Formatting POV changes and Chapter Breaks

I'm having trouble believing that it matters. Readers aren't going to pay attention to details like that.

If an editor finds it necessary to make the distinction, he/she will let you know in due time. In the meanwhile, worry about the words.

Hey Monkey, I use the same paragraph break for both of those instances (mine is a triple pound ### centered on the page).

It seems to me that if it's not clear from the first sentence after the break what kind of a break it was, i.e.,
###
Hugo, swirling in his vile tonic, thought they were acting retarded. (POV)

or

###
The meal took much longer than they expected. By the time it was over, Hugo, swirling in his vile tonic, was almost catatonic. (TIME)

then you have some problems. So, personally, I don't think you should change up the paragraph break markers. But if you really had to, I'd use a triple tilde instead of the asterix.

not ***
but ~~~

Good luck.

For passage of time breaks, I just drop down a line. For POV changes, I do the triple asterix, but I like the tildes now that you mention it...

Nicole

Just a line break is adequate. A line break/space is denoted by a single #.

One hashmark # centered on the page, is the proofreader symbol that tells the typesetter to leave an extra line space in the printed book.

(You will find a list of proofreader marks in the back of your dictionary, most likely, and in many places on the net.)

An extra line space can be used to show a scene break occurring within a chapter.

We mark the extra line space in the manuscript with a # , rather than just leaving the space, because the extra space might escape notice if it came in first or last place on a page.

You can use just about any symbol to show you want a line space at that point.
The editor will know what you mean.

When the ms goes to the proofreader she will delete your symbol and insert a hashmark for the typesetter.

You are right that you have two different reasons for breaking, but the formatting is the same.

Letting the reader know which kind of break they have just jumped across is the job of the writing itself. If you change POVs, then the most important thing to do is get the reader rooted in the new POV as fast as possible--in the first line if you can.

This isn't hard, but it's important. If you don't establish the switch right away, the reader will usually interpret everything in the old POV...until they are jarred by a big WTF moment lower on the page.

Hello folks, I'm wondering if someone can explain more about breaking to me. I'm still trying to learn this writing thing and am a little confused about it. When I write I don't use any line breaks, is that wrong?

Thanks,

burgy61 said:

Hello folks, I'm wondering if someone can explain more about breaking to me. I'm still trying to learn this writing thing and am a little confused about it. When I write I don't use any line breaks, is that wrong?

Thanks,

Click to expand...

Normally you write through without any line breaks (or "spaces"). There should be no space between paragraphs. New paragraphs should be indented.

There are times when you do need a space to denote a break. A break can be a scene break (scene A has ended, and now scene B starts) or a POV switch (whether or not you're in the same scene). A line break/space is denoted by a single hash sign: #.


Chapter breaks are different. A new chapter should start on a new page, about 1/3 page down, either with a chapter number or a title (or both).

Thanks maestrowork, and Monkey that explains it nicely.

What would be a normal indent for paragraphs?

burgy61 said:

Hello folks, I'm wondering if someone can explain more about breaking to me. I'm still trying to learn this writing thing and am a little confused about it. When I write I don't use any line breaks, is that wrong?

Click to expand...

Grab a published novel off your bookshelf. Flip through the pages until you see an extra blank line between paragraphs.

That's a scene break. In the published book it's a blank line unless it comes at the very end of a page--then there's three asterisks (sometimes a different symbol) centered on the line. In a manuscript, however, you use a single hash mark (#) on a line by itself, no matter whether you're at the bottom of a page or in the middle of a page.

Read a few paragraphs just before and just after that blank line. You'll notice the action jumps abruptly from one scene to the other. Maybe there's some elapsed time; maybe a POV shift; maybe a location change. It's something like a chapter break, only less.

Most of the time you'll transition between scenes without stopping. If the action flows smoothly, you probably can't even point to one specific paragraph to say the previous one belonged to the previous scene and this one starts a new scene. They just blend. Then you don't need a scene break. You go on from one paragraph to the next as usual.

What would be a normal indent for paragraphs?

Click to expand...

A half inch.