[Spence Posts: 185 Status: Offline I love kids' books! WWW]

I recieved some feedback from a freelance editor on my nonfiction ms. I had meant to set off a scene and used a row of asterisks before and after. But they were interpreted as misplaced page breaks.

What are the most common uses of * and # in a manuscript?

Should I indent the scene from each margin?

[Vijaya Posts: 9,029 Status: Offline LISTEN. Let all mortal flesh keep silence ... WWW]

Spence, when I submit a ms, if there's a scene break I put a # instead of just quadruple spacing it. I never used to do this until a professional editor recommended I do this.

Also, when I begin a scene, I don't indent the first paragraph (again, after having a first chapter copyedited by a different editor), but it's okay if you do so as well. It's not a biggie. The important thing is to be consistent.

I've never used stars. If I want to emphasize a word, I use italics.

Hope this helps.

Vijaya

[Spence Posts: 185 Status: Offline I love kids' books! WWW]

Thanks Vijaya. I'll use #'s.