Hints, Tips and Tricks

[JamesMiehoff]

I don't know if somebody has done this before. If so, please link to the previous thread. If not, drop a tip that may help someone else out in their journey.

Please constrain yourselves to tips on writing techniques, tools or ways to phrase things that may help someone else out.

I'll start.

Problem: When using Word as my primary editor, it automatically paginates which means that when I cut and paste into the draft submission box, paragraphs will sometimes not be separated and there are weird run on paragraphs, or I will have to read through the draft and add additional blank lines to separate paragraphs manually.

Solution: In the Windows version of Word, go to the View Tab and select Web Layout. This will change the view to that of an infinitely long sheet of paper, much like the draft input box on Lit. This will allow you to visibly place the blank lines separating paragraphs without having to worry about the pagination of Word.


James

 

[SimonDoom]

I don't know if somebody has done this before. If so, please link to the previous thread. If not, drop a tip that may help someone else out in their journey.

Please constrain yourselves to tips on writing techniques, tools or ways to phrase things that may help someone else out.

I'll start.

Problem: When using Word as my primary editor, it automatically paginates which means that when I cut and paste into the draft submission box, paragraphs will sometimes not be separated and there are weird run on paragraphs, or I will have to read through the draft and add additional blank lines to separate paragraphs manually.

Solution: In the Windows version of Word, go to the View Tab and select Web Layout. This will change the view to that of an infinitely long sheet of paper, much like the draft input box on Lit. This will allow you to visibly place the blank lines separating paragraphs without having to worry about the pagination of Word.


James

I use Windows Word for all my drafting, and to solve this problem I just remove the page number and any other information from the footers and headers. I don't have to switch formats. Empty headers and footers don't seem to present an issue when I upload the document to the Site for publication.

 

[JamesMiehoff]

I use Windows Word for all my drafting, and to solve this problem I just remove the page number and any other information from the footers and headers. I don't have to switch formats. Empty headers and footers don't seem to present an issue when I upload the document to the Site for publication.

The issue for me is running across the page boundary. If a paragraph ends on one page and the next one is at the top of the next page, when I cut and past out of Word into the Draft Box, the two paragraphs run together. I know it's my OCD kicking in but I hate when that happens.

James

 

[Bramblethorn]

How to automatically convert Word italics to <i>HTML italics</i> so you can submit a story directly by the text box without having to manually tag every appearance of italics.

Note: I'm using the Mac version, there may be minor differences on PC.

1. Activate "Advanced Find and Replace" (via Help - Search or Edit - Find - Advanced Find and Replace, depending on your version there may also be a keyboard shortcut)

2. On the "Find" tab, click the expand button if necessary:

3. Down at the bottom, click on "Format" to open a pull-down menu, select "Font", and you'll get a new window:

4. Click the "Font style" menu, and select "Italic" from the pull-down, then choose "OK". The font window will close.

5. Now select the "Replace" tab. Leave the "Find" field blank, and enter "<i>^&</i>" in the "Replace with" field (without the quotes):

6. Choose "Replace All".

Your italic text should now be <i>HTML tagged</i> ready to go.

Caution: if you have long passages of italics, I recommend closing italics at the end of each paragraph and reopening at the start of the next. If a Literotica page break falls in the middle of an italicised passage, your formatting may break otherwise.

The same method can be modified to work for bold etc.

(Borrowed and updated from an older discussion between Zeb Carter and HandsInTheDark - credit to both for the original idea)

 

[AG31]

I don't know if somebody has done this before. If so, please link to the previous thread. If not, drop a tip that may help someone else out in their journey.

I stumbled on this and am kicking it for renewed visibility. I would also encourage cross posting it from How to...
(supportive admin there) and/or Site News & Tech Support/Lit. Tech Support.

 

[Candy_Kane54]

To convert a word document to HTML, you can use this tool: Convert Word to HTML - Word Doc to Clean HTML Converter

To test the readability of your prose, you can use this tool: Measure the Readability of Text

To create a word cloud out of your story, you can use this tool: Make a Word Cloud

A free grammar checker: Free Grammar Checker | Grammarly

 

[Djmac1031]

Okay I've seen this crop up before several times.

