What's the best way to write dialogue that trails off?

John thought to himself. 'I haven't seen him since . . .' He couldn't remember.

Or

John thought to himself. 'I haven't seen him since-' He couldn't remember.

Is writing something that trails off the same as someone being interupted?

I always put an ellipsis for trailing off and a long dash for being interrupted. I don't really know why - it just looks right to me.

Caro

I would definitely use ellipsis for trailing off, yes.

Deb

Thanks.

With regard to ellipsis (I never knew those dots were called that!) do you do them ... or . . . ? They always look like they have spaces in print but most people I see write them ... (in everyday use, emails, etc).

I just type them one after another, but Word spreads them out automatically. So does WW by the looks of it - I can't get them to stay close together like in your above post!

I do them without spaces. I don't think you need to worry too much about whether they should have spaces, since it's probably one of those things under 'house style' which an editor/publisher would hone to their house rules if it got to that stage.

Just as an experiment, does WW space them automatically? Cos I hadn't noticed it messing with what people write...

Deb

<Added>

No, WW didn't mess with my dots. Good, cos I'd be annoyed if it did. Can't say I've ever noticed Word doing so either, but I do tend to turn off the intrusive 'tools' which change what you write (I'll do my own writing, thanks very much, Bill).

In courier new it bunches them together after I'm done. I've always used elipses for trailing dialogue off, and a comma for interruptions. Guess the latter is wrong then.
Take care
Tracy