Transitioning to New Location -- Need a "Link?"

abwriter10

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Searched the Basic Questions but wasn't exactly what I was looking for mainly because I don't have chapters in my short stories.

What is the correct/best way to transition from one location to another? I've read stories where there was no "transitioning phrase," it just ended in one location and the very next sentence denotes them in a new location. Is this correct? Thanks all.
 

Maryn

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Put in a break, usually a centered pound sign (#). This tells the reader that either time has passed or the location has changed. Or both.

Your first sentence after the break can ease the reader into the new time or place:
Later that day...
By the following weekend...
Shivering at the pier...
Alone in the bank vault...

Man, I wish all questions were this easy. Thanks for throwing me one I could actually hit!

Maryn, low batting average
 
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ldlago

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Searched the Basic Questions but wasn't exactly what I was looking for mainly because I don't have chapters in my short stories.

What is the correct/best way to transition from one location to another? I've read stories where there was no "transitioning phrase,"

You can simply leave an extra space between paragraphs or separate them with * * *
 

mafiaking1936

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Yep just leave space. But it's also a good idea to make it clear that the location is different within the first paragraph or so, so the reader doesn't get confused about where they are.
 

aguywhotypes

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A very successful writer told me that he was told to use three asterisks on a separate line in the center.

***​

I got in my car and drove home.
 
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Bufty

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I presume you know how to do it in a manuscript, but for here, don't bother centring.

Is that what you meant?

A very successful writer told me that he was told to use three asterisks on a separate line in the center. Don’t know how to center this...

***

I got in my car and drove home.
 
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Woollybear

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Here, you go to advanced options and then have access to all the fun extra formatting code. I think centering is

[CENTER] text here [/CENTER]

...As far as ways to indicate change in the location, there are probably...

"Fifty Ways to Leave the Past One"

Hint at it before, Lenore

Just tag it out straight, mate

Use a clear setting show, ya know,

Just listen to me.
 
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abwriter10

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Thanks everyone!

After I posted this, I came across this short story with the headline saying that it sold to Hollywood for 7 figures.

Here's the link: https://www.reddit.com/r/nosleep/comments/f5up4c/my_wife_and_i_bought_a_ranch_in_the_mountains/

I only read part one of, I think, a four-part story but the author here didn't use what is suggested above so obviously there are different ways to do things. The author of this story used phrases like:

"I’ll never forget driving up the long driveway" to denote a new locale

"We made a couple pies, hopped in the truck and went to introduce ourselves." to denote a new locale

"The next morning we woke up..." [transition to next day]

"That evening around 5pm..." [denote new time]

Is using the centered ### the preferred way? Or is the answer pick one method and be consistent?

Again, thanks everyone.
 

Woollybear

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You can change location within a scene. The "mark" (whatever you use; it can be ### or *** or something else; I use a single centered #) is to indicate a new scene. A scene is loosely defined as a goal-conflict-disaster.


Bill needed that phaser. He rushed the crowd, heading straight for it, there on the other side of the flight hangar. Hands grabbed him, pulled him down, and strapped a teleportation device to his leg. "No!" he screamed, but it was too late, he had already been transported to the prison ship.


^That is a single scene with two locations. It's a scene because it has a character with a goal, then a conflict and a disaster. Scenes can be delineated with marks between them. (But.... they do not need to be.) The mark indicates a change of some sort, and to my knowledge always occurs between (not within) scenes.

Often, a "scene change" is defined as a change in the people involved, or a change in the location, or a change in the "time." But it's not that simple... many scenes change people and location during the scene itself.

To me, and at least to some others, a scene is better defined through its action-arc. Goal, conflict, disaster.

Yes, there are fifty ways to change location. :) Glad you are finding some.
 
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Lakey

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Is using the centered ### the preferred way? Or is the answer pick one method and be consistent?

In my opinion, the answer is suggested by Woollybear’s observation:

To me, and at least to some others, a scene is better defined through its action-arc. Goal, conflict, disaster.

A scene break and a location change are not necessarily the same thing. They can coincide, but you can also have either without it being the other.

However: There is no single best way to do anything. A location change can be signaled in any number of ways, just as you would signal anything else—a time change, a speaker change, anything. As long as it is clear and flows smoothly it is fine. A scene break can also be indicated in a number of ways, including the use of spaces or *** or ###. But in a short story, even scene breaks need not necessarily be set off in any particular way; it can help with pacing and clarity to do it, but you’ll also see stories in which it is not done, in which the author deliberately wants to smooth things together. It’s entirely down to what is clearest to your readers, and what feels most natural and appropriate to your story.

My suggestion is that you keep reading short stories. Read as many short stories as you can get your hands on—there are many more available for free on line than one person can ever read; you have a limitless supply—and pay attention to all the different ways authors handle these matters. Then you will have a full range of tools in your toolkit and you can draw on the one that feels most appropriate to any particular situation you find yourself in.

:e2coffee:
 
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