I don't make the rules, but I think I can see pretty clearly what the
rules in cases like this are for and that can allow one to figure out
what the rule would be. The purpose is clarity. That is also the purpose
of blank lines in the middle of text in a print book, to clarify that a
scene has changed or a passage of time has taken place. If there were no
blank line or other indication of a transition the reader would just
blithely keep reading and then become confused. Now, I am not a Braille
reader, so I don't know how a blank line would serve as a transition
indicator in Braille, but I do know that while using a synthetic voice
set on continuous read there is no indication of a blank line. It just
keeps reading and so a blank line would not serve as an indicator like
it would for a sighted reader. The same confusion would result as it
would for a sighted reader with no indicator. The asterisks are
alternate indicators that a synthetic voice will pick up. Now, there are
cases of blank lines that do nothing for clarity even for sighted
readers. Yes, there may be multiple blank lines after a chapter title
and I have seen books in which each chapter starts half way down the
page and, of course, there is the common practice of starting each
chapter on a new page so that the last page of the preceding chapter
might have just one or two lines of text on it. None of this is there to
provide clarity. It is there for esthetic reasons. That is, it looks
better. When a synthetic voice is reading the material the esthetics of
multiple blank lines does not carry over. Asterisks that in some cases
serve to clarify transitions would, in cases like I have just described,
just be a distraction. To be honest, they are a bit of a distraction
when they appear as transition indicators, but at least they are serving
to clarify in those cases. As for the subject changing with a new
chapter, the mere fact that a new chapter has started is plenty of an
indicator of a transition itself. In fact, if there was no transition at
all with a new chapter then the author did a very poor job of
determining where to divide the narrative with a new chapter. So in a
case like you describe I would leave the asterisks out. I would use them
only when they are needed to clarify. If they do not clarify they only
get in the way.
On 10/9/2015 2:03 PM, Cindy Rosenthal wrote:
That is what I saved, but I'm wondering, since in this case there is a 4-line blank space in the vook after the chapter title and the start of the text and the text seems to change subject, if this would be different. I did just put them in but I can easily take them out. I guess I'll ask Madeleine. Thanks, though
Cndy
On Fri, Oct 9, 2015 at 10:22 AM, Judy s. <cherryjam@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:cherryjam@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>> wrote:
Hi Cindy,
Here's what Madeleine posted on it a little while ago:
"We also no longer need to “preserve” page breaks with asterisks
on either side of page breaks. We don’t need to add them to show
new chapters (on either side of chapters) either, as the word
“chapter” followed by a number is usually enough of a clue for
anyone to figure out that there’s a new chapter."
Hope that helps! smile.
Judy s.
Follow me on Twitter at QuackersNCheese
<https://twitter.com/QuackersNCheese>
On 10/9/2015 4:11 AM, Cindy Rosenthal wrote:
I'vejust reviewed the notes I saved abut not needing to put
asterisks on-either side of chapter titles, but what if the book
has many blank lines (I think it looks like about 4 after the
chapter title before the text? It seems to me like a change of
topic, so I'm assuming asterisks would be appropriate here. Am I
right?
Cindy
