Formatting Issue

[Five_Inch_Heels]

Do you hand-code HTML?

I don't use it at all in Lit stories.

Or ... didn't.

No reason for it here.

 

[Writer61]

I don't use it at all in Lit stories.

Or ... didn't.

No reason for it here.

Not even for double-spaced paragraphs?

 

[IWroteThis]

I do not understand why anybody would write directly in the submission form.

And when you can upload in DOC or RTF, why hand-code HTML?

I agree with you about writing directly in the submission form, but I can see how that would work as long as you only have one WiP at a time. That is definitely not me…

As to Word, it likes to hide things in the document. Are you sure you're not including your real name in the metadata when you submit the file? What about the organization name, computer name, file path, etc? Word loves to include PII! Then, Word is notoriously bad about leaving hidden elements, like italics and bold, despite you deleting the text it was intended to format.

I export from my writing software to Word to run a grammar check and use Read Aloud, but I modify the source in my writing software as I do, and the Word document is deleted once I'm done editing.

The extent of my hand-coded HTML is pretty limited. Mostly it's centering scene breaks or putting chapter titles/number in bold, but I occasionally toss in a strong or em in the regular text. I rarely use blockquote, but it's not something that Word could do for me, so I'd still have to manually code it and hope that Word didn't break it.

 

[Britva415]

Not even for double-spaced paragraphs?

All you have to do is hit enter twice to create the line space between paragraphs. When writing plain-text into the submission field, you DO have to enter the double-return but you don't have to HTML-code paragraphs or wrangle <br> tags.

 

[Britva415]

Hi, I'm in need of guidance. I've submitted a story 3 times and have been rejected each time. It is the same story and the reason I'm given is is formatting between paragraphs. They said to do a hard return twice for each paragraph. I've gone through line by line, I've moved the file to different doc types, tried uploading vs putting it in the body for submission. I don't know what else to do. They recommended I come here for help. Can someone help me please?

It's hard for us to help without seeing what Literotica is seeing.

Can you paste here an example of what a few (not more than 3) of your paragraphs look like, format wise?

 

[Britva415]

I agree with you about writing directly in the submission form, but I can see how that would work as long as you only have one WiP at a time

We can save drafts of multiple stories. Not that I would ever recommend using the submission form to write the story. But it doesn't impede multiple WiP's. I have several drafts right now with just placeholder content: A draft title and draft description, and a few brief notes in the body field about the story idea. The actual writing happens in another program.

I wasn't sure whether they were talking about writing a story in the submission form or just pasting a finished story into it (like I do), as opposed to uploading a document file with the story in it (which I don't).

 

[NuclearFairy]

As to Word, it likes to hide things in the document.

If that's causing the problems for them, well Google Docs has a "clear all formatting" button, I'm sure other programs do too. They could copy paste it to one of those document types, highlight their entire story and hit the clear formatting button. Hopefully, that'd get rid of any hidden formatting bugs they have going on.

 

[Writer61]

As to Word, it likes to hide things in the document. Are you sure you're not including your real name in the metadata when you submit the file? What about the organization name, computer name, file path, etc? Word loves to include PII! Then, Word is notoriously bad about leaving hidden elements, like italics and bold, despite you deleting the text it was intended to format.

Which is why I now export to RTF and upload that.

 

[IWroteThis]

Which is why I now export to RTF and upload that.

RTF files support hidden metadata.

From what I've read, if you create it as a new RTF file, it won't include it. However, if you create it as a normal Word document, then convert/export it, the metadata is included as well.

 

[IWroteThis]

We can save drafts of multiple stories. Not that I would ever recommend using the submission form to write the story. But it doesn't impede multiple WiP's. I have several drafts right now with just placeholder content: A draft title and draft description, and a few brief notes in the body field about the story idea. The actual writing happens in another program.

I wasn't sure whether they were talking about writing a story in the submission form or just pasting a finished story into it (like I do), as opposed to uploading a document file with the story in it (which I don't).

Yeah, I knew that. Brain fart while posting...

 

[ElectricBlue]

Which is why I now export to RTF and upload that.

Years ago I submitted .rtf files, then one day they wouldn't upload. I suspect it was immediately after Lit did an upgrade, and for whatever reason my device (Kindle Fire) wasn't keeping up. That compatibility progressively got worse, because fucking Amazon were no longer supporting their product, to the point that last year I had to upgrade at my end, to a new device.

