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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.
Comments
I always use a blank line, too.
As ever, it's down to house rules, if you are submitting to a publisher, so should ask what they want.
I always use an extra space.
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.
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.
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.
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!
Showing my age again!