The Guide to Great Story Writing

Hyphens and semicolons

Let me introduce a small yet excellent tool - or rather, tools for writing. Hyphens and semicolons.

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Here's how we can use hyphens and semicolons.
This is an ordinary sentence:

Tabitha was a beautiful tortoiseshell cat with brilliant amber eyes, ones that pierced me, like needles in felt.

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You can make it look a little bit better with a hyphen or semicolon.

Tabitha was a beautiful tortoiseshell cat with brilliant amber eye - ones that pierced me - like needles in felt.

Tabitha was a beautiful tortoiseshell cat with brilliant amber eyes; ones that pierced me, like needles in felt.

You can use hyphens, semicolons or even both in one sentence.

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You may be thinking that commas may look good enough, but overusing them makes the text look ugly.

Yvette examined her shopping list for summer vacation. Sunglasses, to shield her delicate eyes from the sun, some towels to lie on in the beach, a new pair of bathers, to get into summer fashion, a gorgeous nightgown, which she could wear to gaze at the starry skies.

This looks disastrous! Let's fix it up.

Yvette examined her shopping list for summer vacation. Sunglasses - to shield her delicate eyes from the sun, some towels to lie on in the beach, a new pair of bathers - to get into summer fashion, a gorgeous nightgown; which she could wear to gaze at the starry skies.

This looks a little bit better.
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Here's how you DON'T use hyphens and semicolons.

I - really liked; pie.

"Don't be - silly - or stupid." The waitress snorted; she had blue eyes.

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Hyphens and semicolons may only make a small difference, but if you get into the habit of using them; you can build more structured paragraphs and - well get better at writing in general.