Formatting long stories.

[NotWise]

Maybe I could just PM Laurel about this, but I'd rather not bother her.

My longer stories are usually broken up into chunks using "*****" in a stand-alone paragraph as a break. Other people use similar breaks.

That really isn't my choice. Those chunks that I separate that way are chapters as far as I'm concerned. I would rather number and/or title those bits. It could give readers a point of reference to return to that they wouldn't otherwise have.

In the story I'm writing now, one of those chapters might only be about four hundred words, but they're an important four hundred words and I'd like to set them off with more than "*****" or similar.

Have you gotten away with internal chapter names and numbers (possibly with <b>8. 'Chapter name'</b>), or does the system filter that out?

 

[SamScribble]

I've numbered sections:

1.

The first time that George and Mary did, it was raining ...

2.

There are a couple of reasons that I remember that day. The first was ...

3.

Etc.

Some of the sections were just a couple of paragraphs. Others were five or six hundred words. It worked just fine.

Good luck.

 

[TxRad]

I've always used *****.

 

[member9458]

I haven't seen this for myself, but apparently the system will let you use the <br> tag to insert a horizontal rule. But it might end up being distracting enough to interrupt the flow of the story; I'd probably just use it to separate the story proper from any author's notes at the top (or bottom) of the submission. But try it for yourself when you preview your submission; see how it looks to you.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Provided each section is greater than 750 words you could submit each chapter as an individual submission, and title them like this:

A Long Story Chap.01 The First Part. Mary meets Johnny
A Long Story Chap.02 The Second Part. They fuck
A Long Story Chap.03 The Third Part. Mom comes home

You need to number 01, 02, 03 etc, so when you get to Chapter 11, your sequence remains in the right order.

Laurel looks after all of the connecting up bits in terms of loading on the site.

 

[legerdemer]

In this story I used two types of breaks - lesser ones (***) and more substantial ones that are subsection titles, in italics - I didn't call them chapters, not sure why now, but that's what they are.

Laurel had no issues with the story's format.

 

[RejectReality]

If you want to divide a single submission into numbered/headed chapters, go for it. I've seen it done with zero complaints from the readership in several categories. As you said, it will provide an easy reference point for them to return to if they can't finish the story in one sitting.

As was mentioned, you can use asterisks to denote scene shifts within chapters as well. So if several of those sections are closely related enough to be within one of your chapter divisions, that's a thought.

Laurel shouldn't have a problem with it, because she's posted stories internally divided that way before. The readership doesn't appear to have a problem with it in any example I've seen.

Really nothing stopping you.

 

[oggbashan]

I have used Chapters within a single submission, just adding Chapter ## in bold at the appropriate place.

For breaks within a chapter I use +++

 

[8letters]

I haven't seen this for myself, but apparently the system will let you use the <br> tag to insert a horizontal rule. But it might end up being distracting enough to interrupt the flow of the story; I'd probably just use it to separate the story proper from any author's notes at the top (or bottom) of the submission. But try it for yourself when you preview your submission; see how it looks to you.

<strong><u>Chapter 01</u></strong><br>It was a dark and stormy night.

That becomes:
Chapter 01
It was a dark and stormy night.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

<strong><u>Chapter 01</u></strong><br>It was a dark and stormy night.

That becomes:
Chapter 01
It was a dark and stormy night.

Except you can't use <strong> in a story. You can however use <b> = bold.

For scene breaks I have always used, here at Lit, **** four asterisks.

For chapters I used bold Chapter ##. In some cases, when the POV shifts I use the persons name.

 

[RejectReality]

And if you want to preserve those <br> tags, you need to request it in the "Notes" section of the submission. Otherwise, there's a good chance they'll get replaced with the normal double space.

 

[member9458]

<strong><u>Chapter 01</u></strong><br>It was a dark and stormy night.

That becomes:
Chapter 01
It was a dark and stormy night.

Whoops, my mistake, I meant to write <hr> (short for "horizontal rule") not <br> (which is a line break). Definitely heed RejectReality's advice to put in a note to the site asking them to preserve the format, though.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

Whoops, my mistake, I meant to write <hr> (short for "horizontal rule") not <br> (which is a line break). Definitely heed RejectReality's advice to put in a note to the site asking them to preserve the format, though.

Can't use <HR> either.

What you can use are:

<b></b>
<i></i>
<u></u>
<center></center>
<blockquote></blockquote>
and sometimes <br>

 

[member9458]

Can't use <HR> either.

What you can use are:

<b></b>
<i></i>
<u></u>
<center></center>
<blockquote></blockquote>
and sometimes <br>

I've seen horizontal rules get used before. One shows up in this demonstration on how to use markdown: https://www.literotica.com/s/authoring-with-markdown

Apparently alignment tags are also permitted, as seen here: https://www.literotica.com/s/how-to-format-on-lit. Though the author doesn't provide an example, he also claims you can add links to your stories as long as they go to other Lit stories, and it turns out FetherWatt did so at the end of here: https://www.literotica.com/s/mittens-1?page=8

 

[RejectReality]

Yes, you can link to anything on the Literotica site within story text. It's probably best to mention it in the Notes section, as you would with any special formatting beyond the standard italics, in order to avoid an html rejection.

