A cautionary tale

richman3

Experienced
Joined
Aug 19, 2016
Posts
90
To all new writers here. Remember your beautiful and perfectly spaced Word document does not translate to the tiny little box you must submit into.

Do not forget to check your spacing after you post. It will be rejected.

(I'm mad at myself not the admins)

Don't be lazy like me. Now all of the hard work I put in will have to wait another day for my readers to enjoy my story. I spent hours and hours making sure the story looked good. My beta readers said it was awesome.

All of that went to shit when I forgot to double check my spacing after post. So please new writers remember to double check your work. Something as simple as spacing can ruin a good story.

ps look for part two of my story hopefully tomorrow.

Thanks
 
The easy way to assure proper spacing is to cut-and-paste the text into the submission window, then preview the results. Submitting a formatted .DOC or .RTF file doesn't allow the preview. The preview pretty much shows what the final output will look like -- not perfectly, but enough to catch important goofs.
 
Good point

Yes that is a good way to do it. Wish I had known that before which is why I started this thread. To help others.

Anyway for newbies just remember to double check your submission on the preview screen.

There is nothing more disheartening than the words "rejected"
 
Don't trust the software that converts your shiny Word document into HTML. Write the HTML code yourself. HTML is easy to learn. I use Scrivener instead of Word because it does a nice job of organizing my writing. When I'm ready to look at my story, I drop it into a stub HTML page and view it that way. By doing that, I always see exactly how it's going to look on LitE.
 
I write in Word, but then I copy and paste my entire story into Notepad. But any no-frills, no-formatting type program will work. It basically strips out any and all formatting. Then I select and copy the text from Notepad and paste it into the submission box. Works every time.

Now if only my actual writing wasn't drivel!
 
I'll again mention my preferences here. I write on Windoze platforms. I dislike WYSIWYG word processors like MS Word for writing code, poetry/lyrics, and non-illustrated text such as my LIT tales. I prefer multi-tab Notebook variants -- previously CuteHTML, now Jarte. I've been writing HTML scripts since about 1992 (does anyone here remember HotMetal?) so inserting tags in my plain text is a no-brainer.

Thus, my workstyle: Sketch out a plot on paper, or Android tablet, or directly into Jarte on the ThinkPad resting on my lap. Paste-in my italicized introductory comment: <i>Opinions expresed are not necessarily the author's.</i> Furiously enter and edit text. Throw in major section delimiters: <center>*****</center>. Add italics tags as needed, and occasionally bold and underline. Save the text and run it through Word (2002) for a spellcheck. Paste the text into the LIT Submission window and let my browser (Mozilla SeaMonkey) do its own spellcheck, then (after necessary edits) submit it for Preview. When it looks right, submit... and go on to the next story.

Now I need merely return to the rhythm of writing. I have about a 6-week window...
 
The author isn't the presentation designer; the publisher is. Literotica uses a fairly simple, standard format style. Like any anthology-type publication, which the Literotica story file is, the publisher wants a standard look across all entries to give the reader a standard read without distractions. When you put a lot of bells and whistles formatting in your story, you're distracting your reader from your story content--and design is not your job. If your embellishments aren't accommodated by the Literotica style system, they will be wiped out, and the wiping out may disrupt the formatting of your story. Your best bet is to learn the simple presentation standards of Lit. and put your effort more to writing a good story.
 
I'll again mention my preferences here. I write on Windoze platforms. I dislike WYSIWYG word processors like MS Word for writing code, poetry/lyrics, and non-illustrated text such as my LIT tales. I prefer multi-tab Notebook variants -- previously CuteHTML, now Jarte. I've been writing HTML scripts since about 1992 (does anyone here remember HotMetal?) so inserting tags in my plain text is a no-brainer.

I remember CuteHTML. I also remember being proud of optimizing web pages for file size. Haha

For those seeking simpler editors, EditPad is nice and has multiple tabs. There are a lot of minimalist text editors out there. I like scrivener's fullscreen mode myself.

Thus, my workstyle: Sketch out a plot on paper, or Android tablet, or directly into Jarte on the ThinkPad resting on my lap. Paste-in my italicized introductory comment: <i>Opinions expresed are not necessarily the author's.</i> Furiously enter and edit text. Throw in major section delimiters: <center>*****</center>. Add italics tags as needed, and occasionally bold and underline. Save the text and run it through Word (2002) for a spellcheck. Paste the text into the LIT Submission window and let my browser (Mozilla SeaMonkey) do its own spellcheck, then (after necessary edits) submit it for Preview. When it looks right, submit... and go on to the next story.

