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While producing a fiction audiobook that is composed of several unnamed and unnumbered sections, what is the best way to mark the begining of each section? In the paper edition of the book in question, those sections are just separated by blank lines and a couple of asterisks. It is a somewhat unconventional narrative style, as each section is like a flashback, that is not directly related with the previous and the following section. Also, some of those sections can be pretty short, like one or two paragraphs.
Would you just include a few seconds of silence between them, or would the reader benefit more from some kind of audible indicator?
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It really depends on the type of content you are producing and how many sections there are (and what they are about).
I've heard lots of readers just give a longer pause between sections, and that worked well.
On the other hand, flashbacks are already a unique beast and we are already accustomed to hearing or seeing some kind of cue. The standard I'd use is that if listeners might be confused about when a flashback scene takes place, perhaps an additional cue should be inserted.
But some flashbacks flow so naturally into the text that this is never a problem (especially if you're using 1st person or 3rd person limited with a strong narrative voice). On the other hand, more omniscient narratives might require more cues.
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