1. Tyler Danann

    Tyler Danann Active Member

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    Section Breaks with Asterisk?

    Discussion in 'Word Mechanics' started by Tyler Danann, Oct 28, 2014.

    I've been using double spaces for sections breaks but have seen how some books have asterisks for the top and bottom if the section break is supposed to appear there.

    Is this correct?

    Thanks
     
  2. Shadowfax

    Shadowfax Contributor Contributor

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    The book I'm reading at the moment (The Truth by Terry Pratchett) uses a double-space between sections. If the section break coincides with a page break, a row of asterisks is inserted.
     
  3. Tyler Danann

    Tyler Danann Active Member

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    Right, that's how I see it BUT does the asterisk go at the bottom, or at the top, or can it be both?
     
  4. Shadowfax

    Shadowfax Contributor Contributor

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    I don't know...it seems logical that, if you need the asterisks, you'd have space-asterisks-space, and then let how close the break was to the page-break decide where the line with the asterisks goes.
     
  5. Tyler Danann

    Tyler Danann Active Member

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    What I mean is, if the break is at the bottom, do I put the asterisk there or at the top of the following page?

    Writing is so complicated sometimes.
     
  6. Keitsumah

    Keitsumah The Dream-Walker Contributor

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    I normally do this:

    But I have seen it like this:

    Honestly i think its just a matter of preference. The main rule is to be consistent in whatever you decide to do.
     
  7. Aled James Taylor

    Aled James Taylor Contributor Contributor

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  8. Tyler Danann

    Tyler Danann Active Member

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    Hi James,

    I've never heard or seen of the # sign for scene breaks before....
     
  9. Aled James Taylor

    Aled James Taylor Contributor Contributor

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    The formatting a publisher expects to see in a manuscript is not the same as the formatting that ends up in a book.
     
  10. Cogito

    Cogito Former Mod, Retired Supporter Contributor

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    Mr. Taylor is correct. A single hash sign, centered on a line by itself, is the correct way to indicate a section break in manuscript. How the publisher renders it in print is their prerogative, not the writer's.
     
  11. daemon

    daemon Contributor Contributor

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    Random question: do you work with software? :)
     
  12. Cogito

    Cogito Former Mod, Retired Supporter Contributor

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    Yes. But I always called it a pound sign. I call it a hash sign now if I expect the Children of the Internet to know what I mean, and don't feel like plopping down the sharp. And if I'm not talking solely to musicians.
     
  13. Tyler Danann

    Tyler Danann Active Member

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    I didn't know it would be across the board # on the screen. Most interesting...
     
  14. A.M.P.

    A.M.P. People Buy My Books for the Bio Photo Contributor

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    I know all three of those :3

    It's kinda common practice, anywhere you look on mansucripting (Whether fiction or other) odds are the answer will be single centered #
     
  15. XLadyX

    XLadyX Banned

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    I'm actually using *** or "~" right now if it's still in the same chapter, but I just use spaces to separate chapters.
     

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