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

[Ardemax]

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!

[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

[Samantha]

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

[lawrawrrr]

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!

[Ardemax]

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

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

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!

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

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

[Kardan]

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 "* * *"?

I found that too

[Samantha]

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 "* * *"?

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

[Ardemax]

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

Thanks very much, reps+ to all!

[lawrawrrr]

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 "* * *"?

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

[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 -

"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...

* * *

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