: Re: Is it advisable to add a location heads-up when a scene changes in a novel? In my novel, I have a scene at home which changes to scene at the office which is completely different. I have

@Kristi637

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It's always a good idea to give your readers some indication that the setting (whether time or place) has changed. You could do something like

... and she flopped onto the sofa, clutching the picture to her chest. Tears rolled down Alice's cheeks as she thought of her wife.



Shanti leaned back in the plush leather chair. Alice was probably waiting for her at home, even though she'd texted her. But she had too much to do.

This works if you've already established that Shanti and Alice are in different places. A line break usually signals a change in setting and/or POV character.

You can have a sentence at the beginning indicating a different place, but it has to be done well. "Back at the offfice" sounds very colloquial, as though someone is narrating. This could work in some kind of first person narrated-after-the-fact story

... And so my sister sobbed her heart out for her wife,all the while never doubting that their love would overcome even this.

Meanwhile, at the office, Shanti was busy trying to get her secretary to go out with her for drinks. Hey, you only live once, and in this case, not even for very long. I don't know that I wouldn't do the same in her place.

In this case, the kind of abrupt scene change is a part of the narrator's voice, and has a comic effect. You can also do the thing they do in spy movies

London, 1954

A spectre is haunting London...

Here, you've gotten the setting and time right away. This format is generally common in thriller/mystery/spy novels, afaik.

Also, check this out

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