Handling hyphens

Pump up your punctuation power and turn your prowess into art

a face made from punctuation marks

No, Mommy. It says *the* dog. Not *a* dog.

Our well-read four-year-old, who reads everything he can get his eyeballs on, has already moved beyond sounding out words to a phase where he pays exacting attention to text. Some days he likes to read during story time, other days he sits back while I narrate—until I skip a word or accidentally swap an article—then he’ll call me out in the blink of an eye.

Back when our oldest was at this literary stage of detailed attention to text, he giggled endlessly over ellipses (dot, dot, dot). His little brother is fascinated by apostrophes and quotation marks. Adorably, he calls both of them commas.

No matter what you call all the beeps and boops scattered between the letters on our screens and pages, punctuation is a critical part of our reading experience. Our story worlds are built of words, occasional numbers, typefaces, and most definitely punctuation. A glaring punctuation problem runs the risk of popping an otherwise enchanting story illusion.

What’s more, when we don’t have a handle on the nuts and bolts of punctuation, we miss a valuable opportunity to sculpt those rules into art. Having recently read a gorgeous example of how to turn hyphenated compounds into a stunning sensory experience, I’ve been pumping up my punctuation powers, particularly around hyphens.

What is a hyphen, and how is it different than other dashy things?

Good question! The short answer is, when considering em dashes, en dashes, and hyphens, think large, medium, small.

— Em dashes are longer lines (the length of the letter m). They set off information added to the main sentence much like parenthesis or commas would. I sprinkle them like rainbow jimmies in my Substack posts!

– En dashes are short lines (the length of the letter n) meant to indicate range or connection: 4–6 inches of rain, the Paris–Milan train. Honestly, en dashes don’t come up that often in my fantasy fiction writing.

- Hypens are the babies. They’re used for compound words.

Compound Words

Playing with compound words is so much fun for writers. Let’s dig in!

Compound Nouns

Compound nouns are nouns made up of more than one word. There are three ways a compound noun can be assembled:

Open: two words that go together and are written with a space between them. Example: banana split

Closed: two words that go together and have no space between them: Example: hatbox (I had to look this one up this week for an editing assignment). These compounds tend to be common words that have melded together through convention

Hyphenated: compound nouns that are hyphenated when they go together. Example: mother-in-law

Before tearing your hair out over whether you’re dealing with an open, closed, or hyphenated compound noun, take a breath. Sometimes there are clear and definite conventions—sometimes not. Nobody has all these puppies memorized. When in doubt, I look it up.

Bonus: don’t forget proper nouns in compound situations get hyphens.

Pre-Raphaelite art

Non-American perspective

Ok, that’s enough about compound nouns. We’ve got to move on so we can get to the part where we’re sculpting the English language to make art.

First, a few more rules.

What about compound adjectives?

I’m so glad you asked!!

If you only take away one thing from this post, remember this tip my husband taught me:

When in doubt about a compound word needing a hyphen, do the adjective/noun test. If the compound word is an adjective, chances are you’ll need a hyphen. If a compound word is a noun, you probably don’t.

These kinds of rules only make sense to me when I read some examples, so here’s some examples!

I love the colors pink and purple.

I bought these stunning pink-and-purple shoes on Zappos!

Got it? Good. Now don’t get too comfy. My hubby’s rule has saved me dozens of times, but it’s only a rule of thumb. There will be exceptions; however, this rule guides me to the right answer about 90% of the time.

That said, here’s a couple points to consider

Watch out for the -lys

Oh boy, has this rule pestered me over the past two months. Thank goodness for Pro Writing Aid, which gently slaps my wrist each time I forget. I’ve made the mistake so many times recently that I believe I’ll no longer forget it.

Ready for me to drop hyphen gold on you? Here goes:

When in compound word adjective territory and the first adjective ends in -ly, don’t use a hyphen.

Why? That first adjective is actually an adverb modifying the second adjective. Let’s elucidate with an example:

The newly graduated writer was looking for work.

However, if the second adjective in the compound is an -ly, it’s in firm adjective territory and the hyphen is still required:

The beginner-friendly course

Still with me? We’re getting close to the part where I teach you how to be an artistic genius!

When a compound adjective comes before a noun, you hyphenate it. When a compound adjective comes after a noun, you do not.

Simple, right?

I scored a well-known movie star’s autograph.

The movie star who gave me his autograph is well known.

Think of four examples on your own. Type them in. You will never forget it.

Don’t forget to hyphenate your numbers!

Thank you to my eighth grade social studies teacher for pounding this one into my brain when teaching our class how to write a check.

Twenty-one, seventy-three

When it comes to fractions, follow my hubby’s adjective rule.

Adjective: The candidate won with a one-third margin.

Noun: I ate one fourth of the pizza.

Ever noticed how I write my four-year-old, my six-year-old? That’s because I’m treating them as adjectives where the noun is implied. Ooo, tricky. What I’m truly writing is: my four-year-old son, my six-year-old boy.

Still with me? There’s only one more case to go before we make art!

Yes, you can use hyphens for multiple compounds!

I love doing this! There’s even a name for it: suspensive hyphens.

It’s such a cool technique. I only recently learned how to do it correctly! Look, Mom, suspensive hyphens!!

My four- and six-year-old boys are incredibly cute.

Are you completely done reading about hyphen rules? I get it. Fortunately, I left the fun and games for last. Yes, there are fun and games involved in hyphens. Yes, I’m kind of a word nerd. Keep reading. Trust me.

Use hyphens to make your own creative compound nouns

Now you’ve slogged through all the rules and regulations, don’t forget compound words are to writers what a palette is to a painter—compound words allow us to mix existing shades of words together to create custom-made, expressive combinations which add a unique and even exquisite layer to our prose.

Hyphens came to my attention last week while proofing a story from a fellow editor’s story in Hotch Potch Volume 3.2. In her story “Unexpected Regeneration,” Felicia Strangeways handles hyphens like a professional gunslinger.

How does she do it?

She contrasts conventional hyphenated compound words with highly original and unconventional compounds.

For example, she leans into stock phrases like side-by-side, stiff-legged, etc. Then she alternates with inventive, evocative compounds entirely her own. Here are a few of my favorites:

velveteen-bristled

storm-swollen

whale-eyed

mud-slimed

once-golden

In order to highlight this artistic choice, she tends to group hyphenated compounds—whether conventional or creative—in pairs. This calls them to the reader’s attention and engenders a rich sensory experience unlike any I’ve ever read before.

Is this the only way to use hyphenated compounds to riveting creative success? Absolutely not! It was Felicia’s way in this story, and the technique fit the ambiance of the piece perfectly.

The amazing thing about hyphenated compounds is they allow us to put things together. To juxtapose, to compare, to contrast. We can combine the expected, combine the unexpected. We can create pairings classic as wine and cheese, or invent unexpected, but highly characterized oddities like pickles and peanut butter.

What’s your flavor for your next story? It’s going to be thrilling to find out.