Interrupting dialogue with em-dashes?

LA*78 said:

I would have just put a comma, because in my view it's not really an interruption in speech but rather a pause to describe peripheral action taking place. So I'd write it as:

"That one," it pointed a spidery finger at Deckard, "stole this life from you."

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With commas, I'd do almost that:

"That one," it said, pointing a spidery finger at Deckard, "stole this life from you."

- though I'd let a copyeditor worry about whether commas or em dashes are appropriate. I think if you use the comma you need the speech tag. If you use the em dashes, you don't.

I'd also say that it probably *is* an interruption, because as I see it in my head the jabbing finger is being used to punctuate the sentence. I read a dramatic pause in there. If you punctuate it the way Maryn suggests you don't get the pause. Just depends on how you want the line read, really.

EDIT: This is just wrong:

There's an example of dialogue interruption in this thread which reads like so:
"That." He shrugged. "Is fine. Whatever you decide."

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I've always done it like this:

"Why don’t you wait over there--" she nodded to some chairs against the wall-- "and I’ll give you a signal when he comes by."

But I was very unsure if this was right. And also, I don't think there should be a space after that second em-dash? Ack!

This also looks reasonably right to me:

"Why don’t you wait over there--" she nodded to some chairs against the wall, "--and I’ll give you a signal when he comes by."

and now this is looking correct, too:

"Why don’t you wait over there"--she nodded to some chairs against the wall--"and I’ll give you a signal when he comes by."

I have no idea what is *actually* right. Aaaa! (Thanks for starting this thread, OP!)

But another concern of mine is that they all feel slightly different in terms of voice. They all read with just the tiniest different cadence in my head. And the third one doesn't sound like she was interrupted by her action; to me it reads like she kept speaking smoothly and the action is a parenthetical taking place at the same time. Which I think someone else also brought up somewhere on the first page . . .

Roxxsmom said:

So maybe like this:

[FONT=&quot]The ambassador scratched one black claw against the polished surface of the table. "I wanted to talk to you because," the scratching grew louder, "it smells like someone's rediscovered umbral magic."[/FONT]

Or this:

[FONT=&quot]The ambassador scratched one black claw against the polished surface of the table. "I wanted to talk to you because--" the scratching grew louder "--it smells like someone's rediscovered umbral magic."[/FONT]

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Yeah.