How to Format Chapter Openings and Scene Breaks
Chapter openings and scene breaks are the interior details that make a book feel professionally typeset. Chapter openings typically start on a new page, drop down from the top (a “sink”), and use a consistent styled chapter title or number — optionally with a drop cap or small-caps first line. Scene breaks (shifts within a chapter) are marked by a consistent separator: a blank space, a centered symbol like *** or a small ornament — never just an unmarked gap that could vanish at a page break. Keep both consistent throughout, and build them from styles so they carry into the ebook. Here's how to do each properly.
Readers rarely notice good interior formatting — but they feel it. Consistent chapter openings and clear scene breaks are a big part of what separates a professionally typeset book from an obvious Word export. Here's how to handle both, in print and ebook.
Formatting chapter openings
A chapter opening is a small design moment. The conventions that make it look right:
- Start on a new page. Each chapter begins fresh — often on a right-hand (recto) page in print for a more polished feel, though new-page-either-side is fine too.
- Add a 'sink.' Don't start the chapter title at the very top; drop it down a third or so of the page. That white space signals “new chapter” and looks intentional.
- Style the chapter title/number consistently — same font, size and placement for every chapter (e.g. “Chapter One” or just “1,” with an optional title beneath).
- Consider a drop cap or small caps for the first line. A drop cap (an enlarged first letter) or small-capping the first few words is a classic touch — optional, but it should be consistent if used.
- Don't indent the first paragraph of a chapter or scene — the opening paragraph after a break is traditionally set flush left.
Formatting scene breaks
A scene break is a shift in time, place or viewpoint within a chapter. The danger is using a plain blank line — because if that blank line lands at the bottom or top of a page, the reader can't tell a break happened. Mark it clearly:
- Use a visible separator — a centered *** or # , a small ornament/glyph, or a clearly defined blank space with extra room above and below.
- Be consistent — pick one marker and use it for every scene break in the book.
- Set the following paragraph flush left (no indent), like a chapter opening.
- Make it survive pagination — a styled marker (not just an empty line) ensures the break is still visible if it falls at a page edge.
Running headers and page numbers (print)
Print interiors usually carry running headers — the small text at the top of each page, typically the author name on one side and the book (or chapter) title on the other — plus page numbers. Conventions:
- Chapter-opening pages usually omit the running header and often the page number (or use a bottom-centered number).
- Front matter (before chapter one) uses lowercase roman numerals; the main text starts at page 1.
- Keep headers consistent and don't let them appear on blank pages.
How this differs in the ebook
- No fixed pages or running headers — ebooks reflow, so there are no page numbers or top-of-page headers; the device handles navigation.
- Chapter breaks become page breaks — each chapter should start on a new screen via a proper page-break style, and be marked as a heading so it appears in the navigation/TOC.
- Scene-break markers must be styled, not spaced — a centered symbol survives reflowing; a blank line may collapse.
- Drop caps can carry into ebooks but render inconsistently across devices — keep them simple or accept some variation.
The consistency rule
Whatever choices you make — drop cap or not, * or an ornament, chapter titles or just numbers — the single most important thing is consistency. Every chapter opening should match every other; every scene break should use the same marker. Building these from styles** (rather than formatting each by hand) is what guarantees that consistency and carries it into both print and ebook.