Problem: Song Lyrics.

Occasionally an author may choose to quote a passage from a song in their story. The issue is that, for some strange reason, whatever algorithm the site uses somehow automatically detects them and, for reasons unknown, divides them up so each sentence is spaced.

Example:
"Hello darkness, my old friend.

I've come to speak to you again."

Annoying extra spaces are annoying, right?

Solution. The <br> tag.

So you'd type the lyrics this way:

"Hello darkness, my old friend. <br>I've come to speak to you again."

When they publish, they will publish without the extra space.

A longer example just for clarity; I used this passage from a Pink Floyd song to open a story.

So here's what my song quote looked like before publishing:

"Strangers passing in the street,<br>By chance two separate glances meet,<br>And I am you and what I see is me.<br>And do I take you by the hand?<br>And lead you through the land?<br>And help me understand the best I can...?"<br>Pink Floyd, "Echoes"

When it published, it looked like this:


"Strangers passing in the street,
By chance two separate glances meet,
And I am you and what I see is me.
And do I take you by the hand?
And lead you through the land?
And help me understand the best I can...?"
Pink Floyd, "Echoes"

 

[Djmac1031]

One more, and it's incredibly simple, but for those of us not well versed in codes etc incredibly helpful.

Problem: chapter breaks.

Many of us often like to put some type of divider between scenes or "chapters" in a story. I often use it to signify time jumps, or when simply switching between different scenes with different characters.

For ages I just used dashed lines. ---

The problem was centering them. So I just used a whole bunch:

---------------------------------------------------------

The problem again is formatting when publishing may be different, and I'd often have too many lines, carrying over and looking sloppy.

Enter the <center> </center> tags.

@EmilyMiller turned me on to these while I was beta reading one of her latest. I simply never knew about them.

Using those tags around your break symbols, whether you use --- or *** or something fancier will center them right in the middle of your break.

I've even taken to having some fun with it, using pentagram symbols for my last story about a She-Demon.

Basically looks like this:

<center><b>⛧ ⛧ ⛧ ⛧ ⛧ ⛧</b></center>

But when published all the reader sees is the stars, perfectly centered.

Simple yet effective.

 

[JaxRhapsody]

I'm trying something new with my incest story. Instead of dealing with trying to keep my italicised words copy pasting, because it's annoying and I hate doing it on ffn and ao3, and copy pasting period. I've taken each chapter and put it in its own file that I can then just use the uploader and not worry about extra editing. Also it makes editing easier because I can do it by chapter.

 

[Altissimus]

Linking to other authors (acknowledgements etc):

<a href="LINKHERE" target="_blank">usernamehere</a>

For example:

<a href="https://www.literotica.com/stories/memberpage.php?uid=909935&page=bio" target="_blank">Altissimus, that devilishly handsome chap.</a>

 

[onehitwanda]

Example:
"Hello darkness, my old friend.

I've come to speak to you again."

 

[Djmac1031]

View attachment 2279058

Forgive me. It was late and my head is still foggy from Covid.

As a DJ for 20 years, I pride myself on my song lyrics so yeah, thats...

 

[onehitwanda]

Forgive me. It was late and my head is still foggy from Covid.

As a DJ for 20 years, I pride myself on my song lyrics so yeah, thats...

View attachment 2279059

 

[Djmac1031]

View attachment 2279059

Sigh. Been hanging around with @EmilyMiller too long I think, because that's starting to sound... appealing.

 

[Cacatua_Galerita]

... So I just used a whole bunch:

---------------------------------------------------------

I read a comment on someone else's story made by a reader with a disability. They were using 'screen reader' software to assist them. Apparently, a text-to-speech tool reading out "hyphen, hyphen, hyphen, hyphen, hyphen, hyphen, hyphen, hyphen, hyphen..." gets a bit tedious.

So the 'center' HTML directive Djmac1031 describes is a great option. You can cut down on the repetitive characters and still make a conspicuous break.