Blind and Visually Impaired Community
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How to indicate time skip in story (self.Blind)
submitted by Akiza_rose
Hello,
I have a story on a word document that I will export as an ePUB file. I made a table of contents and applied headings to chapter sections, but how do I address time skips? As in, let's say the character goes to sleep. I usually put two spaces to indicate a time skip, and then in the same chapter I continue with describing the character waking up. For accessibility purposes, do I put text to indicate a time change? What do I say? Is there a format? Or do I apply a heading after the time skip has occurred?
Thank you so much!
I have a story on a word document that I will export as an ePUB file. I made a table of contents and applied headings to chapter sections, but how do I address time skips? As in, let's say the character goes to sleep. I usually put two spaces to indicate a time skip, and then in the same chapter I continue with describing the character waking up. For accessibility purposes, do I put text to indicate a time change? What do I say? Is there a format? Or do I apply a heading after the time skip has occurred?
Thank you so much!
Mirage32 5 points 1y ago
I'm reading *The Expanse* at the moment. Whenever there is a short time skip, the author do a line break, put an asterisk, do another line break, then go forth with the story. Maybe you could use something like that? It's not very different from the trick you are already using.
Akiza_rose [OP] 1 points 1y ago
Ah thank you! I originally use an em dash for time skips but asterisk would make it more obvious. Thanks for the idea!
bjayernaeiy 4 points 1y ago
Shouldn’t it be clear from the writing? I honestly don’t see how it should have an impact on someone reading the story. Maybe an extra blank line?
rory-games 3 points 1y ago
Line break is fine from a screen reader perspective atleast with nvda. Putting a blank line is readable.
Akiza_rose [OP] 1 points 1y ago
Thank you!
Anianna 3 points 1y ago
Section breaks that indicate a transition between one part of the chapter and another are common in fiction. I'm not sure how screen readers handle that, but considering they are a standard, I would expect that the screen readers are programmed for them.
$1 shows a good example of what a section break in fiction looks like (the second example, after the example of a scene break, which is proper formatting for scripts, not books). It's essentially a blank line, three asterisks centered, and another blank line.
$1 shows a good example of what a section break in fiction looks like (the second example, after the example of a scene break, which is proper formatting for scripts, not books). It's essentially a blank line, three asterisks centered, and another blank line.
TK_Sleepytime 3 points 1y ago
Are you asking if a screen reader would note the double line break? And what should be used instead if not?
(I don't use a screen reader but I think people might not be understanding your question.)
(I don't use a screen reader but I think people might not be understanding your question.)
Akiza_rose [OP] 1 points 1y ago
Yes that is what I meant. I don't know if the screen reader would tell the person that there's a line break.
MaplePaws 2 points 1y ago
Honestly I answering more from the Autistic perspective than the vision issues I experience. It does help me greatly to not get disoriented if the author puts in some clear indication of time, text explicitly saying the time/date is the most helpful but mentioning some other indication like position of the sun or a clock work too.
TechnicalPragmatist 1 points 1y ago
The blank line is okay but the asterisk or ———— is probably a more clear one. Some of us read the text as a whole chunk and don’t see the line breaks or page breaks. Only a person who’s reading it line by line or bit by bit will and a lot of us just sit back and listen to the book even with screen readers.
devinprater 1 points 1y ago
You could use a horizontal line, like:
I fell asleep, and dreamed of kittens.
----------------
I woke up, with my kitten on my chest.
I fell asleep, and dreamed of kittens.
----------------
I woke up, with my kitten on my chest.
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