Formatting a Manuscript

pbw

I have a question. I'm reading Orson Scott Card's book called How To Write Science Fiction And Fantasy and in it he says a change of scene in a manuscript should be indicated by an asterisk.

I have been using an extra line space.

Which is correct?

I ask because he is American and manuscript formatting in the US is done differently to ours, so I need to be clear whether only the Americans use the asterisk or whether we do, over here, too.

heather

I've never seen that or done that pbw.

I always use a blank line, too.

kado

I always use an extra line space as well.

Stan2

I would use an extra space.

Mrs Bear

The problem comes if you have a change of scene that coincides with the end of a page. Then you have no way of making the break clear unless you use an asterisk, and if you use it there, you have to continue with it throughout.
As ever, it's down to house rules, if you are submitting to a publisher, so should ask what they want.

Carol

I wonder if he means what sometimes gets use with a change of scene * * *.

I always use an extra space.

kado

This is mentioned in the excellent ‘how to book’, The Creative Writing Coursebook, by Julia Bell and Paul Magrs.

Quote: The first paragraph of a chapter or after a section break is full out (not indented).

There are no asterisks, except to draw attention to a section break that has fallen unavoidably at the top or bottom of a page and might be missed by the reader.

Carol

That's useful to know, thanks Kado.

Kayess

Check the individual requirements of the publication you are submitting to if you can.

There seems to be a difference whether you are submitting the manuscript to an online publication or a print one. Online publications often ask for the manuscript to be single spaced with a line between paragraphs, so simply leaving another space between scenes would not be clear. They often only want a single space after a full stop as well, which can drive you mad if the next publication you submit to wants conventional formatting. One of the guides many magazines refer writers to is www.shunn.net/format/story.html. I believe this recommends using a hash (#) to indicate scene or time breaks.

kado

[quote=Kayess] They often only want a single space after a full stop as well, which can drive you mad if the next publication you submit to wants conventional formatting. [/quote]

Double spacing after a full stop is considered old fashioned by most writers these days. It harks back to when people learned how to type using typewriters, not computers.

Rosalie

Going back to the asterisks... Sometimes in books you see a linespace to indicate a section break and, only if this coincides with the bottom of a page, a single asterisk (or three of them) as well, to make it clear.

But of course this would not work for e-formatting, where there are no fixed page breaks.

When I formatted 'Charity's Child' for Kindle I discovered that in one previewer the linespaces were not showing properly, so I went back and added three askerisks to them all. Belt and braces!

kado

Rosalie, that seems like an excellent way to solve the problem!

Kayess

[quote=kado]Double spacing after a full stop is considered old fashioned by most writers these days. It harks back to when people learned how to type using typewriters, not computers.[/quote] [quote=kado]

Showing my age again!

kado

;)