# symbols to mark a scene break



## Harriet Schultz (Jan 3, 2012)

What symbol do you use, if any, to indicate a scene break in the middle of a chapter? Not all symbols translate to KDP, but I see some pretty inventive ones in some of the ebooks that I read on my Kindle. 

I write on a Mac with OS X and Microsoft Word.


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## C. Michael Wells (Feb 26, 2014)

I usually go with the *** centered.


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## Hudson Owen (May 18, 2012)

C. Michael Wells said:


> I usually go with the *** centered.


+1


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## josephdevon (Feb 6, 2014)

I go with ----- centered.

Exciting stuff I know.


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## KL_Phelps (Nov 7, 2013)

seen plenty of different takes, some just an extra blank line, ***, or #


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## Terrence OBrien (Oct 21, 2010)

*      *      *


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## johnlmonk (Jul 24, 2013)

C. Michael Wells said:


> I usually go with the *** centered.


I do that too. I kind of want to go with a graphic one day, but don't know where I can get one (free for commercial use). I think they're called "flureons" or something.


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## ♨ (Jan 9, 2012)

C. Michael Wells said:


> I usually go with the *** centered.


Ditto.


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## The world would be prettier with more zebra strip (Apr 20, 2011)

Yeah, the *** centered.

When I wrote fanfiction a long time ago though I always liked this:

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Or

FANFICTIONDONOTSUEFANFICTIONDONOTSUE

Or even

(( )) (())
  ( ^^)

Obviously I can't use those anymore.


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## carriebeth (Mar 9, 2014)

I use ~*~ centered.


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## J. R. Blaisy (Feb 4, 2014)

Just the one *, but biggish, and centered of course.


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## Amanda Brice (Feb 16, 2011)

For my ebooks, I use centered asterisks (I used to use a cute little graphic, but now that I've started doing my own formatting I don't bother).

For my print editions, I use a cute little graphic.


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## Jan Hurst-Nicholson (Aug 25, 2010)

C. Michael Wells said:


> I usually go with the *** centered.


+2


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## MorganKegan (Jan 10, 2013)

I use the ivy sprig you see as my forum avatar, shrunk down to a good-looking size. I also use it in my chapter headers, a big larger than the scene break version. I think it adds something more to my ebook appearance.


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## Rayven T. Hill (Jul 24, 2013)

I use ~~*~~ centered.


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## Lummox JR (Jul 1, 2012)

I use the triple asterisk, with spaces between each one. When I format for print in OpenOffice, I have a macro search for all my scene breaks and replace them with blank space if they occur anywhere but the beginning or end of a page.


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## vrabinec (May 19, 2011)

I was gonna use asterisks, but I really like the look of squiggly lines (Can't find them on this keyboard)


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## wolfrom (May 26, 2012)

I convert my "#" from my manuscript to a PNG file:









I like having something a little more unique to my eBooks. I also use it on my website.

I used to use other ASCII characters, but they gave me trouble with having standard EPUB files.


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## sstroble (Dec 16, 2013)

Harriet Schultz said:


> What symbol do you use, if any, to indicate a scene break in the middle of a chapter? Not all symbols translate to KDP, but I see some pretty inventive ones in some of the ebooks that I read on my Kindle.
> 
> I write on a Mac with OS X and Microsoft Word.


I use *** for a scene break and a two blank lines break for a passage of time but have seen it done different ways by different publishers. Guess the main thing is to use something to convey your intent to the readers.


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## jalang (Dec 30, 2013)

I'm thinking of using a small graphic, but wondering if this will be not worth the effort when it comes to embedding into .mobi and .epub files, and if there's more potential for things to get messed up in conversion?

Does anyone currently do this, and any tips on file format (.png? or something else) and making sure it comes out like you want in the final file?

Thanks!

PS: Regarding people looking for nice little graphics: check out free symbol-type fonts, they can have some nice little details that would work for scene breaks.


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## Harriet Schultz (Jan 3, 2012)

Thanks everyone.

I've used the three asterisks for my first two books, but wanted to change up the breaks in my WIP. Since the hero is Argentine and much of the book takes place there, I think I'll opt for the ~~~ . The tilde mark (usually over the ñ) in Spanish seems appropriate.


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## jdcore (Jul 2, 2013)

vrabinec said:


> I was gonna use asterisks, but I really like the look of squiggly lines (Can't find them on this keyboard)


If you mean a tilde, it's usually on the top left of qwerty keyboards. Next to the 1 key. ~

If you can't find it there, go to the start menu on your monitor, type character map in the search and copy/paste it from there.


