Markings for scene changes in chapters

[HandsInTheDark]

I was using +++ on its own line to mark scene changes, but I've switched to .odt and now +++'s annoying because it expands to something else. Glancing online, I didn't see definitive suggestions. What do people do?

 

[LadyVer]

Use asterisks?

 

[yukonnights]

I use ***** for breaks. Seems to work well.

 

[LeandraNyx]

Does anybody know, formatting-wise, how to center the page breaks in the middle of the page? I've looked everywhere and cannot, for the life of me, figure it out.

 

[RejectReality]

<center>****</center>

Insert into the text of the story just like that, and the text processor will handle the rest.

 

[LeandraNyx]

OMG, it's actually the word "center." Now don't I feel dumb, lol.

 

[sr71plt]

I use ***** for breaks. Seems to work well.

I've always used a variation of this: * * * *

 

[RejectReality]

Make sure you double and triple check that closing tag, especially if you're using the new control panel to submit. That forward slash is critical. I always think of it as the word "End".

Otherwise everything from where you started the centering to the end of that Lit page will end up being centered when it posts.

 

[sr71plt]

Does anybody know, formatting-wise, how to center the page breaks in the middle of the page? I've looked everywhere and cannot, for the life of me, figure it out.

I don't bother to center them in Literotica. Flush left is fine.

 

[oggbashan]

I use +++ in Word because *** defaulted to a hard line.

I think you can change the automatic settings in any wordprocessor.

 

[LadyVer]

I don't bother to center them in Literotica. Flush left is fine.

Flush left also prevents unnecessary formatting issues.

 

[Hypoxia]

Once again: Maybe half of LIT readers use the Android app, which ignores all HTML tags. No centering or indents; no bonds, underlines, or italics. None of that fancy stuff. Assume that readers will only view left-aligned plaintext. Just delimit sections with a string of non-alphanumerics. Keep it simple, hey?

 

[sr71plt]

Once again: Maybe half of LIT readers use the Android app, which ignores all HTML tags. No centering or indents; no bonds, underlines, or italics. None of that fancy stuff. Assume that readers will only view left-aligned plaintext. Just delimit sections with a string of non-alphanumerics. Keep it simple, hey?

Each time you mention this, the site techies challenge it, but I think the "keep it simple" approach is the best. I don't do any coding except for italics and only when italics are needed to convey a point that italics are supposed to be used to convey.

 

[HandsInTheDark]

Once again: Maybe half of LIT readers use the Android app, which ignores all HTML tags. No centering or indents; no bonds, underlines, or italics. None of that fancy stuff. Assume that readers will only view left-aligned plaintext. Just delimit sections with a string of non-alphanumerics. Keep it simple, hey?

No. You can't write a twenty year old without italics. Just listen to one speak.

She rolled her eyes. "Oh sure you didn't. Alone with John for five hours and nothing happened? Yeeeah."

Sure you can write that without italics:

She rolled her eyes, her voice becoming sarcasm's own roller coaster. "Oh SURE you didn't. Alone with John and NOTHING happened? YEEEAH."

But it doesn't work without the italics. Caps are not the same. Something terse and sarcastic turned to mush.

Italics have existed since before the printing press in the form of altered lettering in calligraphy, and were made part of printing press fonts in 1501. They serve a distinct purpose in prose. The fact that someone wrote an android app that can't render italics - something I could do on a freaking Z80 decades ago and printing presses did far earlier - is just evidence of an interface that can't compete with 500 year old hardware. That's pathetic and no I'm not going to cater to some lazy-ass programmer.

 

[ElectricBlue]

*** flush left

I did this in a few stories: ---oooOOOooo---

But simplest is best, and easiest.

***

And then the next part...

 

[RejectReality]

Once again, I ask where in the world you're getting this notion?

It's an unofficial app as far as the App Store or Google Play are concerned. That means it throws a warning that says it might damage your system if you download it. Most devices are also set up not to allow you to install such apps if you do download them without monkeying with the default settings.

I'd wager that most of those who use it are legacy users who picked it up before it was expunged during the adult app purge. That was years ago. When you figure in the standard attrition rate due to life intrusions, the fact that even finding the app download link requires knowing it exists and actively searching for it, and the fact that you now have to jump through hoops to install it, there's no way in hell that even close to half of the readers are using the app.