That's the only horizontal rule I've ever seen on Lit. To the best of my knowledge, it's not an approved tag. Best guess is that was a special case. Every so often, things are approved when asked for in advance of submission that aren't normally allowed. ( Fan Fic in the Chain Stories category, images inserted into the text in the How-To category, etc. )

You can also use html special character codes. I use them in nearly every submission to replace Wordperfect's em dashes, which render as double-dashes when submitted as-is to Lit.

Blockquote typically goes through without fuss. So does center. Right alignment seems to only be approved for poetry most of the time. I don't know of what use it would be for prose, honestly. That how-to is the only place I've seen it outside of poetry.

 

[NicoleZ]

(space)
<center><b> I - Alexandra </b></center>
(space)


This is why I end up with three versions of the same story. The first, where I have a section for the character and place details at the bottom (invaluable if you ever think of writing a sequel). The second, "Final Version" where I do all my pre-posting editing without the char & detail register. The third, "Coded Version" with all the codes added which is the one I copy-paste.

Oh! Don't forget to check through the preview in case a longer, coded (italicised) portion is split between two Lit pages in which case the Lit software starts the new page uncoded, so you will have to go back and enter the appropriate code at the appropriate place.

Good luck!

 

[Zeb_Carter]

(space)
<center><b> I - Alexandra </b></center>
(space)


This is why I end up with three versions of the same story. The first, where I have a section for the character and place details at the bottom (invaluable if you ever think of writing a sequel). The second, "Final Version" where I do all my pre-posting editing without the char & detail register. The third, "Coded Version" with all the codes added which is the one I copy-paste.

Oh! Don't forget to check through the preview in case a longer, coded (italicised) portion is split between two Lit pages in which case the Lit software starts the new page uncoded, so you will have to go back and enter the appropriate code at the appropriate place.

Good luck!

Yeah, your (space) should be a (return) or (enter) to make a paragraph.

Other than that you're okay.

 

[8letters]

Except you can't use <strong> in a story. You can however use <b> = bold.

For scene breaks I have always used, here at Lit, **** four asterisks.

For chapters I used bold Chapter ##. In some cases, when the POV shifts I use the persons name.

Strong works. I used it on the first page of My Sister Set Me Up on a Blind Date.

Regardless of what you use, you should verify any formatting in the preview before submitting the story. I haven't had any problems with the published story being different than the preview and I've used <br> quite a bit.

 

[SimonDoom]

I broke a 5 Lit-page story into 7 numbered and titled chapters with no problem. It seems to have worked.

 

[Hypoxia]

Just a reminder for those using <i> <b> <u> <center> <blockquote> etc: about half of LIT readers run the Android app which does NOT render any HTML tags. Formatting games don't play. Anything beyond spacing (which gets chomped anyway) and printable characters just vanishes.

What works? Delineate your sections with ===== or ***** or even ΞΞΞΞΞ (which is five capital chi's -- WinDoze Character Map app is your friend). But y'all can expect your fancy formatting tricks will be lost to about half your potential readers. Learn to captivate with brilliant words alone. That worked for Daniel Defoe and James Joyce.

 

[oggbashan]

Keep it Simple.

...

What works? Delineate your sections with ===== or ***** or even ΞΞΞΞΞ (which is five capital chi's -- WinDoze Character Map app is your friend). But y'all can expect your fancy formatting tricks will be lost to about half your potential readers. Learn to captivate with brilliant words alone. That worked for Daniel Defoe and James Joyce.

Even the delineations you recommend won't always appear as you think they will on all platforms. Even a simple apostrophe can fail and show as a mess. As for foreign accents? It doesn't matter whether you use ASCII or Windows characters. For some people they won't show leaving either a space or a random character set.

When I started writing on computers (before the IBM PC was born!) I decided that if I couldn't write and save as a simple .txt file then someone would get gibberish instead of my stories. Just look at what any wordprocessor adds as headers, footers and formatting to a basic piece of text.

At the time there were dozens of wordprocessors that were specific to hardware or manufacturer. I learned on a Wang wordprocessor, then used Hewlett Packard software followed by a program bundled with a Ferranti CP/M based PC. I had to support a secretarial wordprocessing system that was taken over by NorskData. I knew I was in deep shit when the error messages were in Norwegian. Finally I settled on WordStar 2000+ and used that until it became incompatible with Windows versions. It would convert Wordstar files to most contemporary wordprocessors or if I was desperate to .txt. I can still use the WordStar 2000+ files by just renaming them as .txt and stripping out the formatting crap.

I use italics for my copyright notice and bold for the title and any intermediate chapter headings. That's it. If the italics and bold don't work then my story is still readable.

For breaks in the story I used to use dashes --- but Word sometimes turns those into a forced page break. Now I use +++ to show a break in time or action.

 

[member9458]

Just a reminder for those using <i> <b> <u> <center> <blockquote> etc: about half of LIT readers run the Android app which does NOT render any HTML tags. Formatting games don't play. Anything beyond spacing (which gets chomped anyway) and printable characters just vanishes.

What works? Delineate your sections with ===== or ***** or even ΞΞΞΞΞ (which is five capital chi's -- WinDoze Character Map app is your friend). But y'all can expect your fancy formatting tricks will be lost to about half your potential readers. Learn to captivate with brilliant words alone. That worked for Daniel Defoe and James Joyce.

Ooh, shit, I'm glad you stepped in to warn us. Thanks!