POSTING STORIES

[Sabrina]

When you have written a story that is, let's say, about 7 chapters/parts, do you send them all at once to Laurel or maybe give her one-a-day?

 

[Dakota]

I think the longer you waite the longer it takes. send them all in that way there all there. If you send them in at differant times then it takes longer for them to be posted.

 

[Bob Peale]

Yeah, finally something I can comment on!

Sabrina, if you have it all written, send them to Laurel and she will post them sequentially. However, don't send it as one file! This will delay the story getting posted, as Laurel then has to break it up into manageable pieces so that it will load faster.

As a rule of thumb, each file I send amounts to about 5 printed pages...that seems to work best.

 

[Laurel]

Absolutely... If you have a multiple-part story, send it all to me at once. I post stories as in chronological order, so if you send me a chapter, then wait for it to be posted before sending the next one, then there will be a gap between them.

Also, some people don't want them posted sequentially one night after the other. I've had authors request that chapters be posted two or three or even four days apart. Just let me know if you have special requests!

 

[MorningStar]

Good to see you back home Laurel....smile
missed ya

MS

 

[Laurel]

Missed you guys, too. I'm on Vegas Overload - too many late nights, too much schmoozing, too many slots...hehe... Not enough sleep, though. I've managed to catch a nasty bug, so Manu stayed home from work to help me get through the email (300+!) and edit stories, What a sweetie, eh? That's why I keep him around...

 

[Fallen Angel]

I too am intrested in submitting a long story but wondered if some feedback on the first chapter or two might not be helpful. Was also wondering how long each segment should be to try and get it all on one page. At the moment have it split into 2 to 2 1/2 Word 97 pages per section. Great place and great job done by all here. Love the stories!

 

[Dixon Carter Lee]

Bob, thanks for letting me know about how to save Laurel some time. The two seven chapter seies I sent were e-mailed to her as a single document which, I suppose, she had to break up. From now on I will send a separate e-mail for each chapter.

As for sending them all at once, I'd say YES, don't send them a piece at a time, hoping for feedback on the first chapter. What are going to do when you get the feedback? Chagne the story? You can't, you've already set up the plot and characters and (hopefully) theme in the first chapter, which will have already been posted. Too late to really act on the feedback.

In both series I have made major changes to the first two or three chapters by the time I finish the seventh -- the story is more rounded and connected that way. Send your story when the whole thing is finished, when the last chapter and the first chapter work together. You'll be happier.

I don't know how long a piece can be before Laurel splits in into two pages, but I wouldn't worry about that. Frankly, I like the stories that take a couple of pages to tell (even if it's only one chapter).

Have fun writing.

 

[Mrhappy]

hello all,
I too have been lurking here, living vicariously through the efforts of all of you. I have several stories which are 'in progress' and nearing completion.
However, each time I enter the site and read someone else's story, I end up editing what I've written so far. Let's face it the environment here is somewhat intimidating for us newbies. I do promise that it won't be long before I jump into the fray and let deborah and southernhelle have their unique way with my feeble attempts.
Before I do, I would very much appreciate any guidance offered regarding the structure of dialogue. When I re-read my stuff, it seems to wear out the 'she said', 'he said' mat. I know there's no hard fast rule regarding the lead into and the trail away from "quoted dialogue", but my writing reads repetitively to me in this area.
e-mail me at <mrbhappy@hotmail.com> with suggestions, or here as I'm not shy and hope others may benefit.
Thankyou

 

[Dixon Carter Lee]

Lord there are a million rules and ideas about dialogue format, and I'm sure you can get plenty of good advice here, but here's an invaluable tip to make sure the dialogue "reads" --- read it out loud. If it's annoying and halting to read out loud, it's annoying and halting period. Plus, it's clearer to see when the "he said" "she saids" can be eliminated every now and then because they're so obviously understood in context. Reading the story aloud will give you a hundred ideas on how to smooth out the bumps. Enjoy.

 

[Dixon Carter Lee]

Bob, thanks for letting me know about how to save Laurel some time. The two seven chapter seies I sent were e-mailed to her as a single document which, I suppose, she had to break up. From now on I will send a separate e-mail for each chapter.

