Disappearing "Orphans" (STYLE Question)

[Jules Vide]

I'm trying to help someone create a Style to use for a "screenplay."
Because expository information in a script apparently is single-
spaced, while dialogue, as well as characters' names above the
dialogue, is double-spaced, the problem is constant orphans whenever
this young person revises his work.

So I created a Style called "Screenplay" for him and on the Format
drop-down menu, I checked both Widow/Orphan Control and KEEP WITH
NEXT. I then Copied and Pasted his script onto a New Document with
this Style.

For a reason I can't understand, the KEEP WITH NEXT disappears after
the first line of the document (the screenplay's title). Widow/orphan
control remains, but apparently this is to be expected because WORD
says this is the default choice.

I do not understand--whether one creates a new Style or not--when, and
why, the choice of a new formatting detail vanishes from one line to
the next. N.B.: No Section Breaks have been inserted.

Thank you for any help.

 

[Stefan Blom]

Note that "Keep with next" applies to the whole paragraph; it doesn't
guarantee that the all lines of the paragraph appear on the same page as
the following paragraph (for that, you'll need "Keep lines together").

--
Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP


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[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

As Stefan points out, you may need "Keep lines together" as well, but note
that you can't apply both these formats to every paragraph in the document,
or it all becomes a single unbreakable block (which may be part of the
current problem).

Note, however, that what you really need is more than a single style. You
need a style for the characters' names, a style for the dialog, a style for
stage directions, etc. The style for characters' names should definitely be
formatted as "Keep with next," and you might want to format the dialog as
"Keep lines together." See also
http://sbarnhill.mvps.org/WordFAQs/BottomLine.htm.

 

[Jules Vide]

As Stefan points out, you may need "Keep lines together" as well, but note
that you can't apply both these formats to every paragraph in the document,
or it all becomes a single unbreakable block (which may be part of the
current problem).

Note, however, that what you really need is more than a single style. You
need a style for the characters' names, a style for the dialog, a style for
stage directions, etc. The style for characters' names should definitely be
formatted as "Keep with next," and you might want to format the dialog as
"Keep lines together." See alsohttp://sbarnhill.mvps.org/WordFAQs/BottomLine.htm.

Thanks to both you and Mr. Blom. I don't think I've made myself
clear, however. What I'm asking is Why, if I have created a new Style
to be applied to a New Blank Document (WORD 2000), the Keep with Next
checked box loses its "check" as soon as I leave the first line of the
New Blank Document. Is there some command within the Format/Style
hierarchy I should be giving to the new Style that (apparently) I'm
not?

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

One possibility is that the "Style for following paragraph" is different
from the style itself; the next paragraph would then be in a different
style, without the "Keep with next" formatting. But, as I've said, you
absolutely don't want every paragraph to be formatted as KWN (or even with
the same style).

 

[Stefan Blom]

Two questions:

1. Are you saying that you are pressing Enter to create a new line (to
Word, this actually creates a new paragraph)?

2. Are you pressing Enter multiple times to create spacing around
paragraphs?

--
Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP


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