Now I need merely return to the rhythm of writing. I have about a 6-week window...

Wait, what? Rewind. We can put markup in the submission text box? How advisable is this? Does it speed up approval times if we use the text box and, say, one italicized word vs submitting a word doc?
 
CAVEAT:

A very large number of users only read LitE on phones or tablets, using the app.

The app does not honor any formatting other that paragraph ends (i.e. cr/lf).

Your italics, centering, bold, underlining, etc. will therefore be completely lost on a large number of your readers.

That's why the commonly used format of
Oh dammit, she thought should be replaced by
'Oh dammit,' she thought (single quotes). Otherwise, the reader will simply see ...
Oh dammit, she thought ... which is hard to follow.

To accommodate app users, use simple formatting - or re-word the narrative to avoid fancy formatting.
 
'Oh dammit,' she thought (single quotes). Otherwise, the reader will simply see ...

Going back to the UK vs. U.S. style discussions, this wouldn't fly in U.S. style. In U.S. style, in contrast to UK style, the double quote is always the first level of quotation (Chicago Manual of Style, 13.28). So, for U.S. style, which is what this Web site uses, it would be:

"Oh, dammit," she thought.

Something like, "You heard her, she said 'Oh, dammit,'" Cloe said. (single quotes for a quote within a quote.)
 
I use italics for my copyright and disclaimer at the start of my stories, and bold for the title.

Apart from that, everything is plain text. I use double quotes for dialogue and single quotes inside dialogue e.g.

"Did you say 'fuck it' again?"
 
I use italics for my copyright and disclaimer at the start of my stories, and bold for the title.

Apart from that, everything is plain text. I use double quotes for dialogue and single quotes inside dialogue e.g.

"Did you say 'fuck it' again?"

What do you use for a character's thoughts? I prefer italics, but for the app, I use single quotes.
 
What do you use for a character's thoughts? I prefer italics, but for the app, I use single quotes.

Neither. I use ordinary text and try to make it clear from the context that they are thoughts not spoken words.
 
What do you use for a character's thoughts? I prefer italics, but for the app, I use single quotes.

I like the italics, which I find clearly distinguishes that they are thoughts, but this isn't accepted by U.S. style that follows the Chicago Manual of Style anymore (although some publishers include this in the exceptions of their style from the CMS). The CMS, as of the latest, 11th edition, only accepts double quotes, like vocalized dialogue or, as Ogg notes, just regular font, no quotes, with the surrounding text making clear they are thoughts (CMS 13.41).

Whatever you use should be used consistently across the work.
 
Should I feel like the biggest rube on Lit because I just upload docx files?
I've never put anything in the text box.
 
Wait, what? Rewind. We can put markup in the submission text box? How advisable is this? Does it speed up approval times if we use the text box and, say, one italicized word vs submitting a word doc?
I've always used the text box and my stuff has been approved after two nights, with the exception of my Summer Lovin' entry that was approved overnight. I don't know how that compares to uploading a Word doc.
 
Should I feel like the biggest rube on Lit because I just upload docx files?
The basic rule is: whatever works for you. If you're happy with how your stories look and read, nothing else matters. Except adequate lubrication, and a good attitude, and fun money, and multiple orgasms, and...
 
The basic rule is: whatever works for you. If you're happy with how your stories look and read, nothing else matters. Except adequate lubrication, and a good attitude, and fun money, and multiple orgasms, and...

It does, and I am :)
I knew that the text box was an option, I just never considered using it. It was surprising for me to see that so many people do.
 
Of course if you set up Word properly, you can copy & paste without a problem.

Set the Paragraph...

attachment.php


Now all you have to do is add a return between paragraphs and it should turn out just fine.
 
Of course if you set up Word properly, you can copy & paste without a problem.

Set the Paragraph...

attachment.php


Now all you have to do is add a return between paragraphs and it should turn out just fine.

I always change that setting - whether I'm editing, writing, or working on business documents.

I want to control the formatting. I do not trust Micro$oft to do it for me.
 
I always change that setting - whether I'm editing, writing, or working on business documents.

I want to control the formatting. I do not trust Micro$oft to do it for me.

And I've made that the default paragraph settings. I don't use any other paragraph setting. Whether I'm writing for Lit or Smashwords of Kindle those are my settings.
 
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