Map for story

[Alara_KL]

Hi everybody,

I found a thread where this is discussed, but it's like from 2013, so I guess I can ask again:
My next story I'm pretty far into is going to be a lengthy fantasy story.
Genre-typical, I would like to deliver a nice map with it (which I have created).
Now, what would be the best way to get it to the reader nowadays?

 

[Voboy]

Subscribed. I'm intrigued by this, too.

You might need to prepare it as a jpg, then host it someplace where you can link to it from your bio on the story side. We put a map together for the Leinyere series many years ago, and the writers all had access to it but I don't know whether the MFIC ever made it available to readers.

 

[NotWise]

You could publish the map along with at least 750 words of text as an illustrated story then link to that. You might want to disable voting on the map, because it probably won't be popular as a stand-alone story.

 

[anthrodisiac]

Pretty much what Voboy said, just want to reinforce that it's a solid approach. Make sure you scrub the metadata from it if you provide it as a downloadable jpg or pdf.

Word > Print > Click Save as PDF and delete all fields except name of document > Save > (Optional) Export as JPG.

Another route would be to publish it as an Illustrated story with enough text that it's considered a story (750 characters I think, though I don't know what the criteria for Illustrated stories are). So something like explaining certain locations, some lore, history, etc. You could have the full map, then with each section that you want to do a deeper dive on, have that section only, blown up so you can see some of the finer details.

 

[anthrodisiac]

You could publish the map along with at least 750 words of text as an illustrated story then link to that. You might want to disable voting on the map, because it probably won't be popular as a stand-alone story.

Great minds!

 

[EmilyMiller]

Depending on its resolution and dimensions, you could use the series cover art option. But that won’t work well for a very detailed map.

 

[Voboy]

I really like the illustrated story idea, and it would work well, but when I read stories with maps I usually like to keep the maps handy. I guess you could have two stories open in neighboring tabs?

 

[PennyThompson]

Can you put an Illustrated Story into a series alongside non-illustrated stories? That would be a very nice solution, if so!

 

[Bamagan]

Some stories in the SciFi/Fantasy category seem to have been given special dispensation for an illustration. In the examples I have seen, it was a single image at the beginning of the story chapters showing some of the characters. It's possible that including a note to the editor could get you a similar consideration. It's worth noting that the site's image policy has become more strict in the interim. A map is unlikely to run afoul of any of the image restrictions, but the site might simply be less willing to bend the rules these days, especially since the volume of submissions is higher than in the past and making exceptions means extra work for the admins.
Good luck!

 

[TheLobster]

It’s possible to include images in a non-Illustrated story if you ask nicely. I know that @GrushaVashnadze did that in one of hers, and if I remember correctly it involves putting placeholders into the story and mailing the images separately. They will be hosted by Lit.

Of course, as you might imagine, it takes a rather long time to accommodate special requests like this.

 

[StillStunned]

Upload the map to a post in the forums and add a link in your story.

 

[Alara_KL]

Ok, a thousand thanks to everybody.
So, if I understand this right:
- I can put a link to an external site (like image hosting) only on my bio
- But I can link other stories (and possibly the forum?) from a story.

So, yeah, publishing the map and a few detail maps with a short introduction to the world as an illustrated "Part 00" story and then mentioning/linking that in the story plus a link to a full high-res map in my bio sounds reasonable.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Ok, a thousand thanks to everybody.
So, if I understand this right:
- I can put a link to an external site (like image hosting) only on my bio

Correct

- But I can link other stories (and possibly the forum?) from a story.

Correct for stories, not sure about links to a forum. You can definitely link to an Author's Page, which gets you one click away from the Bio.

So, yeah, publishing the map and a few detail maps with a short introduction to the world as an illustrated "Part 00" story and then mentioning/linking that in the story plus a link to a full high-res map in my bio sounds reasonable.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

Some stories in the SciFi/Fantasy category seem to have been given special dispensation for an illustration. In the examples I have seen, it was a single image at the beginning of the story chapters showing some of the characters. It's possible that including a note to the editor could get you a similar consideration. It's worth noting that the site's image policy has become more strict in the interim. A map is unlikely to run afoul of any of the image restrictions, but the site might simply be less willing to bend the rules these days, especially since the volume of submissions is higher than in the past and making exceptions means extra work for the admins.
Good luck!

I have seen a few of these as well in other categories.

I don't know how the decision was made by Laurel to include the particular images within the stories, but I'm sure it started with sending her a DM.

 

[StillStunned]

- But I can link other stories (and possibly the forum?) from a story.

Correct for stories, not sure about links to a forum.

Yes, you can link to the forums. For example: WIWAW: Orgasms, Bang or Whimper.

 

[Alara_KL]

Yes, you can link to the forums. For example: WIWAW: Orgasms, Bang or Whimper.

View attachment 2603974

Ohhh, that might work even better. Is there some image resolution limit for the forums?

 

[StillStunned]

Not sure about resolution, but the max picture size is 1MB, I think.

 

[TheLobster]

It’s possible to include images in a non-Illustrated story if you ask nicely. I know that @GrushaVashnadze did that in one of hers, and if I remember correctly it involves putting placeholders into the story and mailing the images separately. They will be hosted by Lit.

Of course, as you might imagine, it takes a rather long time to accommodate special requests like this.

Here's the link to a post by @GrushaVashnadze that explains the 'placeholder & email' method in more detail: https://forum.literotica.com/threads/html-table-formatting.1648333/#post-102260746

 

[Rustyoznail]

From memory, the map of Leinyere only was published here, on the event page.

https://www.literotica.com/s/tales-of-leinyere-story-event

 

[crookedletter]

Upload the map to a post in the forums and add a link in your story.

Do images in forum posts remain available indefinitely? I feel like I often see broken placeholder images in posts that aren't even that old. Maybe it depends on how you add it?

 

[EmilyMiller]

not sure about links to a forum.

You can link to forum posts - I link to @StillStunned’s original WIWAW thread in all my WIWAW essays and have linked to other forum posts. You can also link to comp pages or announcements.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Yes, you can link to the forums. For example: WIWAW: Orgasms, Bang or Whimper.

View attachment 2603974

Jinx

 

[EmilyMiller]

Not sure about resolution, but the max picture size is 1MB, I think.

Forum image upload limit is indeed as you say.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Do images in forum posts remain available indefinitely? I feel like I often see broken placeholder images in posts that aren't even that old. Maybe it depends on how you add it?

That’s probably when they are hosted elsewhere, which you have to do for larger files. The ones uploaded here, should be fine.

 

[yowser]

Do images in forum posts remain available indefinitely? I feel like I often see broken placeholder images in posts that aren't even that old. Maybe it depends on how you add it?

More likely that they contained nudity and violated more recent rules, thus were disabled.