Jill

I have been working on the structure of my book and studying the structures of other books as I do so. Besides, chapter breaks, I understand that writers sometimes use a line break to divide chapters into smaller sections.
What I have never been able to figure out are the three dots or asteriks centered in the middle of the pages between sections. I thought I remembered a teacher telling me this indicated going back in time, but in all the contemporary works I have been studying (tonight I was looking at Autobiography of a Face), I don't see this at all. I mean there is usually a time shift of some kind, but I don't see anything consistant as to the use of the three dots or anything that makes their time shift any different than where there is just a line break.

__________________
--Jill

Heid

In my experience, line breaks within chapters usually indicates a new scene. Sometimes when a scene changes it can start on a new chapter but if the previous scene is too short then new scenes are added to the current chapter and are just broke up with those asterix's.

That's just me though.

Philo

Scene breaks are usually done with a double return, I only recall seeing what you describe when the double return lands at the bottom of the page. I'm under the impression that this is a typesetter's tool to inform the reader of the double return where the page transition makes it invisible.

I've never heard of this device being used in a different way, but I suppose as a visual cue, it could be.

Jill

As a matter of fact, I think those three dots WERE at the bottom of the page!!! Thanks for solving my mystery!!!

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--Jill

mammamaia

such things are styling decisions made by the publisher and should not be confused with editor's diacritical marks one might find in an edited ms...

when you're typing your ms, you should put a single # in the center of the line wherever you want a line break to occur in the printed book... this signals the editor that a scene change or other shift is taking place and needs to be set off by a line space...

i have a couple of good ms format guides i'll be happy to pass on, if you email me...

love and hugs, maia
maia3maia@hotmail.com

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lisajane

Usually my short stories are more than one scene, I use those three dots to seperate the scenes. These are ALWAYS taken out when my work is published and there's never any indication that there is a new scene... so thanks for the # tip, Maia .

For novel, I just do the double space, and begin the first paragraph of the next scene at the edge of the page, rather than indent.

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mammamaia

another ms prob, lj... standard rule is to indent EVERY paragraph... from the first to the last... your method may work for you, to signal whatever it is it tells you, but for editors at the publishing house, it means nada but a missed indent...

i have a couple of good ms format guides i can forward to you, in you want... just email me and i'll zip 'em over...

hugs, maia

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lisajane

Good point, Maia, but does this include the very first paragraph? I have never seen a book or story that has the VERY FIRST paragraph indented.

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'Beauty stands and waits with gravity to start her death-defying leap. And he, a little charleychaplin man, who may or may not catch her fair eternal form spreadeagled in the empty air of existence.' - Laurence Felinghetti, 'The Acrobat'

mammamaia

that's because you're reading the BOOK or MAGAZINE and not the MS... the publisher's stylist will decide how to set the piece up for print... but, the writer sending in a ms must format it to submission requirements, not print preferences...

that said, i'm sure mss won't be tossed if you neglect that opening indent, but i should think you do want to appear professional, and all three ms format guides i send to mentees specify all paragraphs should be indented...

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lisajane

Ah. Thanks Maia .

__________________
'Beauty stands and waits with gravity to start her death-defying leap. And he, a little charleychaplin man, who may or may not catch her fair eternal form spreadeagled in the empty air of existence.' - Laurence Felinghetti, 'The Acrobat'