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## tknite (Feb 18, 2014)

carriebeth said:


> I use ~*~ centered.


Yup, I use this one.


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## Scratchy_Bitey (Nov 28, 2013)

I imbed images. Save as .gif and you can get them down to 1-3kb...depending on what the image is of.


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## Isabel Dare (Nov 12, 2012)

I used a lovely classic .gif in one book to separate scenes. Then, when I made a Createspace version, I got warnings that the graphics weren't 300 dpi and would look fuzzy. So I had to redo all the .gifs for the paper version, and what a pain that was.

Lesson learned! I use *** now, which looks good on all e-readers and decent enough on paper.


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## AutumnKQ (Jul 27, 2013)

∞ ∞

&infin; &infin;

Infinity symbols play a big role in the culture of Legacy Code. So that's what I use for my scene breaks. They work in ebooks.


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## Lummox JR (Jul 1, 2012)

Drew Smith said:


> I use one fleuron for each book of her main series in a tiny size.


What a mellifluous word! I love learning little terms like that, especially when it comes to typography.


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## Joe_Nobody (Oct 23, 2012)

I use a black & white, smaller sized image of my little logo thingie (<--- over there).

I thought it would help build the brand recognition. No idea if it does, but it sounded good at the time and just became habit.


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## A. S. Warwick (Jan 14, 2011)

I go with ***** centered, though I am looking to change it at some point.


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## 68564 (Mar 17, 2013)

