Are modern authors still using colons and semicolons in dialogue?

Question

Not sure if it's just my idea but I rarely see colons and semicolons in dialogue (especially in modern novels). Is it because they don't simulate normal speech? Because their use is more a *semantic* one?If I'm wrong, could you please give me some examples of authors who do this?

Answer 1

I don't know that there is one concrete answer for this. For all the writers' work I've read, it seems to be a stylistic choice. A writer I really respect likes the way dashes look on the page more, so they use them instead. Personally I still use semicolons in regular social typing, but rarely use colons unless it's for a very specific purpose, usually a list. But again, that's a stylistic choice, and it very much depends on the specific type of writing.