’ group and was encouraged to start a writing blog. (No, I won’t edit my old posts—half were college assignments, since I also used this blog for coursework. My old posts retain my voice—and writing errors—from that period in my life.)

@theclerkauthor

Being a writer in 2026 . . . Lately, many people have been saying that em dashes are a giveaway of AI writing. But anyone who knows how to articulate the English language, or has a high school–level education, should know how to use an em dash. If you’re writing fiction where emotion, hesitation, and afterthoughts need to be conveyed, avoiding an em dash is as silly as avoiding an ellipsis when one is needed. Here’s a video of my manuscript drafts from 2013 to the 2025 published draft of my book, 𝘝𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘶𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘪𝘢𝘯: 𝘉𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘐, showing all the em dashes I’ve utilized in my character-driven, dramatic fiction. Regardless of beta feedback and professional editing rounds, my em dashes remained and even increased. I don’t think the issue is whether an em dash indicates AI use, but rather why so many people are unfamiliar with its function—if they understood that, they would recognize why it is so heavily used in works of fiction. I’m a writer by education and by trade as a technical writer, yet people still assume no one wants to take the time to write their own stories post–AI revolution. They are missing one key motivation for writing: feeling—feeling your story as you write it. The catharsis. Just as the reader’s emotions are conjured up in the process of reading, a writer can only achieve that through the writing process. Without feeling your story, what is the point for an author? #books #writing #writingprocess #author #booktok

♬ Future City – Alowox

I don’t think the issue is whether an em dash indicates AI use, but rather why so many people are unfamiliar with its function—if they understood that, they would recognize why it is so heavily used in works of fiction.

I’m a writer by education and by trade as a technical writer, yet people still assume no one wants to take the time to write their own stories post–AI revolution. They are missing one key motivation for writing: feeling—feeling your story as you write it. The catharsis. Just as a reader’s emotions are conjured in the process of reading, a writer can only achieve that through the writing process. Without feeling your story, what is the point for an author?

Given that the nature of fiction is to be evocative and expressive, especially during a scene with heated dialogue or when a character is struggling to get their words out, writers will continue to leverage the em dash. As will I.

References

Buckley, Christian. 2026. “LinkedIn.” Linkedin.com. 2026. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/long-mark-brief-history-em-dash-christian-buckley-z1lbc/.

“Em Dash, N. Meanings, Etymology and More | Oxford English Dictionary.” 2025. Oed.com. https://doi.org/10.1093//OED//1041885905.

“What Is ‘Em Dash’? When to Use an ‘Em Dash’ in a Sentence?” 2023. BlueRoseOne.com | You Write, We Publish, We Sell, You Earn. April 27, 2023. https://blueroseone.com/publish/what-is-em-dash/.