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Q&A Adding breaks in a novel—spaces, asterisks, or a chapter break?

In addition to your guesses: A chapter break can also be mostly for dramatic purposes; the scene can continue over the chapter break with the same characters and POV. (Think of a commercial break,...

posted 13y ago by Lauren Ipsum‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Answer
#4: Attribution notice removed by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-13T11:59:58Z (about 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/3304
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T01:45:45Z (about 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/3304
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by (deleted user) · 2019-12-08T01:45:45Z (about 5 years ago)
In addition to your guesses:

A chapter break can also be mostly for dramatic purposes; the scene can continue over the chapter break with the same characters and POV. (Think of a commercial break, which then returns to the same moment.)

I would also use an extra space to indicate a scene change: different characters at the same time in a different location, different characters at a later time with location irrelevant. (Think of a scene change in a TV show: the scene just changes, and you have to figure out from context like time of day and scenery when and where we are.)

I actually don't care for asterisks or hash marks. The only time I would use them is at the top or bottom of a page to indicate "If this were falling in the middle of the page, I would just use an extra space, but since you can't tell that from where the copy lies, I'm throwing in these markers to let you know the next bit of copy is a new scene."

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2011-07-08T13:05:59Z (over 13 years ago)
Original score: 7