digitalfiction

Should I be using dividers to show a change of time and/or place?

**********

^^Something like this^^

I have seen some books with lines and such; others just start a new paragraph.

Thanks, Digitalfiction/Ernie

Talia_Brie

Here's how I do it.

I indent the first line of a paragraph, and keep them tight together. When I want a break inside the chapter, I leave a line, and don't indent the first line of the paragraph in the new section.

I'll try to give an example.

Paragraph 1 - b;ah blah blah
.........Paragraph 2 - still blah blah

Paragraph 3 - new blah blah blah

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OddGodHMK

Personally, I leave a blank line, centre a single asterisk on the next line, leave another blank and then begin the new scene.

ie.

Event #1 etc. etc. etc.

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Non Serviam

A blank line tends to denote a change of time or place, but with the same action, or flow, continuing. A row of asterisks tends to denote a stronger change, such as a switch of viewpoint character.

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Olly Buckle The ways of the world are twisty and unknowable, the only way to be sure you are not caught out in something you regret is not to do things you may regret.

JP Wagner

are you supposed to include such things to indicate changes in your manuscript?

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Non Serviam

In your manuscript, denote a blank line with the hash key:

Blah blah blah.
#
Meanwhile, blah blah blah.

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Olly Buckle The ways of the world are twisty and unknowable, the only way to be sure you are not caught out in something you regret is not to do things you may regret.

Talia_Brie

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ClancyBoy

Usually, but not always.

I believe The Stand changes POV within a single chapter a few times.

Why do I remember this stuff?

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"Mother Hitton's Littul Kittons wait for you down there. Little pets they are, little little little pets. Cute little things, they say. Don't you believe it. No man ever saw them and walked away alive. You won't either. That's the final dash, flash. That's the utter clobber, cobber." --Cordwainer Smith, Norstrillia.

Non Serviam

Terry Pratchett does it too, I just looked. (Mind you, TP doesn't use chapters at all in a lot of his stuff.)

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Olly Buckle The ways of the world are twisty and unknowable, the only way to be sure you are not caught out in something you regret is not to do things you may regret.

jlstratton

If you are publishing yourself or online then you might want to put in the breaks using
# three or four times centered on the page. You can really use anything you want.

If you are submitting a manuscript for publication or a book, then the publish will put those symbols in for you. Some publishers want only an extra line, others may want one #. The methods are endless but, in the case of publishers, they will want you to keep it as simple as possible so they have less to find and remove to put their own stuff in.

Hope this helps.

JL Stratton

digitalfiction

Thanks all

RebelGoddess

I tend to prefer a space with a '-' centered in the middle.

For example:

Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text
-
Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text Text

But that's just me.

Look through some of your favorite books and see what they do.

Racheal

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lin

Just use an extra return, leaving a blank line. Don't start throwing stars and garters around, it looks tacky and amateurish.

Don't use pound signs # either. This is a certain kind of formatting, not something you want to print out and submit.

Keep these things simple. What does a line of symbols say that a blank space doesn't say?

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ClancyBoy

If they're good enough for Lewis Carrol they're good enough for me.

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"Mother Hitton's Littul Kittons wait for you down there. Little pets they are, little little little pets. Cute little things, they say. Don't you believe it. No man ever saw them and walked away alive. You won't either. That's the final dash, flash. That's the utter clobber, cobber." --Cordwainer Smith, Norstrillia.

dwellerofthedeep

Well, I've heard that a * or three is used in publishing to equal a space, so when I write one of those in my manuscript I don't expect it to appear in the printed book but without them there is no space at all. I'm not too sure about my source on this, so please correct me if I'm wrong.

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