Indentation

[David R. Ryan]

Hi.

I need to properly format my new manuscript, but ignorant as I am, I had never heard of or noticed indentation before yesterday and I really don't get what to do. I mean, I understand that I'm supposed to indent paragraphs, but my manuscript is very dialogue-heavy, so if I only indent the narration it looks odd, because there's just so little of it, but if I indent all the dialogue (every time a different person is speaking) then it kind of looks messy to me and also, if I indent all the dialogue, I don't indent the narration? And if I don't, do I still indent new "paragraphs" of narration though? But what if that indented paragraph is followed by also indented dialogue again, that would look odd too, right? Any suggestions?

(Here's a short story of mine, to illustrate just how dialogue-heavy my manuscript is:  https://gayauthors.org/story/david-r-ryan/ferociously-adorable/#chapters )

Edited July 8, 2019 by David R. Ryan

[Carlos Hazday]

Who says you have to indent paragraphs? I think that practice, along with double spaces after a period, are relics of typesetting days. Our current, crisp, fonts made those obsolete a long time ago.

[Timothy M.]

Yep, what Carlos said. Whatever you do, DO NOT indent or add empty lines between your paragraphs. It's all automatic now.

[Cia]

1) ***Do not force indents on the text as an author on GA*** Please just post the text as is because the system allows readers to either use the block formatting or to add an indent if they prefer to read with it. You can see this by clicking on the middle button on a chapter by the font size buttons. 

2) Indents are used when authors do not have a single space between paragraphs, which is called block formatting (the preferred method for online fiction/website text). The indent goes at the beginning of every paragraph. It is called a 'first line indent' and is used with books to save space on paper. It isn't based on narration or dialogue. 

Hope that helps!