How to punctuate overheard dialogue with a noise interrupting it?
How would you punctuate dialogue when it's overheard by others (who only hear it) and when there is a noise that interrupts it? (same as action?) Been flailing about with this but does this look right?
‘No Sweyn, I think the ring was given along with this’- there was a muffled thud -‘in payment for someone to die.’
The correct way to punctuate this is (keeping your single quote convention in place): ‘No Sweyn, I think the ring was given along with this’—there was a muffled thud—‘in payment for someone to die.’ Note these are em dashes, not hyphens.
This is a stylistic concern, rather than a grammatical one, but the convention is firmly established by a majority of sites giving editorial advice.
Despite what some others have commented, there certainly is a consistent rule for this and punctuation is used when writing in and outside of dialogue. Your editor will thank you for knowing how to do this.