Scene breaks with a marker like an asterisk or chapter breaks are my preference. Just read a book that used very brief summary transitions between very large setting or time jumps and some of them threw me completely. We're in the kitchen, then there's a "Later" which marks a transition to the barn, but my brain skips over it and is still in the kitchen, and then I'm like... why is there a horse in the kitchen? Then I have to back up several paragraphs to find the tiny transition that I had missed so I can figure out where we are and what's going on.
Thank you for the detailed breakdown of different scene breaks! And thank you for the interesting information about the doorway effect. I hadn't heard of that before, but I have forgotten why I went from one room to another.
I think my summary scene breaks need work. Generally I form a line out of underscores to mark a scene break, but if I ever have a book printed, I might need to switch to asterisks, as S. E. mentioned. For stories with multiple third-person POVs, I generally type a line to mark the scene break, and then try to start the next sentence with the POV character's name or another indication of who the POV is from. For stories with multiple first-person POVs, I generally do a full chapter break and open the next chapter with a chapter title and a note on who's narrating to avoid confusion, and then the character picks up narrating the scene from there.
Or maybe instead of asterisks you could have one of those cool scene break designs that are used, lol.
I actually like what you do and I never thought about it. For multi-third person POVs scene breask and for multi-first person POVs chapter breaks. Makes a lot of sense!
I use a variation of my logo as chapter headers and scene breaks when I format the paperback version. I don't do that in ebooks because in dark mode the images show up with a white square around them, and I think that looks silly, so I just do plain asterisks in ebooks.
Good to see the overview, as I struggle a lot with transitions!
I'd be curious to hear opinions on balance. I try to keep all of my chapters to one scene, but I know adding some extra in there isn't the end of the world. Still, I've seen lots of writing with 5-10 scenes per chapter, sometimes shifting POVs each time. I've found this to create some really disorienting pacing.
Is there a method to this, or am I just someone with really picky tastes?
This was great and extremely helpful! Thank you for writing it! Things are different between my actual manuscript and what I publish on substack, where I’ve been using the dividers they provide and a header with the new pov character’s name.
In the manuscript, I’ve been using blank spaces to mark transitions between scenes, and an asterisk if the change in scene includes a change in pov. I’ve also been working on adding their names in the first sentence after a switch, because my earlier drafts had people confused over which pov we were in and that’s…not my intention. 🫠
This was a really great article! I really appreciate the explanation of the psychological side of pauses in stories.
Thanks Jesse!
Glad tou liked it Evelyn, thanks for reading 🙌
Scene breaks with a marker like an asterisk or chapter breaks are my preference. Just read a book that used very brief summary transitions between very large setting or time jumps and some of them threw me completely. We're in the kitchen, then there's a "Later" which marks a transition to the barn, but my brain skips over it and is still in the kitchen, and then I'm like... why is there a horse in the kitchen? Then I have to back up several paragraphs to find the tiny transition that I had missed so I can figure out where we are and what's going on.
Now I have to write a story someday that includes a horse in the kitchen.
That could be fun!
That's actually very funny! Because I just pictured the horse just sticking his head in the kitchen through the window.
Thank you for the detailed breakdown of different scene breaks! And thank you for the interesting information about the doorway effect. I hadn't heard of that before, but I have forgotten why I went from one room to another.
I think my summary scene breaks need work. Generally I form a line out of underscores to mark a scene break, but if I ever have a book printed, I might need to switch to asterisks, as S. E. mentioned. For stories with multiple third-person POVs, I generally type a line to mark the scene break, and then try to start the next sentence with the POV character's name or another indication of who the POV is from. For stories with multiple first-person POVs, I generally do a full chapter break and open the next chapter with a chapter title and a note on who's narrating to avoid confusion, and then the character picks up narrating the scene from there.
Or maybe instead of asterisks you could have one of those cool scene break designs that are used, lol.
I actually like what you do and I never thought about it. For multi-third person POVs scene breask and for multi-first person POVs chapter breaks. Makes a lot of sense!
I have wondered if I could make a tiny outline of the Moon and the station and use that as a scene break...
Thank you! I learned the using a chapter title and a note on who's narrating from Anne Social's books.
That would be cute with and edge. You should totally do it!
Thanks! I might try it for paperback versions, like S. E. mentioned.
I use a variation of my logo as chapter headers and scene breaks when I format the paperback version. I don't do that in ebooks because in dark mode the images show up with a white square around them, and I think that looks silly, so I just do plain asterisks in ebooks.
Thank you for sharing that. That's so helpful to know.
Good to see the overview, as I struggle a lot with transitions!
I'd be curious to hear opinions on balance. I try to keep all of my chapters to one scene, but I know adding some extra in there isn't the end of the world. Still, I've seen lots of writing with 5-10 scenes per chapter, sometimes shifting POVs each time. I've found this to create some really disorienting pacing.
Is there a method to this, or am I just someone with really picky tastes?
This was great and extremely helpful! Thank you for writing it! Things are different between my actual manuscript and what I publish on substack, where I’ve been using the dividers they provide and a header with the new pov character’s name.
In the manuscript, I’ve been using blank spaces to mark transitions between scenes, and an asterisk if the change in scene includes a change in pov. I’ve also been working on adding their names in the first sentence after a switch, because my earlier drafts had people confused over which pov we were in and that’s…not my intention. 🫠