Need a little help

Joined
Aug 16, 2013
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6
I'm new at literotica. Tried to submit a story written in word. Used the paste method and all seemed right, but when I previewed it all the paragraph indents had disappeared. I had indented by hitting space bar 5 times. Suspect this may be some formatting problem but couldn't find it referenced in the guidelines and helps. Can anyone help a rookie?
 
I'm new at literotica. Tried to submit a story written in word. Used the paste method and all seemed right, but when I previewed it all the paragraph indents had disappeared. I had indented by hitting space bar 5 times. Suspect this may be some formatting problem but couldn't find it referenced in the guidelines and helps. Can anyone help a rookie?

Use your tab key for indents - that stays imbedded as a command. Lit's page deletes excess spaces.
 
Lit separates paragraphs with a blank space, so I'm not sure tabs are of much use.
 
Lit separates paragraphs with a blank space, so I'm not sure tabs are of much use.

I think you may be right; I use the indent and the line space (enter); the indent doesn't show up at all. Thanks for pointing it out, Tiger.
 
Lit doesn't do paragraph indents. Lit. wants flush left on paragraphs, with a return space between paragraphs. To see the format, open some stories.
 
Also, Lit prefers 1.25 inch borders all around, a size 12 font, which one I don't remember, and single line spacing.

Welcome to the Party by the way.
 
Also, Lit prefers 1.25 inch borders all around, a size 12 font, which one I don't remember, and single line spacing.

Welcome to the Party by the way.

The borders don't matter if you use the cut and paste method. It fits directly into Lit.'s margins. I'm pretty sure it automatically goes to the font and line spacing Lit. wants too.

It's really the most simple way of submitting. I don't even bother to change the curly quotes to straight quotes anymore. The system automatically does that and accepts the file.
 
The borders don't matter if you use the cut and paste method. It fits directly into Lit.'s margins. I'm pretty sure it automatically goes to the font and line spacing Lit. wants too.

It's really the most simple way of submitting. I don't even bother to change the curly quotes to straight quotes anymore. The system automatically does that and accepts the file.

Some of us post Word .docs and it makes it easier for that.
 
Also, Lit prefers 1.25 inch borders all around, a size 12 font, which one I don't remember, and single line spacing.

Welcome to the Party by the way.

I've gotten into the habit of writing in 12-pt. Verdana without paragraph indents. It looks the same in my word processor as it does on Lit.
 
Yes, but 9-pt. is too hard to read while writing ;)

Zoom! :)

I actually have to use the zoom feature on this computer. The MacAir has a small screen (small size in general) and a high resolution so even at 100%, 12pt fonts look small. I have to set my view zoom to 125% or 150% and even then I sometimes need my reading glasses (which is all on me, not the computer, just getting older...).
 
Thanks!

JUST A WORD OF THANKS TO ALL WHO ANSWERED MY CALL FOR HELP. I HAD READ DOZENS OF YOUR STORIES AND NOT ONCE DID I NOTICE LITEROTICA DIDN'T USE IDENTS. THANKS AGAIN!
thecarolinadreamer
 
Zoom! :)

I actually have to use the zoom feature on this computer. The MacAir has a small screen (small size in general) and a high resolution so even at 100%, 12pt fonts look small. I have to set my view zoom to 125% or 150% and even then I sometimes need my reading glasses (which is all on me, not the computer, just getting older...).

I even read 12 point at 150 magnification.
 
I'm new at literotica. Tried to submit a story written in word. Used the paste method and all seemed right, but when I previewed it all the paragraph indents had disappeared. I had indented by hitting space bar 5 times. Suspect this may be some formatting problem but couldn't find it referenced in the guidelines and helps. Can anyone help a rookie?

You can force indents using HTML codes. In one story I wanted long exchanges of dialogue without tags, and used offset formatting to make it easy to tell who was speaking. But unless so compelled it's best just to accept Lit's paragraph structure.
 
You can force indents using HTML codes. In one story I wanted long exchanges of dialogue without tags, and used offset formatting to make it easy to tell who was speaking. But unless so compelled it's best just to accept Lit's paragraph structure.

In which case, you distract the Literotica reader, who is conditioned to read a standard formatting, because the story isn't about distracting bells and whistles fancy book design.
 
In which case, you distract the Literotica reader, who is conditioned to read a standard formatting, because the story isn't about distracting bells and whistles fancy book design.

I think most readers are sharp enough to adapt pretty quick, and literature has played with such formatting for decades, if not centuries. That story did result in bipolar voting, however, with about 3/4 giving it a five and 1/10 giving it a 1, so maybe you are right that 10% of the readership couldn't adapt. Regardless, I don't regret the choice, although a better layout editor certainly could have done the formatting better than I did. Extensive use of dialogue tags would have wrecked the rhythm of the story.
 
I don't see where dialogue tags/no dialogue tags has anything to do with indenting. The paragraphs on Literotica are separated by extra returns, which is perfectly understandable for a reader--although I admit that we had a poster on here recently who didn't think it looked pretty enough so they tried to screw around with the standards too.

It's just sort of funny that when writers get something published, they suddenly become instant experts in all of the functions that everyone else involved in publishing have been doing.
 
To be a little more clear, I don't like block paragraphing for fiction, and I wish Lit didn't use it. It creates too much white space in scenes with rapid-fire dialogue, which I like to write. I think that distracts readers by making them scroll down the page twice as fast. If I feel strongly about it in another story, I might force indents and suppress line breaks, and I very much doubt most readers would consciously notice.
 
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I don't see where dialogue tags/no dialogue tags has anything to do with indenting. The paragraphs on Literotica are separated by extra returns, which is perfectly understandable for a reader--although I admit that we had a poster on here recently who didn't think it looked pretty enough so they tried to screw around with the standards too.

It's just sort of funny that when writers get something published, they suddenly become instant experts in all of the functions that everyone else involved in publishing have been doing.

Your published work uses line breaks instead of indents, and you think this is universal? I don't follow you.
 
Your published work uses line breaks instead of indents, and you think this is universal? I don't follow you.

Don't know what you mean by "Your published work."

As far as Literotica presentation style, though, yes, it's universal for Literotica. This is Literotica's style. Each publisher has its style for its series of same-type publications. That's because this is reader friendly, and because the publisher is more concerned for the reader's understanding and concentration on the content than for the author's personal quirks--something that the "it's all about me" and "I suddenly know everything about publishing because I'm a writer" author never seems to be able to absorb.

I'm frankly surprised that what you describe about indenting dialogue lines without tags that Literotica didn't reject the story until you put it in their presentation style. There are a few good reasons to indent sections of text on Literotica. This doesn't sound like one of them to me.
 
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Well, fortunately for me it was Laurel's call, not yours. You are of course free to play the role of Literotica's resident style vigilante if you choose. Enjoy.
 
Zoom! :)

I actually have to use the zoom feature on this computer. The MacAir has a small screen (small size in general) and a high resolution so even at 100%, 12pt fonts look small. I have to set my view zoom to 125% or 150% and even then I sometimes need my reading glasses (which is all on me, not the computer, just getting older...).

Using zoom on my screen creates havoc. Beside, why would I want to zoom when I can just make the font point size larger?

I even read 12 point at 150 magnification.

Damn, sr, you're old. :p
 
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