Once again: Maybe half of LIT readers use the Android app, which ignores all HTML tags. No centering or indents; no bonds, underlines, or italics. None of that fancy stuff. Assume that readers will only view left-aligned plaintext. Just delimit sections with a string of non-alphanumerics. Keep it simple, hey?

 

[oggbashan]

I put stories on my Kindle clone as .txt without line breaks.

That seems to work on whatever device my readers use because the lines wrap according to their screen display and preferred text size.

Any fancy formatting can appear as rubbish, even ASCII for accents.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

Actually, you can download it from the front page of Lit. No need to go to the app store Google Play.

Once again, I ask where in the world you're getting this notion?

It's an unofficial app as far as the App Store or Google Play are concerned. That means it throws a warning that says it might damage your system if you download it. Most devices are also set up not to allow you to install such apps if you do download them without monkeying with the default settings.

I'd wager that most of those who use it are legacy users who picked it up before it was expunged during the adult app purge. That was years ago. When you figure in the standard attrition rate due to life intrusions, the fact that even finding the app download link requires knowing it exists and actively searching for it, and the fact that you now have to jump through hoops to install it, there's no way in hell that even close to half of the readers are using the app.

 

[NotWise]

I was using +++ on its own line to mark scene changes, but I've switched to .odt and now +++'s annoying because it expands to something else. Glancing online, I didn't see definitive suggestions. What do people do?

When I can't write through a scene change then I use *****, which LibreOffice expands to a horizontal line. To avoid that I enter a return on the line before I type the asterisks, then add the asterisks.

 

[lovecraft68]

Flush left also prevents unnecessary formatting issues.

Yes, I've had issues trying to get too fancy left is fine. The readers know what it means

 

[lovecraft68]

When I can't write through a scene change then I use *****, which LibreOffice expands to a horizontal line. To avoid that I enter a return on the line before I type the asterisks, then add the asterisks.

Word does this to me sometimes, but if I hit "undo" is goes to the asterisks for some reason.

 

[legerdemer]

~~*~~

 

[Green_Knight]

Once again, I ask where in the world you're getting this notion?

It's an unofficial app as far as the App Store or Google Play are concerned. That means it throws a warning that says it might damage your system if you download it. Most devices are also set up not to allow you to install such apps if you do download them without monkeying with the default settings.

I'd wager that most of those who use it are legacy users who picked it up before it was expunged during the adult app purge. That was years ago. When you figure in the standard attrition rate due to life intrusions, the fact that even finding the app download link requires knowing it exists and actively searching for it, and the fact that you now have to jump through hoops to install it, there's no way in hell that even close to half of the readers are using the app.

Not hard to find, unfortunately. It's being promoted on the home page of Lit under News:

Why anyone should want to read a book on a tiny screen beats me. No serious reader would want to do so I'm not too worried if what unserious readers see is a total mess. As I see it, it's up to Lit to produce a decent app or for them to buy a laptop, not for me to dumb my stories down to match its incapabilities. It's like me complaining that the pages soon fall out of a cheap paperback reprint because of its poor binding because I'm too mean to pay for the hardback version.

 

[NOIRTRASH]

I read this thread and looked at a book I respect. Its author uses 5 asterisks to denote scene change tho the scene doesn't change. The whole thing stays in one place. In it the principal character contemplates her apartment, her sister, her mom, and her dead father. The PC remains by a window looking out, from start to finish. The PC isn't dreaming or hallucinating. So I don't get the scene changes.

 

[Green_Knight]

Thank you for your judgement. How do you define serious and unserious readers? Is that related to stimulating action while reading?

I happen to like the small screen, as I can read anywhere I want, anytime I want, and I even don't need an internet connection when using the App. I'm not taking my laptop with me all the time, while I do have my phone in my pocket. The discrete format of the App screen allows me to read everywhere I want. The only thing I need to worry about is my 'bodylanguage'...

A serious reader is, by my definition, someone who wants to read what the author intended. An unserious reader is content with any old crap. If you insist, for whatever reason, on using an app that can only deliver crap...

It's a bit like watching a film that the director designed to be seen on the big screen on an iPhone. Why?