Style Guide: Blocks & paragraphs
A block is a standalone chunk of text, like a paragraph. These are the main pieces of text in your book. Most novels don't contain much more than Chapter titles and Plain text paragraphs, but sometimes a book contains extra types of content, like poems, sub sections, letters, and so on, and those paragraphs should be tagged accordingly.
When it comes to your book design, blocks can be designed differently depending both on the name of the block and the wrapper or section it appears within. For example, you can use the "Plain text paragraph" style both as your main chapter text and within your extract wrappers, and apply different designs to each based purely on the container it appears within. This means that you do not need special styles for every type of text paragraph--you can rely on this type of positional design, and use a simpler set of style names.
A simple paragraph of text. This can appear in many locations (for example, as the main text within a chapter, as well as inside an extract wrapper).
Occasionally, a paragraph is split by another block, like a figure, code block, or example. In those cases, the continuation of the paragraph that follows the dividing block should be tagged with this style.
The main title of a book section (i.e., one of the sections listed in the Section breaks part of this documentation, above).
The title of a wrapper block, for example a sidebar title, note title, etc.
Sometimes sections or wrappers are both numbered and titled. This style should be used for the number of the section.
If a section or wrapper has a subtitle, tag it with this style.
A single line of verse, often within a larger poem. Should always be nested inside of a Poetry wrapper (however a single Poetry wrapper can contain many Verse paragraphs). E.g.:
Required wrapper: Poetry
The name of an author of a section of text; for example, if different chapters of the book have different authors who are credited within each chapter; the author of a foreword or afterword; etc.
Any generic dateline (for example, a dateline at the beginning of a chapter, or at any point within a chapter). For letter extracts, use the "Letter date" style instead.
Occasionally a section will include a salutation, for example, "Dear Reader", which is a perfect place for this style to be used. For letter extracts, use the "Letter salutation" style instead.
A location. For example, if the beginning of a chapter is marked by a date and location, e.g.:
This style might also be used on a titlepage, to tag the location of the publisher.
It's common for a foreword or afterword to be "signed" by the author (e.g., to end with the author's name). This style should be used in that situation. For letter extracts, use the "Letter signature" style instead.
A single line of code.
Required wrapper: Code block
A single paragraph within an endnote.
Required wrapper: Endnote
A single paragraph within a footnote.
Required wrapper: Footnote
An item within a list (bulleted, numbered, or simple).
Required wrapper: Bulleted list, Numbered list, or Simple list
Sometimes a list item consists of multiple paragraphs. In those cases, use this style for all paragraphs after the first paragraph of the list item.
Required wrapper: Bulleted list, Numbered list, or Simple list
An image. The contents of this block should only be an actual image file, or a path to an image file.
Required wrapper: Figure
A caption, for example for an image or table
When quoting another work, use the Quote paragraph style for each paragraph in the extract.
Required wrapper: Extract or Epigraph, depending on the context
The source (speaker, book title, etc.) of a quote or extract. For example:
If an attribution requires multiple lines, use this style for all lines after the first. See immediately above for an example.
An intentional blank line, often used to give the illusion of the passage of time within a narrative, or to separate a thought.
An intentional break used to give the illusion of the passage of time within a narrative, or to separate a thought, marked by a decorative ornament.
Required section: Title page, Halftitle page
Required section: Title page, Halftitle page
Required section: Title page, Halftitle page
Required section: Title page, Halftitle page
Letter heading, Letter address, Letter date, Letter salutation, Letter body, Letter closing, Letter signature, Letter postscript
The parts of a letter should always appear inside of a Letter wrapper, like the following:
Required wrapper: Letter
Occasionally, a section or wrapper might require a heading interspersed within the text, without requiring the text to be split into sub-sections. In those rare cases, this style should be used for the subheading. A common use of this would be within a sidebar that uses subheadings, e.g.:
A term to be defined. This should always occur inside a Definition list wrapper (but a single Definition list wrapper may contain many Definition terms and definitions).
The definition of a term. This should always follow a Definition term paragraph and should always occur inside a Definition list wrapper (but a single Definition list wrapper may contain many Definition terms and definitions).
If a definition consists of more than one paragraph, use this style for all paragraphs after the first paragraph. This should always occur inside a Definition list wrapper (but a single Definition list wrapper may contain many Definition terms and definitions).
It's common in nonfiction and reference texts to include a number of different, recurring types of sidebars. In addition to a title, these sidebars are often labeled with the type of sidebar that they are, and this style should be used for that purpose.
A paragraph that should be deleted.