Not indenting after white space.

[Cybernaught]

I've seen this done a lot in books, but I had a critique on a story a while back and half of the reviewers told me to indent the first line after the white space. Also, I don't indent the first sentence of a story, either.

Am I doing this wrong? Should I just indent until I have a myriad of published work under my belt and thus can get away with pretty much anything I want?

[Matera the Mad]

You do whatever is required by an agent or editor. Whatever you do, keep it consistent so that it can be changed in an instant with a search-and-replace to meet any new requirement.

[Mumut]

Both my publishers and the style guide for Australia say not to indent first line of a chapter and not to indent after white space. But always read the style notes of the publisher you're sending work to.

[Cybernaught]

Thanks for clearing this up. I will tell my class to bugger off then. Well, not really. Just in my own mind.

[RJK]

I don't think it matters until you are ready to send the MS to the printer. By then you will have instructions from the publisher.

[Chase]

It makes sense to not worry about it until submitting.

Having agreed to that placating crumb: I read books -- lots of books. What's more, I actually pay attention to style and syntax as I read.

I've seen in every novel I've purchased and checked from libraries in the last thirty years that printers did not indent the first paragraph of chapters nor first paragraphs after asterisks or white-space breaks.

I follow suit in manuscripts. When a new critique partner jumps all over me for the practice, I direct him or her to open any novels at hand.

The usual response is something like: "Oh, well I'll be damned. . . ." Sometimes it's "Okay, four novels did it your way, one didn't, so I guess it's all right."

I think those objecting merely haven't noticed. Others may be stuck in the academic mode (which accounts for a great deal of my own reluctance to embrace the more creative world). Still others will object to the crack of doom just because you noticed and they didn't.