Spacing

[Dea Menrfa]

Hi All -

I'm hoping this is the right place for this suggestion of Proper Spacing Between Paragraphs.

When I'm reading the stories here at BDSM Library (or anywhere for that matter), authors who have no spacing between paragraphs make it difficult for people like me to read the content.

I do not even try to read stories with no spacing between paragraphs, as all my mind sees as I attempt to read is cluttered text. It is a brain/visual thing.

I have always appreciated the authors who took the time to make their stories clear and easy to read before they are posted in the main story section of this site.

In a previous life I was a secretary so the typos & incorrect usage of text interrupts the "flow" for me. Paragraph spacing seems to be a more recent issue.

Ya know... just in case anyone cares.

[Euryleia]

Good point, fettered.

[Ozme52]

Absolutely.

Spacing can even influence understanding. The reader will pause to think or contemplate where the author chooses by use of proper...



spacing. Sorry, I couldn't resist.

[fetishdj]

Different places have different rules and guidelines for formatting. And many web fora have automatic paragraph spacing and some don't...

Basically, it may be worthwhile someone putting together a list of writer's guidelines for the library....

[Clevernick]

It's peculiar. It depends on the medium.

Open your favorite novel and chances are you'll see it's 1.5 or even single-spaced, with no extra lines between paragraphs --except in those places where the author wants you to pause for breath, such as a scene change or a bit that takes place in your mind.


Now try to read that same format on a computer screen and it's unreadable. You need the extra space between paragraphs, with three blank lines where one would work in a book.

Look instead on a typed thesis or manuscript on letter-size paper, and it looks most comfortable double-spaced, with longer breaks between paragraphs.

So it's not a matter only of right or wrong, but also of how you're reading it.

When I publish e-books on bdsmbooks.com, I use novel style. Single-spaced, indents, full-justified, breaks between paragraphs only where there's a pause. This looks great when printed, or when viewed as a PDF. It looks peculiar but okay when read in .rtf format, and pretty good on an e-book reader.

But when I copy the first chapter over for a free preview, I use breaks between paragraphs. This looks better on the computer screen when on a webpage. No idea why, it just does.

I will shortly publish here, as a public service, some editing guidelines.

[MMI]

Clearly, it's horses for courses. Extra spacing looks right in some mediums, and not in others. And, so far as I can tell, we all seem to be broadly of the same mind as to what looks good where.

(Especially Miss F's avatar ... but I have a thing for pretty white panties ... which has bugger-all to do with the question, but who cares?)