In a message dated 1/5/99 1:23:10 PM Eastern Standard Time,
s669330@aix2.uottawa.ca writes:

<< On Tue, 5 Jan 1999, The Eternal Lost Lurker wrote:
 
 > Has anyone here ever run across this in a book of fictional prose? I would
 > assume not.
 > So my question is...
 > WHY do some fanfic authors feel compelled to use such breakers in their
 > fanfics, when it completely wrecks the flow of the story?
 
 	And the follow-up to this, and a personal annoyance of mine, is
 the other numerous 'fanfic-conventions' that you never find in normal
 fiction.  Flashback indicators aside, there's the large number of
 dialogue/thought indicators: asteriks, tildas, etc... Personally, I can't
 think of a single novel I've read that does so.
 	(The one convention that I actually do like is the "...".  I don't
 know why.  It's just cute.) >>
	Well, this is something I can answer.
	You don't see these thought indicators in printed fiction for one incredibly
good reason: they can use italics, the standard thought indicator.
	However, one can easily tell you that the format that is most transportable
over the Internet, the txt file, is plaintext.  Therefore we have to use
though indicators.  (Interesting note: some of these thought indicators seem
to have a history of usage in writing in fiction; my theory is that they used
to be used to tell the printer/typesetter to use italic or bold type...)
	As for the "...", I really hope that's a joke on your part...


		--Ryo Hoshi
Been reading historical documents
Is quickly becoming fluent in Middle English