How to Write Stuttering

stutter photo

Photo by Mark Daynes on Unsplash






Example: She dr-dr-dreaded the dance party.




Example: The cat ate the can-n-nary.

Is It a Stutter or a Pause?


Don’t Overuse


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17 thoughts on “How to Write Stuttering

  1. When a stutter starts a sentence, how do you treat the caps? I like “P-p-please keep your hand—”; but sometimes I see it as “P-P-Please . . .”


    • Hi, Maya.
      The first sound is “pr,” so it would be: He’s pr-pretty shy. But this is not a rigid rule, so if it makes more sense with your character to do it your way, I think that’s fine.


  2. how about if there are more than two letters … should it be:
    colloquia-colloquialism or should it be with an em dash? colloquia– colloquialism —- Or do we only use en dash for stutters and never em dash? Please help, thanks.


    • I don’t know if there is a 100% right answer for this. People may handle this situation in different ways. If it were me, I would still use the hyphen. But it there were a long enough pause, I would use ellipses.


  3. Have you noticed there seems to be a new trend or meme on things like comment boards and social media. People are text stuttering and also repeating whole words for no apparent reason. Usually it’s combined with an insult.


  4. Do you have a source for these stuttering guidelines? Not doubting, would just like to peruse them and have a source to present to my own clients should they ask why I made an edit.

    Liked by 1 person

  5. What would you say to this use:
    Simmer d…d-own, Gail.
    For two letter words, it would be:
    There’s only one smart thing to d…do, which is to let it g…go.

    as opposed to:
    Simmer d-down, Gail
    There’s only one smart thing to d-do, which is to let it g-go.

    Liked by 1 person

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