As for sending them all at once, I'd say YES, don't send them a piece at a time, hoping for feedback on the first chapter. What are going to do when you get the feedback? Chagne the story? You can't, you've already set up the plot and characters and (hopefully) theme in the first chapter, which will have already been posted. Too late to really act on the feedback.

In both series I have made major changes to the first two or three chapters by the time I finish the seventh -- the story is more rounded and connected that way. Send your story when the whole thing is finished, when the last chapter and the first chapter work together. You'll be happier.

I don't know how long a piece can be before Laurel splits in into two pages, but I wouldn't worry about that. Frankly, I like the stories that take a couple of pages to tell (even if it's only one chapter).

Have fun writing.

----------

 

[Moyds_jewel]

along these lines....

My first story was just posted and I was horrified at the way the formatting was changed. My paragraphs and dialog were more often than not just dumped into one long hard-to-follow paragraph.

In the immortal words of my College English Prof: 'Wot hoppened??'

I uploaded it as a Word file because it was my understanding that was the only way to keep the formatting and italics.

I would be most humbly greatful if someone can enlighten me.
thanks in advance,

jewel

____________
It is my joy and honor to be His

 

[Weird Harold]

Re: along these lines....

In the immortal words of my College English Prof: 'Wot hoppened??'

See my How To Essay http://www.literotica.com/stories/showstory.php?id=57781 for a way to check the way your story will format when postd on Lit.

It covers many of the possible problems and how to correct them.

 

[deliciously_naughty]

if you use word, seven regular spaced pages of text equal roughly one page on lit, or so I've learned from my own stories. In other words, the total number of lit pages for Wesleys Woman (all 5 chapters) is something like 5 or 6 when in word its about 35 pages single spaced eek: )

 

[KillerMuffin]

A lot of people find themselves using something called "styles" when they use Word. That will screw up your formatting faster than anything else will because the styles don't translate into the scripts.

Do not use the automatic indent. In fact, don't indent. Don't use automatic spacing, hit your enter key twice. Turn off smart quotes. Don't use auto anything. Don't change the font or size, use Word's default. Don't add headers or footers. Don't modify your document at all other than words, bold-face, or italic. Don't add HTML beyond <B></B> and <I></I> or <CENTER></CENTER> because it all has to be removed and when it gets missed it screws up the whole page.

If you're having problems with the word processor, write it in Wordpad. You're less likely to have those hidden word processor codes that screw the hell out of everything. See, word is usually automated by default to automatically add the codes that do tasks you seem to be repeating. All word processors are.

To deal with your problems, edit your document (by removing all the extra codes) and submit it with the word EDIT added to the title. Try Weird Harold's trick first, it will help.

 

[christo]

It's probably a good idea to actually WRITE the whole thing before submitting a multi-part story, but I've never been able to do that. I actually have two unfinished series out there, and the fact that I never wrapped them up keeps me awake nights. Someday I'll get to them.

Even the series I finished took me many, many months. I actually do listen to feedback from readers, I like to hear what people like or don't like, and I often get ideas or go off in new directions based on what people seem to like.

I feel guilty writing new stories when I'm in the middle of a series. The "Mrs. Reid" stories took me nearly a year to finish, and I kept getting e-mails from people asking when the hell I was going to post the next chapter.

Right now I'm up to chapter 11 in a series called "Those Autofellatio Blues", and I never meant for it to be more than a stand-alone story. Folks liked it, asked when the next part would post, and I thought, well, sure, maybe I'll write another one. Thing is, the first chapter doesn't really go that well any more with the rest of them. I need to really flesh things out, cut some details that don't make sense for the later chapters. That's the problem with not knowing where you're going--the stuff you wrote at the begining can paint you in a corner. Oh well. Rewrite and resubmit.

Charles Dickens published this way, writing serials a chapter at a time, keeping the audience waiting with baited breath for the next installment. I like comparing myself with literary giants, it's better for my ego to think that I'm following in the footsteps of great writers instead facing the fact that I'm a lazy bum who doesn't have the discipline to write a chapter every two weeks.

 

[Moyds_jewel]

Weird Harold, Deliciously Naughty, Killer Muffin -

Thank you all for your generous help!


jewel








________
It is my joy and honor to be His

http://www.literotica.com/stories/showstory.php?id=70446