Centered text

Some lines belong in the middle of the page rather than at the margin: THE END, a title card, a date shown on screen. In Fountain such a line is written between a > at the start and a < at the end.

> THE END <

Writing it in Calmly Script

Type the > at the start of the line and the < at the end, and the line is centered text. The two marks stay on the line, dimmed, and the text between them is shown in the middle of the page.

Or choose it: Format › More elements › Centered. On an empty line that writes both marks with the caret between them, ready for the text; on a line with words, it puts the marks around them.

With only the > at the start the line is a transition, so while you are typing a centered line it is a transition until you type the closing <. Delete the < later and it is a transition again; delete both marks and the line is whatever its words say.

After a centered line, Enter↩ starts a line of action. That is so with the caret still in front of the closing <, where the menu leaves it: the < stays on the centered line. On an empty > <, Enter takes the line back to action.

For a card of more than one line, end each line with Shift+Enter⇧↩ rather than Enter: the lines stay together in one centered paragraph, and the file gets the > and < of each line even if you do not type them.

How it prints

A centered line prints in the middle of the text width, with a blank line above it, as you typed it: it is not changed to capitals. The > and < are not printed. Centered lines written one under the other in the file print one under the other, with no blank line between them.

The screen goes white.

> Three years later <
> Lisbon <