How do you post stories with bold and italics?

[vacien]

I posted a story in a word doc so that it could have the bold and italics formats.
However, I wonder whether the story therefore takes longer to post, as its been pending for longer than usual.

Is there to post stories on the online story editor with the aforementioned formats? How do we do that? Thanks!

 

[AlinaX]

I use text with <i>italics</i>.

 

[ThisNameIsntTakenYet]

Yup, standard HTML tags. A few that are commonly used:

<b>Bold</b>
<i>Italic</i>
<u>Underline (not tested)</u>
<center>Centered</center>

Tags can be upper or lowercase, doesn't really matter.

 

[vacien]

Thank you!

 

[8letters]

Always be sure to preview your story to make sure you that you didn't not close a font change.

 

[Voboy]

I submit in Word as well, and I often include italics.

Whatever is holding up your submission, I doubt that's what's causing it.

 

[HeyAll]

I understand is -- and I could be wrong -- is that if you submit with Word, you don't need the brackets. You just make it bold and/or italics as usual.

The brackets are for copy/pasting into the file.

I could be wrong on that. Be sure to double check.

 

[Voboy]

I understand is -- and I could be wrong -- is that if you submit with Word, you don't need the brackets. You just make it bold and/or italics as usual.

The brackets are for copy/pasting into the file.

I could be wrong on that. Be sure to double check.

Correct.

You type it in Word just like a normal Word document, italicizing as usual. You submit it. Magically, the formatting gets done for you when it’s published in html.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

I understand is -- and I could be wrong -- is that if you submit with Word, you don't need the brackets. You just make it bold and/or italics as usual.

The brackets are for copy/pasting into the file.

I could be wrong on that. Be sure to double check.

If you're talking about writing in Word and then doing a copy-and-paste onto this site, I would be very careful before I trusted that. I write in Word and have to insert HTML tags if I want to alter the font, otherwise it comes out unchanged.

vacien - there is a preview button to use before you submit. Give it a try to see how it works for you.

Good luck.

 

[Voboy]

If you're talking about writing in Word and then doing a copy-and-paste onto this site, I would be very careful before I trusted that. I write in Word and have to insert HTML tags if I want to alter the font, otherwise it comes out unchanged.

vacien - there is a preview button to use before you submit. Give it a try to see how it works for you.

Good luck.

No need to copy and paste.

Merely submit as a Word document. I’ve done it for all my submissions and it’s worked every time. True, you can’t proofread in the submission form, but no biggie. You just proof it before you submit.

Easy PZ.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

I don't know how Laurel handles the transition from word to html, which is what is contained in the database but, she does have to do something different to convert the word formatting to html tags. Whether she uses a program or does it by hand, I don't know.

Whatever she does it's different than if you include the tags and copy and paste, which is what I always do.

 

[ThisNameIsntTakenYet]

I'm not sure if I read it somewhere or just assumed it, but I've always had the impression that uploading a file was more work for Laurel than just pasting it into the text box yourself. I also vaguely remember someone saying your story might be posted faster if you use the text box, but I can't find it anymore so it might have been nothing more than speculation. But it ties into the possibility that it's less work, or at least easier for Laurel, in which case it would make sense it might get processed just a little bit faster.

 

[ChuckWolf]

This thread was very useful; thanks to all the replies.

 

[Voboy]

I'm not sure if I read it somewhere or just assumed it, but I've always had the impression that uploading a file was more work for Laurel than just pasting it into the text box yourself. I also vaguely remember someone saying your story might be posted faster if you use the text box, but I can't find it anymore so it might have been nothing more than speculation. But it ties into the possibility that it's less work, or at least easier for Laurel, in which case it would make sense it might get processed just a little bit faster.

Again, all I do is upload. And I once posted a last-minute contest entry that posted in like four hours.

It might be more work, but it needn’t take longer.

 

[vacien]

Thanks, all very useful. My story has been pending for almost a week, whilst previous ones have published much sooner. This is the only time I submitted in word because I wanted to use some nice bold and italics. I read on the submissions page that submitting in word takes a longer time, so I'm surprised that this wasn't your experience. Maybe its just the luck of the draw, then.

 

[Voboy]

Thanks, all very useful. My story has been pending for almost a week, whilst previous ones have published much sooner. This is the only time I submitted in word because I wanted to use some nice bold and italics. I read on the submissions page that submitting in word takes a longer time, so I'm surprised that this wasn't your experience. Maybe its just the luck of the draw, then.

Well, remember, this was a contest entry and I've written a few submissions here before, both of which can speed things up around here. But no submission I've ever done has ever taken me more than ten days. Most are in the 4-7 day timeframe.

Worry at 12 days. It's summer; Laurel gets to have a life sometimes.

 

[Hypoxia]

A reminder: some large portion of LIT readers use the Android app -- which does NOT support HTML tags. Assume readers will ONLY see alphanumerics, caps, and ASCII characters. All your fancy formatting is for naught. Be plain.

 

[vacien]

How about heart emojis?

Thanks for all the responses! I was able to post with the italics and bolds. I even saw another writer posting some fancy heart emojis in her story. Does anyone know how that is done? It seems to be the next level up for me lol

I tested opening the stories on an Android device and all the formatting did work as intended, even the heart emojis...

 

[ThisNameIsntTakenYet]

Thanks for all the responses! I was able to post with the italics and bolds. I even saw another writer posting some fancy heart emojis in her story. Does anyone know how that is done? It seems to be the next level up for me lol

I'm not sure what to imagine for a heart "emoji" in the contest of a story on here. I'm assuming it was the ascii code for a heart, like this: ♥
I copied that one from a website, but there are certain ways to make them. Some combination of the ALT key and some numbers, most likely. Copying them into your story is probably easier, but I'd recommend against using it in your actual narration and dialogue. They might work as a variation of the asterisks used to signify a change in point of view or a time skip, though, or used in your author's note. Or maybe if you're literally transcribing a series of texts or a chat and want to show an emoji, but otherwise I think they'd be very annoying and distracting for the reader.

I tested opening the stories on an Android device and all the formatting did work as intended, even the heart emojis...

That formatting comment wasn't about a phone's internet browser, it was about using the official literotica app. The browser on your phone should render them properly indeed, as it's just plain HTML.

 

[Voboy]

I think they'd be very annoying and distracting for the reader.

Can I get an "AMEN?"

 

[KeithD]

Amen. Rather juvenile too, especially the heart ones.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Using plain text avoids cock-ups in the html coding. I had several chapters and a couple of stories go wrong, using html coding that looked right in draft, but wasn't. I fixed some of them through edits, but didn't bother with others, as it would have just wasted Laurel's time as well as my own.

I don't bother anymore - it's easier to write the right words or use other techniques to signify thoughts, emphasis, or whatever the bold or italics were trying to do. You don't actually need different fonts and styles, not really.

 

[vacien]

I see, didn't know there was a lit app...

Using htmls here is something new and different for me. Agreed that not necessary, but was fun to give it a whirl. With the tips here I was able to make it happen

And yes, agree that most people would find those heart emojis in a story context annoying af, but thanks for the tips anyway for how to make it work, for future reference.

In my defense, some women do like such things... (speaking about myself here) *embarassed*