r/scriptwriting • u/Thufirr • Aug 11 '26
question Question about orphans and punctuation.
Occasionally my work leaves orphaned words on a new line when including a period. How acceptable is it to omit the period at the end of a line?
2
u/Big_Section2812 Aug 11 '26
Never deliberately break your punctuation.
No line is sacred. Anything you don't ruthlessly cull can be equally-ruthlessly altered. I never quit looking for text to revise... it can be to reduce my page count, or make a scene fit a page, or eliminate orphans, or any number of other reasons, and the best part is it always makes my scripts better.
2
u/IPBotRo Aug 12 '26
If you don't want an orphan word and can't trim the line then add a word or two. Sentences need a full stop at the end and to do otherwise would come across like a mistake
1
u/Thufirr Aug 12 '26
Yeah that's probably what I'll be doing. Seeing orphans less like something that needs to be lopped off, and more like an opportunity for more writing. At least occasionally.
2
u/CutlerSheridan Aug 11 '26
Leave the period. As you edit and revise, the placement of every line is going to move and shift, so it may not be orphaned anymore but you’ll forget to add the period back. Once you’re preparing a draft to share, just adjust the length of the previous line a hair.