Ever since then, though, I've always copy pasted into the submission form, with zero problems. That's why my advice has always been, use the form, because document uploads have gone wrong - because of the device being used, not necessarily the document format.

 

[Writer61]

That's why my advice has always been, use the form, because document uploads have gone wrong - because of the device being used, not necessarily the document format.

Well, OK, if that works for you, keep doing it.

I will stick with Word because I use a lot of formatting tricks while writing (e.g., colouring blocks of text that still need work), which are all gone by the time I post, and because I do use bold and italics a bit in the end product.

DOCX > RTF > Upload works fine for me, since I will stick with it for now.

 

[Barefootandredheaded]

Hi, I'm in need of guidance. I've submitted a story 3 times and have been rejected each time. It is the same story and the reason I'm given is is formatting between paragraphs. They said to do a hard return twice for each paragraph. I've gone through line by line, I've moved the file to different doc types, tried uploading vs putting it in the body for submission. I don't know what else to do. They recommended I come here for help. Can someone help me please?

Hi everyone, thank you for your responses and help! It's been published.

 

[pink_silk_glove]

I do not understand why anybody would write directly in the submission form.

And when you can upload in DOC or RTF, why hand-code HTML?

I don't think many people write directly in the submission box. Certainly not any serious writers do. I write in Libre and manually type in all of my format tags. When I'm ready to post (or sometimes at various stages of completion) I will paste into the box so that I can check the preview. Apparently, uploading a file does not always allow one to preview. I've never tried an upload but that's what I've been told. There's no way that I would ever upload without a preview.

 

[WaxPhilosophic]

I write in Libre and manually type in all of my format tags.

LibreOffice Writer users, I have a tool you can use: https://waxphilosophic.sdf.org/LitMark/

In LibreOffice, save a copy as HTML, then drag-drop it on the tool linked above. The formatting for Lit's submission form is generated for you, ready to copy and paste.

Click on the ? icon of the tool for more detailed info on using it.

 

[Five_Inch_Heels]

Cool.

Spam.

Yay.

No need to save as HTML and send it off to somewhere else.

Just copy the text and paste it into the Lit box. Lit doesn't have formatting. Stories don't need it.

 

[Writer61]

Hi everyone, thank you for your responses and help! It's been published.

Not on Lit under your name.

 

[TheLobster]

(e.g., colouring blocks of text that still need work)

I can see how that can be neat and useful.

When writing in plain text, what I do instead is put notes inside [ square brackets ]. Square brackets are technically part of the link syntax in Markdown, so my editor (Ghostwriter) actually highlights them. This ranges from small inline notes (or even just [], to indicate I still need to write more in that spot) to piece of ad-hoc outline I work out while I'm pantsing.

At the end, I just Ctrl+F for [ to make sure I've removed all those notes before publication.

 

[WaxPhilosophic]

Cool.

Spam.

Yay.

No need to save as HTML and send it off to somewhere else.

Just copy the text and paste it into the Lit box. Lit doesn't have formatting. Stories don't need it.

What's spam? This? https://waxphilosophic.sdf.org/LitMark/ No, it's not.

It's a formatting tool. It runs in your browser. There is no back end. There is no advertising. There is no login required. There is no information collected. It's served from a web host that does not use advertising or collect data to support itself. All this tool does is to distill LibreOffice formatting down to the handful of tags Lit supports in the submission form. I coded it as a way to easily and consistently format my own submissions. I'm simply sharing my work with others who may also use a similar workflow.

 

[Writer61]

What's spam? This? https://waxphilosophic.sdf.org/LitMark/ No, it's not.

It's a formatting tool. It runs in your browser. There is no back end. There is no advertising. There is no login required. There is no information collected. It's served from a web host that does not use advertising or collect data to support itself. All this tool does is to distill LibreOffice formatting down to the handful of tags Lit supports in the submission form. I coded it as a way to easily and consistently format my own submissions. I'm simply sharing my work with others who may also use a similar workflow.

I don't think you were the target of that comment.

The OP now says his story has been published, but it doesn't appear to be on Lit.

 

[old_prof]

The OP now says his story has been published, but it doesn't appear to be on Lit.

I found it on their works page having appeared today.

 

[WaxPhilosophic]

I don't think you were the target of that comment.

When I say: "In LibreOffice, save a copy as HTML, then drag-drop it on the tool linked above."

And the very next comment accusing spam says: "No need to save as HTML and send it off to somewhere else."

I very much think the comment was directed at me.