#dinkus

This got well buried, but better late than never!

I certainly do, much more than @dduane. (She makes a lot of notes in LH, but not much in the way of drafts.)

I've heard / read complaints about longhand (and typewriter) drafting that "you can't correct mistakes". Usually what this means is "you can't delete and over-write".

You can. Use one of these.

The first lays white masking fluid over the error, the other two do it with a strip of white tape, and after a few seconds to let the fluid dry, or immediately with the tape, you can re-write over the top.

I'm sure some people also remember the Tipp-Ex / Liquid Paper paint-pots with brushes, and the little sheets of white-backed correction paper used with typewriters. (Some, like my cartridge-ribbon Smith-Corona, even had a correction cartridge.)

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A more usual method with pen or typewriter drafting is strikethrough.

The mistake is still there, of course, and IMO that's not a bug, it's a feature and - so I've found, anyway - makes me think a bit more about what I'm going to write down before pen to paper or finger to key.

Besides, the "wrong" (often first) choice of word may well turn out to be the "right" choice of word after all, once the rest of the paragraph has developed. YMMV, but it happens often enough.

It's also why proper MS format is double-spaced.

In working drafts, this leaves room to add a correction, often using different colours of ink, which can even be done with a typewriter if it has a black-red ribbon.

In a final draft, double-space (and a clear, non-fussy font like Courier or Times Roman) is easier on an editor or test-reader's eyes.

All the business of fancy fonts, typesetting, end of chapter and between-paragraph glyphs * etc. happens afterwards.

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* The section-break symbol or "dinkus", can be as simple as one or several asterisks, but may be a fancy little curlicue called a "fleuron" or - if a book has a high enough profile - a appropriate custom design.

As per wikipedia a DINKUS is a typographic device or convention that typically consists of three spaced asterisks or bullet symbols in a horizontal row, e.g.   ∗ ∗ ∗   or   • • •  . The device has a variety of uses, and it usually denotes an intentional omission or a logical "break" of varying degree in a written work.

This is my pathetic attempt at trying to protect the ones made for me by my friend who insists on being anonymous but they are so pretty I feel so bad because they are so stealable too. Anyway I used them in my fanfics for Harry Potter (Dramione) and Inukag fanfics

Made a section break image for my fic with the tiger chick

Edit: She looks perfect in context

Recently, I came across a Reddit post where a beginner writer was very confused and annoyed by section breaks in fiction. It appears that not every writer or reader knows what section breaks in fiction are for. Here is how I use them. Your mileage may vary.

By "section break," I mean interruptions to the continuous flow of text, such as a line of empty white space, or dividing sections with a dinkus. That's the line with three asterisks, like this but centered. (There appears to be no way to center text on Tumblr?)

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When there is a small time shift in the story, I separate it with a line of empty white space. For example, if characters are traveling and not much happens during the trip, I just say:

They headed out of town.

‎

They arrived in the next town.

This also comes in handy when characters are recalling a past event. I separate their memory, reminiscing, or storytelling from the normal timeline of the story, both beginning and end.

I also use empty space to set off changes in scene focus. For example, if I'm showing a large spaceship battle and want to "zoom in" to show what's going on inside one particular ship, I'll separate it with an empty line.

I use a dinkus to indicate shifts in location, such as "cutting away" to what the villain is doing while the heroes are traveling.

Chapter breaks are useful for changes in time and location that are also another step forward in the story - Act I to Act II, the Call To Adventure to Refusal Of The Call, the next step in the hero's plan to enter the cursed cornfield and rescue his kidnapped girlfriend from the Scarecrow Demon, that sort of thing.

It's nice to be doing that again.

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I went to an estate sale on the way back from the meals on wheels office.

I'm feeling kind of strange, thinking about all the things I learned about the person who's estate it was just by seeing the stuff that was for sale.

She was a musician. Played jazz saxophone. She had lots of costume jewelry. She had a dog. In her last years she was bed bound or nearly so. She was born in the 30s, judging by the photograph I saw. And she had either grandchildren or nieces & nephews.

And, I think, she lived alone.

There's a strange feeling that I have, thinking about these things. The passage of time. Death, the end of connection between people. It's like sadness, but it's also like, reflection. Wistfulness, the barest hint of what it's like to watch a tragic play.

Finality, nostalgia, and a smidge of melancholy.