Communities

Writing
Writing
Codidact Meta
Codidact Meta
The Great Outdoors
The Great Outdoors
Photography & Video
Photography & Video
Scientific Speculation
Scientific Speculation
Cooking
Cooking
Electrical Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Judaism
Judaism
Languages & Linguistics
Languages & Linguistics
Software Development
Software Development
Mathematics
Mathematics
Christianity
Christianity
Code Golf
Code Golf
Music
Music
Physics
Physics
Linux Systems
Linux Systems
Power Users
Power Users
Tabletop RPGs
Tabletop RPGs
Community Proposals
Community Proposals
tag:snake search within a tag
answers:0 unanswered questions
user:xxxx search by author id
score:0.5 posts with 0.5+ score
"snake oil" exact phrase
votes:4 posts with 4+ votes
created:<1w created < 1 week ago
post_type:xxxx type of post
Search help
Notifications
Mark all as read See all your notifications »
Q&A

Post History

50%
+0 −0
Q&A Adding breaks in a novel—spaces, asterisks, or a chapter break?

I am editing my first novel and wherever I find a natural break in the story, I add a few spaces. I want to go back and adjust what types of breaks those are, but how best to represent those spaces...

5 answers  ·  posted 13y ago by J. Leigh Hunter‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T01:45:43Z (over 4 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/3301
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by user avatar J. Leigh Hunter‭ · 2019-12-08T01:45:43Z (over 4 years ago)
I am editing my first novel and wherever I find a natural break in the story, I add a few spaces. I want to go back and adjust what types of breaks those are, but how best to represent those spaces in time?

What is the difference between using an extra space, asterisks, or a chapter break?

My guess (and feel free to correct me): an extra space is used when it's some time later in the same scene, or when switching POV with characters in the same scene; asterisks are used when it's essentially a different scene, with either the same characters in a different time or place, or switching POV with different characters; and a chapter break could indicate either, but it comes at the end of a dramatic scene.

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2011-07-08T12:31:44Z (almost 13 years ago)
Original score: 9