New author, need a little help please

[mismused]

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[MercyMia]

hi mismused,

i'm sorry i don't have answers for your well-articulated questions. (do i get points for understanding the questions?)

i just wanted to welcome you to literotica and say that i look forward to reading your story.

mia

 

[mismused]

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[HawaiiBill]

...a little help from my friends

Hi,
I noticed that after the title of a story in the index, there is a blurb about it. Is that a "description," or a part of "Key Words?"

I pasted my story from my word perfect software, and it was fine, but for "?" marks for every quotation sigh ("), and apostrophe ('). Any way to skip this laborious process?

The blurb you mention is the description. Key words are -- usually -- single words such as, "snow, birddogs, ducks" to provide computer clues to a story about passion in the winter while a couple goes hunting in the north. (Enter snow and the system finds all stories with that word included.)

You need to read this:

"5. All manuscripts must be submitted as via the site scripts as Word files (.doc), text files (.txt) or Rich Text Files (.rtf), or pasted into the submission form. If your story uses bolds ot italics, you will need to submit it as a .doc or .rtf.

"(You may submit via email, but your story will be considered & posted much, much faster if you submit through your online profile as described in our FAQ. Important Note: If you DO submit via email, you MUST follow the instructions for doing so in the FAQ. If you simply send us a story via email without following the procedure, your submission will be ignored.)"

In other words, Microsoft Word is the format you need to do what you did. Cut and paste is not as effective as sending the original file from your word processor. Word Perfect uses different character codes than other systems and cut and paste captures the codes for characters which will be mis-interpreted by the receiving system.

Hope this helps and have fun! I'm a volunteer editor and can assure you that you have asked the right questions in the right place. However:
http://www.literotica.com/subguide.shtml
would have given you details on sending your story.

 

[mismused]

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[hiddenself]

FAQ are there for a reason. Read 'em dammit.


Easiest way is to save the file (in Word Perfect or whatever software you use) as a plain text file. Text files can be opened with Notepad or other simple software and you can then cut and paste to your heart's content without those annoying formatting problems.

 

[HawaiiBill]

A little more help

Pardon the note just above. There are those on Literotica who display their bad manners.

Now to your post, from the bottom. The "snow" example was only illustrative. The title, "Peggy Seduces Photographers" is followed by the 'description,' "- Peggy seduces John and his new friend Laura."

Key words -- as I tried to describe earlier, are single words used to assist computer searches for certain story characteristics. Perhaps snow wasn't clear to you but it was used as a 'sample' word in a story that could be used by a computer searching for such a story -- one having to do with snow! Simple as that. You can leave those out until you get a better understanding, if you wish.

There is nothing wrong with being less than professional on computer use. You write, "Also, I' don't know what Text, RTX (the rich stuff), etc., are, and I don't have MS Word."

Your Word Perfect can "Save As" in several different formats. That MAY include .doc files -- the same as MS Word. But for certain you can save your files as .txt or .rtf. Those are files that can be sent directly attached to e-mail. (.txt indicates 'plain text.' and .rtf stand for 'rich text format' which sends along the codes for various fonts, italics, etc.) If you save your file as a .txt file it won't have question marks where quotations belong and can be selected, copied and pasted to your e-mail without cleaning up.

Your questions here are exactly what you should do to get some help on any part of computer usage you need for your activities
on Literotica.

Hang in there, kid, it gets easier!

 

[mismused]

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[mismused]

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[snooper]

Just to confuse you, there are two sorts of editors: those who decide whether your story is acceptable for posting, and those who help you to get it ready.

I strogly suggest that you use one of the latter to help you get your story ready for publication before you submit it.

Where do you find them? Here comes the standard answer:

Click here and pick the one, or ones, which best suit your needs. They are supposed to reply in 72 hours.

Please don't pick me unless you have already mastered the use of a spell checker.

 

[mismused]

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[hisemerald]

******************************

Thank you, snooper. I actually looked at the editors listings -- quite a few of you -- but didn't notice anyone that said they could/would help with what I felt was my particular need at the time. Maybe I could have used an editor for other reasons, but I have submitted the first part of my story already.

Confident though I feel about my writing, maybe I could have used one. Since this is my first time with stories, I'm not the best judge of that, I guess. Then again, I didn't see any that I was personally familiar with.

If it's not to big a bother, if my story does get approved, if you see it, perhaps you'll let me know what your opinion is.

Thanks again for the the help. It's much appreciated.

m

Don't know - ok REMEMBER - how much it says in my profile as an author abotu what i do but I do help with structure, spellign and grammer. AS well as format. Quite good at it, if I do say so myself. Feel free to email me with anything. I tend to respond immediately.

Catie

 

[mismused]

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[hisemerald]

*********************************

Thank you, Catie. I've never read any of your stories, but I did read your bio. Uh, it seems that your handle should be "heremeralds," from what you say. IOW, you sure do sound dangerous.

.....

BTW, perhaps you know this one. If I put my story in via the copy and paste method, then edited out the ? marks and subsituted with apostrophes and quotation marks, does that make it easier on the editor?

Thanks,

m

laughs...first time I've ever been called dangerous! I like it![\B] IF you put it in in the copy and paste method there shouldn't be any ? marks. Iwouldn't think so anyway. But then I work with MSW. Been years since I've had to deal with word perfect.

btw I edit alot better than I type conversationally

But yeah, it would make it easier on the editor. Overall, clicking on "Save As" and, at the bottom, select txt file, or .txt Would make the whole thing plain and simple. Just mho.

Catie

 

[mismused]

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[hiddenself]

Which is correct, or are either one of them okay. The resources section has the second one <I>. However, I have seen quite a few use , most notably on the BB and in some other examples given, but I don't know if the is usable on "stories."

What the resources say.

<i>text</i> is the way to tell the computer (using HTML, the language used to format text for webpages) that you need what appears in between ("text") to be in italics.

<b>text</b> makes "text" bold.

The brackets are used on the boards but I do not know why the different convention.

 

[mismused]

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[hiddenself]

Lowercase or uppercase doesn't matter. They are interchangeable.

 

[mismused]

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