Em Dashes, AI Paranoia, and Ms. Lunt's Third Grade Lesson

On punctuation, pacing, and why your writing isn't robotic just because you like a good dash

An author I'm working with asked me if em dashes are a sign of AI writing.

That question sent me down a rabbit hole. Shocking, I know.

Short answer: No. Em dashes aren't robot tells.

But I get why the myth caught fire. AI models trained on everything from Dickens to modern blogs picked up the habit, started using them everywhere, and suddenly the internet decided punctuation was evidence of synthetic authorship.

Here's the thing. And my brain is already racing ahead so I'll try to keep up with myself. We're all writing faster now. Emails flying. Texts pinging. Ideas moving at 90 miles an hour. The em dash became shorthand for "I have a thought inside my thought and I don't have time to restructure this sentence because life is happening."

It's showing instead of telling in everyday writing. The written equivalent of that hand gesture when your brain takes an exit ramp mid-sentence.

The actual tells for AI?

Repetitive vocabulary on a carousel. Suspiciously perfect text with zero typos. Which, if you've seen my first drafts, disqualifies me immediately. And bland content with logical gaps you could lose your keys in.

Meanwhile, writers have been em dashing forever. Those of us with ADHD use them because that's how our brains actually move. Branching. Interstitial. "Oh wait one more thing" energy.

One Simple Fix If You're Worried

Use a period instead of an em dash.

Instead of cramming two thoughts together, let them breathe separately.

Short sentences land harder. They feel deliberate. Confident. Like you meant it. Periods read like you've already caught your thoughts rather than chasing them.

But here's the warning: This slows the reader down.

That's the point.

If your writing needs momentum, needs that "keep up with me" energy, the em dash is your friend. Swap too many for periods and your prose might feel choppy instead of grounded.

Know your intention. Fast and breathless? Em dash. Deliberate and landed? Period.

Punctuation has purpose. Maybe you forgot Ms. Lunt's third grade grammar lesson on how and when. Turns out she wasn't just being picky. She was teaching you to control the pace of your reader's brain.

Both are tools. Pick the one that serves the sentence.

So keep your em dashes. They're not evidence of anything except a mind that moves fast and a writer who'd rather keep up than slow down to diagram every sentence.

Maybe you can find something in it.

~ E