The Wrong Writer

Again. According to whom? An for what purpose? Submission, publication?

WHERE are people getting this bit about sticking pound signs into their stories. I'm DYING to know.

The Wrong Writer

So tell us how you seriously format to submit to publishers.

qwertyman

I swear by this guy William Shunn, everything he says he justifys and it makes perfect sense.

William Shunn : Manuscript Format : Short Story

Let me know what you think. I'd be interested in your source for comparison's sake.


More or less off topic...
I've PM'd you on your comments on formating scripts have a look in your junk folder it might have slipped in there.

The Wrong Writer

All of Shunn's stuff looks good to me. I think it's a somewhat dated piece--like mentioning fonts coming with printers--and seems to ignore the idea that much of his advice is set as default in Word and most other word processors.

And not a word about tossing in pound signs. Or, for that matter, setting off citations and quotes...which is one way of approaching the note or letter inclusions.

I still away word on who is telling the people (here and elsewhere) to use pound signs. Much less using breaks after every POV shift. DO let me know the source of that. It requires a strike force.

Calixto

I meant POV as it a new scene or time--when you have a particular scene end and have a new one begin in the same chapter or section.

My original question I guess would be do you have to indicate EVERY single blank line in your manuscript?


--
Calixto

__________________
I just write what I wanted to write. I write what amuses me. It's totally for myself.
~JK Rowling

The Wrong Writer

Again. Where are you getting this "indicate" stuff??? What is it you think you have to do other than hit return?

qwertyman

Quote:

And not a word about tossing in pound signs. Or, for that matter, setting off citations and quotes...which is one way of approaching the note or letter inclusions. I still away word on who is telling the people (here and elsewhere) to use pound signs.

By pound signs I assume you are referring to what I am used to calling a hash sign #. Shunn says this:

Quote:

Much less using breaks after every POV shift.

I'm still confused over this POV shift business, I must know it by a different name. Can you tell me what a POV shift is?

The Wrong Writer

Being dated isn't a problem with this stuff. It doesn't really change much.

Whoa, I missed his comment to put pound signs instead of page breaks.
Never heard of that, never seen it. Never do it. Never had a publisher or editor or agent tell me to do it.

Still DYING to know where that information is coming from.

Calixto

When I said POV I meant when you go from one character's scene to another character's scene. Instead of starting a new chapter you just want to include it in the same.

__________________
I just write what I wanted to write. I write what amuses me. It's totally for myself.
~JK Rowling

The Wrong Writer

Sorry, but that makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.

Paragraphs aren't about going from one character or scene to another.

Calixto

What do you mean, it makes absolutely no sense? Books like Atlas Shrugged, Never Let Me Go, and The Alchemist have multiple scenes in one chapter (or part), each scene dealing with a different character, and each scene starting with a new paragraph.


--
Calixto

__________________
I just write what I wanted to write. I write what amuses me. It's totally for myself.
~JK Rowling

Beja-Beja

I know what he means. Plenty of books (including mine) feature scene breaks within one chapter. I think the formatting of such pieces are optional but you should really follow the format specifications of whoever you're sending your mauscript to.

The Wrong Writer

It's not the idea that makes no sense. Whatever idea it is you're talking about. It's that YOUR POST makes no sense. You're slicing oranges with apples or something. I'd LOVE to know where you got all this disinformation, but nobody seems to want to tell.

Paragraph or scene breaks have nothing to do with "POV" if that's what you're trying to say. Again, I'd suggest you just drop the whole POV thing from your thought train while writing. If you can't see why by now, never mind.

If what you are talking about is breaking a chapter up into various scenes or sections that take place in different times or places or whatever, then yes, of course, that gets done. Has nothing to do with POV or characters.

And if you've seen it done, then you should know how to do it, right?

Calixto

That wasn't even my original question. It was whether or not you have to use a hash (#) for every single blank line you want to put in a manuscript.

__________________
I just write what I wanted to write. I write what amuses me. It's totally for myself.
~JK Rowling

The Wrong Writer

Well, I say no based on years of submitting work and never hearing about it.

But others suggest that you should...though nobody will come out and give any reference as to why they think so.

What makes you think you should do that?

(And no. Your original question wasn't that clear cut, you got it all snarled up in this "new POV" concept which, since is has nothing to do with paragraph breaks, confused the issue. One more time "POV" is not a helpful concept for writers to have in their heads when trying to create work)