Producing centered asterisk to indicate new section
Try this:
\documentclass[pagesize,fontsize=12pt,paper=a5,DIV=9]{scrartcl}
\usepackage{blindtext}
\def\EndSection{\section*{\hfill*\hfill\hfill}}
\begin{document}
\blindtext\par
\EndSection
\blindtext
\end{document}
This is how I'd do it:
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{kantlipsum}
\newcommand{\finishsection}[1][0]{%
\ifhmode\unskip\fi % to emulate what \par does
\ifnum#1>0 \enlargethispage*{#1\baselineskip}\fi
\par\nopagebreak
\vbox to 3\baselineskip{\centering
\vss
$*$\qquad$*$\qquad$*$\par
\vss
}
}
\addtolength{\textheight}{-7\baselineskip}
\begin{document}
\kant[1-3]
\finishsection
\kant[4-5]
\end{document}
If you change -7\baselineskip
into -8\baselineskip
the asterisks will be moved to the next page. In such a situation you can do
\finishsection[1]
that will execute \enlargethispage*{1\baselineskip}
. Maybe an automatic version with needspace
is feasible, but in quality book production I'd go for manual check.