I use:

~~~​


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## Nic (Nov 17, 2013)

Fleurons, some self-designed.


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## vrabinec (May 19, 2011)

Nic said:


> Fleurons, some self-designed.


COOL! What do you do, design one and then insert is as a jpeg?


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## Gone 9/21/18 (Dec 11, 2008)

I just use an extra blank line and start the next paragraph without an indent and with the first few words Small Caps.


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## Gone To Croatan (Jun 24, 2011)

ellenoc said:


> I just use an extra blank line and start the next paragraph without an indent and with the first few words Small Caps.


I used to use symbols, but I now do the same as you, except without the small caps. That's harder to do on Smashwords, so I still use symbols there.


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## Nic (Nov 17, 2013)

vrabinec said:


> COOL! What do you do, design one and then insert is as a jpeg?


I either design them as a graphic file which I then embed, or - as fleurons also exist as typefaces - I design them as a font and embed the font. In this case I locate the files I use where such symbols as * - # or ~ would go, which means that even if the font for some reason doesn't display, the symbol ought to.


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## David Alastair Hayden (Mar 19, 2011)

Five centered asterisks in the ebook and special graphics in the print books. I switched from three because of ... well ... you know ... reasons ... maybe? The graphics would lead to a higher delivery fee on Amazon if I were to put them into the ebook.


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## 75814 (Mar 12, 2014)

In ebooks, it's almost always asterisks. In print books, it depends on the book. For example, in one of my series, the Chinese character for fire is a pretty significant trope, so I'll use that for section breaks (although again, only in print).


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## Kia Zi Shiru (Feb 7, 2011)

Depending on the story I use ~~~ or ***, the ~~~ I use in my fantasy book and the *** in other books.


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## The Bass Bagwhan (Mar 9, 2014)

I use centred asterisks too, but I format the paragraph with 12 points above and below (or before and after) so the Kindle conversion adds that "space".


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## Susanne O (Feb 8, 2010)

I used to put *** centered
Then I went: ~~~ centered

But now I use:  -o- centered in bold


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## Jan Hurst-Nicholson (Aug 25, 2010)

carriebeth said:


> I use ~*~ centered.


What's the symbol in the middle? I use Word and worry that if I put in something unusual it will convert to something different when uploaded.


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## Isabel Dare (Nov 12, 2012)

Jan Hurst-Nicholson said:


> What's the symbol in the middle? I use Word and worry that if I put in something unusual it will convert to something different when uploaded.


That's an asterisk. It should be on your keyboard, and it's plain ASCII text, so Word or other programs will handle it, no worries. 

On my QWERTY keyboard, it's Shift + 8 to get an asterisk.


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## Speaker-To-Animals (Feb 21, 2012)

> I'm thinking of using a small graphic, but wondering if this will be not worth the effort when it comes to embedding into .mobi and .epub files, and if there's more potential for things to get messed up in conversion?


It has nothing to do with conversion, but Kindle's don't support transparency, so if someone on a Fire or a program reverses the text color so it's white on black, the image (any image) won't reverse and you'll see a white box around them.


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## jalang (Dec 30, 2013)

Kat S said:


> It has nothing to do with conversion, but Kindle's don't support transparency, so if someone on a Fire or a program reverses the text color so it's white on black, the image (any image) won't reverse and you'll see a white box around them.


Thanks Kat! I was wondering about this actually, as I'd heard some programs can do white text on black, etc. and how that worked with images. In which case, I suppose it's back to the old classic ***, at least for ebook.


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## Robert A Michael (Apr 30, 2012)

Since my publishing company is called Infinite Word Press, I use an infinite symbol, centered, in the same "style" as my chapter headings so that the scene breaks show up in the TOC.

*∞​*


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## Nic (Nov 17, 2013)

Kat S said:


> It has nothing to do with conversion, but Kindle's don't support transparency, so if someone on a Fire or a program reverses the text color so it's white on black, the image (any image) won't reverse and you'll see a white box around them.


That's why I prefer using a genuine font.


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## Jan Hurst-Nicholson (Aug 25, 2010)

Isabel Dare said:


> That's an asterisk. It should be on your keyboard, and it's plain ASCII text, so Word or other programs will handle it, no worries.
> 
> On my QWERTY keyboard, it's Shift + 8 to get an asterisk.


Doesn't look like my asterisk when I use it in a Word document, but does look like it when I use it here * . This looks like mine flattened and prettier .


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## 75814 (Mar 12, 2014)

Jan Hurst-Nicholson said:


> Doesn't look like my asterisk when I use it in a Word document, but does look like it when I use it here * . This looks like mine flattened and prettier .


That could be because of your default font in Word. Different fonts can have different styles for the asterisk character (or any character for that matter). Some specialized fonts may not even have an asterisk character, or when you press shift+8, they might give you something completely different from an asterisk. But for the most part, shift+8 is what you enter to get that font's version of an asterisk.


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## MegSilver (Feb 26, 2012)

Lummox JR said:


> What a mellifluous word! I love learning little terms like that, especially when it comes to typography.


Me too. I will have to edit that into the MOBI tutorial...


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## Eltanin Publishing (Mar 24, 2011)

Nic said:


> That's why I prefer using a genuine font.


If you publish on nook or any other platform besides Kindle, be sure to test your book on a device, if you use symbols. There are a lot of character symbols that look fine on kindle, but don't look fine on a nook (and be sure to test all available fonts on the nook).


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## Marie Long (Jan 11, 2014)

Most books I've read use the standard, traditional method of the 3 asterisks. Sometimes they also use a blank space, but that's not wise to do for ebooks.


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## Donovan Scherer (Mar 11, 2014)

Nic said:


> I either design them as a graphic file which I then embed, or - as fleurons also exist as typefaces - I design them as a font and embed the font. In this case I locate the files I use where such symbols as * - # or ~ would go, which means that even if the font for some reason doesn't display, the symbol ought to.


That's awesome. You just gave me a project for next week


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## Jan Hurst-Nicholson (Aug 25, 2010)

Perry Constantine said:


> That could be because of your default font in Word. Different fonts can have different styles for the asterisk character (or any character for that matter). Some specialized fonts may not even have an asterisk character, or when you press shift+8, they might give you something completely different from an asterisk. But for the most part, shift+8 is what you enter to get that font's version of an asterisk.


You're quite right. It depends on the font I use . Now wasting time playing with the fonts to see which one is prettier


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## N. Gemini Sasson (Jul 5, 2010)

vrabinec said:


> I was gonna use asterisks, but I really like the look of squiggly lines (Can't find them on this keyboard)


Tilda. Top left of most keyboards. I've used those and asterisks for mine, but the asterisks in particular are used so often. For my dog book this time I wanted something different. So I did my best to mimic a pawprint:

--o00o--
(em dash, lower case 'O', and zero)


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## unkownwriter (Jun 22, 2011)

For ebooks, I use three asterisks centered. I might go back and put a space between. Before I knew it probably wouldn't work, I'd used a symbol -- from Windings, I think -- but it didn't carry over on the Kindle. Had to go through and change all of that. 

For print books I'm using the blank lines, with non-indented first line in the next paragraph. I'll have to make sure the line spacing looks good so I don't end up with a "short" page at either the top or the bottom.

edited for typo


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## Harriet Schultz (Jan 3, 2012)

One more question...when you insert whatever symbol you use for the break, do you center it using the center command or just use the space bar to place it?

I'm never sure if KDP's conversion will center things and so far I've used the space bar, but placement becomes inconsistent.


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## Lummox JR (Jul 1, 2012)

Harriet Schultz said:


> One more question...when you insert whatever symbol you use for the break, do you center it using the center command or just use the space bar to place it?
> 
> I'm never sure if KDP's conversion will center things and so far I've used the space bar, but placement becomes inconsistent.


You should be using styles for everything. Indents for instance should be part of your paragraph style, never done manually with tabs. So if you have a style for scene breaks (mine is just called Break), just center it and make sure it doesn't have an indent. KDP will center it just fine.



Sheila_Guthrie said:


> For print books I'm using the blank lines, with non-indented first line in the next paragraph. I'll have to make sure the line spacing looks good so I don't end up with a "short" page at either the top or the bottom.


In print I format with OpenOffice. Doing scene breaks the way I've always seen them in print, where they're a blank line in the middle of a page but three asterisks (or a line) at the bottom, was important to me, so I made a macro that handles this along with fixing some issues with em dashes and adding ligatures.

My macro basically looks for every paragraph with the "Break" style. If the following paragraph is on the same page, it clears the break paragraph's contents. If it's the first on the page, the previous paragraph is altered to include a "keep with next" style, forcing a couple of lines (thanks to widow and orphan control) onto the following page. And if it's last on the page, the * * * is kept intact.

This is the portion of my macro in OpenOffice BASIC that deals with scene breaks:


```
'' Scene breaks
	Search = Doc.createSearchDescriptor
	Search.SearchStyles = true
	Search.SearchString = "Break"

	Found = Doc.findFirst (Search)
	do until IsNull(Found)
		Cursor.gotoRange(Found.Start, false)
		Page = Cursor.getPage()
		Cursor.goUp(1,false)
		if Page <> Cursor.getPage() then
			Cursor.ParaKeepTogether = true
			if Found.String <> "" Then Found.String = ""
		else
			KT = Doc.StyleFamilies.getByName("ParagraphStyles").getByName(Cursor.ParaStyleName).ParaKeepTogether
			if KT <> Cursor.ParaKeepTogether then Cursor.ParaKeepTogether = KT
			Cursor.gotoRange(Found.Start, false)
			Cursor.goDown(1,false)
			if Page <> Cursor.getPage() then
				if Found.String <> "* * *" Then Found.String = "* * *"
			else
				if Found.String <> "" Then Found.String = ""
			end if
		end if
		
		Found = Doc.findNext (Found.End, Search)
	loop
```
Naturally this has to happen last, after ligatures are added and whatnot.


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## David Alastair Hayden (Mar 19, 2011)

Always use styles in MS Word, and use them strictly. Not only will this save you a lot of headaches and prevent mystery formatting when you do things like backspace and move a paragraph, it also makes things easier for converting to other formats like ebooks for instance. And it eliminates at once about 50% of most people's complaints about MS Word.


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## 75814 (Mar 12, 2014)

Harriet Schultz said:


> One more question...when you insert whatever symbol you use for the break, do you center it using the center command or just use the space bar to place it?
> 
> I'm never sure if KDP's conversion will center things and so far I've used the space bar, but placement becomes inconsistent.


I use Scrivener for just about everything (except print formatting) and it centers it for me.

But when you're using Word or something like it (which I assume is what you're using), space bars and tabs are not your friend, always use styles. Set up one style for your basic paragraphs--0.25 indent is what I use and what a publisher I do print formatting for uses--and set another style with centered text for section breaks. Name them appropriately and then just click on them whenever you need to add in a section break. Saves you the time of hitting the space/tab button until you get it where you want and makes things easier on you when converting for mobi/epub.

And if you ever have someone else format your books for print, there's the added benefit that doing this won't make them want to pull their hair out


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## Harriet Schultz (Jan 3, 2012)

Thanks for telling me about "styles." I format for paragraphs, but didn't know I could also do it for breaks. I'll give it a try.


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## Lummox JR (Jul 1, 2012)

Harriet Schultz said:


> Thanks for telling me about "styles." I format for paragraphs, but didn't know I could also do it for breaks. I'll give it a try.


Yeah, you'll want to use styles everywhere. Have one for paragraphs, one for new chapters, another for chapter subtitle if you need it, one for scene breaks, and you might want some for songs or letters or other text that doesn't fit the normal paragraph role.

I always begin new chapters with a page break, and most converters are smart enough to carry that over for you.


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