formatting for lit

[MrHappy212]

Ok I have noticed that when I submit a story that might look good in note pad, it gets all jumbled up in the text box. I know this is the plain text effect but is there a way I can format it with paragraphs and line spacing - without manually entering the spaces multiple times in the text field?

I understand that html such as <p> tags aren't allowed.....

or should I just send in the docx files and wait the extra week to have it published?

 

[coochiebarber]

Ok I have noticed that when I submit a story that might look good in note pad, it gets all jumbled up in the text box. I know this is the plain text effect but is there a way I can format it with paragraphs and line spacing - without manually entering the spaces multiple times in the text field?

I understand that html such as <p> tags aren't allowed.....

or should I just send in the docx files and wait the extra week to have it published?

Copy/paste text into text box on submit page should solve your problem, I guess.

 

[Weird Harold]

Ok I have noticed that when I submit a story that might look good in note pad, it gets all jumbled up in the text box. I know this is the plain text effect but is there a way I can format it with paragraphs and line spacing - without manually entering the spaces multiple times in the text field?

I understand that html such as <p> tags aren't allowed.....

or should I just send in the docx files and wait the extra week to have it published?

Before you check your story in Notepad, turn on "Display Invisible Text/Symbols" (Mine is always on, so I forget the exact label) That will cause MSWord to display the paragraph breaks with a symbol that looks like a backwards "P' ( Checking the story in Notepad isn't actually necessary if you can see where the paragraph breaks are.

There should be NO paragraph markers within a paragraph, and TWO paragraph marks between paragraphs.

Tabs and multiple leading spaces will be ignored by Lit, so you will have to get used to no paragraph indents.

You can use <i></i> and <b></b> for italics and bold respectively, and a few other HTML tags, but it is wise to add a note that there are HTML tags in the file.

Once you've got the right numbers of Paragraph Marks, simply select all, and copy -- (Ctrl-A, Ctrl C). Then switch to the submissions page and Paste in the text box. (Ctrl-V) Your story should then dispay properly when you click the 'preview' button.

 

[MrHappy212]

Hmm, ok then are <p> tags allowed? I read somewhere that it was only <i><b><u> that were...

it would be so much easier if I could just insert my own paragraph tags...maybe I could ask the admins?

 

[TxRad]

Hmm, ok then are <p> tags allowed? I read somewhere that it was only <i><b><u> that were...

it would be so much easier if I could just insert my own paragraph tags...maybe I could ask the admins?

As for .doc files, do not use .docx. .doc files are fine and there is no processing difference in .doc and copy and paste. Not that i can see anyway and after 200 stories you might think I would.

 

[Weird Harold]

Hmm, ok then are <p> tags allowed? I read somewhere that it was only <i><b><u> that were...

it would be so much easier if I could just insert my own paragraph tags...maybe I could ask the admins?

Paragraph tags are NOT allowed, because the Paragraph Marks shown in MSWord (or other word processors that can display them) are what the formatting scripts (and style sheet) look for to end one paragraph and start another -- eg, two returns are the same thing as entering <p> in your text and better than trying to submit one long blosk of text with no paragraph breaks (in your text editor.)

 

[MrHappy212]

well shit that's why my story got all jumbled then. I stripped all the funny looking things out ^_^

so you're saying I can just copy and paste from MS word without needing to strip it by saving as plain text... Thanks, if it works you saved me a lot of time opening in note pad and hitting the enter key a gazillion times.

 

[Weird Harold]

well shit that's why my story got all jumbled then. I stripped all the funny looking things out ^_^

so you're saying I can just copy and paste from MS word without needing to strip it by saving as plain text... Thanks, if it works you saved me a lot of time opening in note pad and hitting the enter key a gazillion times.

MSWord (and most other full feature WPs) can do a find and replace of one Paragraph Mark with two Paragraph marks. Then go back and replace three PMs with two PMs repeatedly until you get a report of "not found." That reformats your document so that there are only two paragraph marks for every paragraph.

You will need to double check that you don't have any stray paragraph breaks in the middle of a paragraph before submitting -- do a find two paragraph breaks (^p^p in MSWord) or a find two replace with two, to find the possible trouble spots.

 

[TxRad]

You can also save your .doc file as "text with line breaks". That will give you a picture of what it looks like before you copy and paste to the Lit box.

 

[Weird Harold]

You can also save your .doc file as "text with line breaks". That will give you a picture of what it looks like before you copy and paste to the Lit box.

Actually, Lit prefers "Flat Text" -- text without line breaks -- and double paragraph breaks so the page can dynamically reformat for different resolutions.

MSWord, Wordpad, and Notepad can all display that format with (or without) line-wrap to simulate Lit's formatting.

 

[PervOtaku]

Plain text editors are usually best to work with to ensure maximum portability of what you've written, but even then problems can crop up.

If you've got "word wrap" on it removes the horizontal scroll and sends the test to the next line when you hit the right edge of the window. Sometimes though when you are taking that and moving it to another program, the wires get crossed and those "soft" line breaks become hard line breaks.

Programs like MS Word where by default a great deal of the formatting is handled by menu settings and not the buttons you press on your keyboard are especially difficult to copy/paste into another program and retain the layout you think you have.

 

[Over_Red]

I use Microsoft Word, but I type out HTML tags for formatting so I can copy and paste the text into the preview box. It takes a half-second longer than hitting the bold button to type <b> and </b> but it gives me a more direct feeling of control - like an automatic car vs a manual shift. I also don't have to worry about the file format on my end because I'm just pasting the text and the preview feature lets you check for errors.

<b> for bold
<i> for italics

For scene changes I usually use this:

<p style="text-align: center;">****</p>

That creates a paragraph break and centers whatever you want between scenes. I prefer four asterisks, but you could use whatever you like.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

I use Microsoft Word, but I type out HTML tags for formatting so I can copy and paste the text into the preview box. It takes a half-second longer than hitting the bold button to type <b> and </b> but it gives me a more direct feeling of control - like an automatic car vs a manual shift. I also don't have to worry about the file format on my end because I'm just pasting the text and the preview feature lets you check for errors.

<b> for bold
<i> for italics

For scene changes I usually use this:

<p style="text-align: center;">****</p>

That creates a paragraph break and centers whatever you want between scenes. I prefer four asterisks, but you could use whatever you like.

You can also just add a paragraph break in word by hitting the enter key and then use the <center> </center> html tag.

Of course you have to have your paragraph format set up correctly...

You can also use <u> </u> for underline of text.

 

[Handley_Page]

On the other hand you could convert your MS Wordpasd to 'Jarte' and get the result in RTF.