" *** " <-- What does it actually mean?

Hi thereeeeee

Don't know where to post it but this seems appropriate

I'm writing a story for English and I'm opening up with a brief explanation of the situation, characters etc. and then I'm tempted to put "* * *" under one of the paragraphs.

Am I right in thinking it shows a change in time/setting etc.?

Like I want the next paragraph to take place like 6 months prior


cheeeeers peoples! :D

I was always under the impression that it just meant a totally different scene, but obviously it can't be that, since we'd see it everyday - I'm also vaguely interested in this, I'm surprised I don't know - google time :)

I remember being told it was a change in time, I was using it for flashbacks to show that it had happened previously etc. :).

Marks a significant passage in time or dramatically different scene (usually in perspective too). That's what I use it as and my tutor said last year!

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Originally Posted by Kardan

I was always under the impression that it just meant a totally different scene, but obviously it can't be that, since we'd see it everyday - I'm also vaguely interested in this, I'm surprised I don't know - google time :)

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Attempted google. It's a hard question to ask haha.

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Originally Posted by laura

Marks a significant passage in time or dramatically different scene (usually in perspective too). That's what I use it as and my tutor said last year!

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Originally Posted by Samanfa

I remember being told it was a change in time, I was using it for flashbacks to show that it had happened previously etc. :).

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Thankyou both! Do I just do one space down, like a normal paragraph and just three "* * *"? :)

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Originally Posted by Ardemax

Attempted google. It's a hard question to ask haha.





Thankyou both! Do I just do one space down, like a normal paragraph and just three "* * *"? :)

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I found that too :P

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Originally Posted by Ardemax

Attempted google. It's a hard question to ask haha.





Thankyou both! Do I just do one space down, like a normal paragraph and just three "* * *"? :)

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I believe so, I centered the * * * and just went down a line :P.

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Originally Posted by Samanfa

I believe so, I centered the * * * and just went down a line :P.

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Thanks very much, reps+ to all!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ardemax

Attempted google. It's a hard question to ask haha.


Thankyou both! Do I just do one space down, like a normal paragraph and just three "* * *"? :)

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yeah its like


paragraph paragraph paragraph paragraph paragraph paragraph paragraph paragraph paragraph paragraph paragraph fullstop.

***

paragraph paragraph paragraph paragraph paragraph paragraph paragraph paragraph paragraph paragraph paragraph paragraph paragraph paragraph paragraph paragraph paragraph paragraph paragraph paragraph paragraph paragraph paragraph paragraph paragraph


so a paragraph break above and below it

Generally it does mean a complete change in time or setting, so not just moving on to the next event perhaps. I don't think it's used all that much really, but if you are going to use it it's sometimes useful for moving in/out of dream sequences, or as you say to go back in a character's memory. The very best use of it that I've ever read is in a Roger Zelazny novel in the first-person narrative where the teller uses it very consciously to skip out a sex scene, but also to make the reader really feel connected to the character as though the book were really him telling it to you -

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"It's getting chilly out here."
"Yes."
"Let's repair within."
"I'd like to repair."
I put down my cigar and we stood and she kissed me. So I put my arm around her trim and sparkling, blue-kept waist and we moved away from the bar, toward the archway, through the archway and beyond, into the house we were leaving.

Let's make it a triple-asterisk break...

* * *

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but Zelazny was an absolute genius with everything he did so don't feel bad if you can't quite create that feeling in your school work :P

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Originally Posted by FlyingJesus

Generally it does mean a complete change in time or setting, so not just moving on to the next event perhaps. I don't think it's used all that much really, but if you are going to use it it's sometimes useful for moving in/out of dream sequences, or as you say to go back in a character's memory. The very best use of it that I've ever read is in a Roger Zelazny novel in the first-person narrative where the teller uses it very consciously to skip out a sex scene, but also to make the reader really feel connected to the character as though the book were really him telling it to you -



but Zelazny was an absolute genius with everything he did so don't feel bad if you can't quite create that feeling in your school work :P

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Haha! Luckily I just have to do a 1,000 word first chapter of a distopian fiction story.

I believe it's a change in time.

I always think that it's a good place to stop off though. Like, if it's a massive chapter and I see one of those, I stop reading as it's a good place to stop, if you see what I mean.

I always thought it was when you avoid the filter

Edited by GoldenMerc - Please stay ontopic