Spacing question

[SimonDoom]

I have a question about spacing formatting. I think I know the answer but I'll ask anyway.

If you enter an extra space between paragraphs, such as to indicate a break in the story, is the extra space preserved or is it automatically reformatted by the Site to a normal space?

I tend to use a row of x's to indicate a break, but an extra blank space looks better, IMO, for a more minor break, such as a break within a single scene.

 

[NotWise]

I have a question about spacing formatting. I think I know the answer but I'll ask anyway.

If you enter an extra space between paragraphs, such as to indicate a break in the story, is the extra space preserved or is it automatically reformatted by the Site to a normal space?

I tend to use a row of x's to indicate a break, but an extra blank space looks better, IMO, for a more minor break, such as a break within a single scene.

I think the site removes extra white space.

 

[SimonDoom]

I think the site removes extra white space.

Thanks. That's what I thought.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

I agree that it’s inconvenient for the site to remove ‘necessary’ white space, but it’s not a major issue, I use a + sign for a big break, with a blank line above and below. Sometimes, for a lesser break, I’ll put a period immediately below, then a blank line. It barely shows.

 

[KeithD]

I think the site removes extra white space.

I think so too. And this is a bane for editors (and readers). We never can be quite sure if the author has intentionally marked more of a break or just hit the return button too often (which does happen). A clear section break is best for clarity.

 

[AllenWoody]

There are other places where removing the extra white space causes problems.

One of my stories featured a text exchange. When writing it, I used indenting/tabs to make it clear which side of the conversation was which. I believe it helped readability. When it got published on Lit, the indents were gone. Fortunately, none of the conversations were too long, and I broke them up with some other techniques. Still, I would have preferred they not be stripped out.

 

[KeithD]

There are other places where removing the extra white space causes problems.

One of my stories featured a text exchange. When writing it, I used indenting/tabs to make it clear which side of the conversation was which. I believe it helped readability. When it got published on Lit, the indents were gone. Fortunately, none of the conversations were too long, and I broke them up with some other techniques. Still, I would have preferred they not be stripped out.

Yes, Literotica doesn't use indenting. The Literotica file is like a rolling anthology. There's one format design across the whole collection, and Literotica (like all publishers) controls what that design is. Literotica uses a "keep it simple to give the reader a uniform view" style. The author is not the format designer. Best to learn Literotica's style and follow it.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

If there are specific formatting characteristics that you want to retain, you can try placing a note to the admin when you post your story. I have found that if it is at all possible, they will try to accommodate formatting requests (things like leaving specific text in italics, centering of section breaks/chapter headings, etc.)

There are no guarantees, but you won't know if you don't ask.

 

[SimonDoom]

Yes, Literotica doesn't use indenting. The Literotica file is like a rolling anthology. There's one format design across the whole collection, and Literotica (like all publishers) controls what that design is. Literotica uses a "keep it simple to give the reader a uniform view" style. The author is not the format designer. Best to learn Literotica's style and follow it.

I think from the reader's point of view, as well as the Sites's it makes sense that they do this. It's a pain for authors who want to break the conventions, but standardization makes the experience easier for the reader. Every story looks the same, and you get used to it after a while. What it also forces the author to do is to focus more on the content of the story than on the format.

 

[HankDolworth]

You can throw in a little html to help with spacing, sparingly.

The < br / > tag forces a line feed, but not a new paragraph so it’s helpful if you are doing texts and you don’t want each line to be a different paragraph.

I did this for some song lyrics, and it turned out okay.

 

[jehoram]

If I have to insert an extra line for a story break, I just use a row of asterisks or something which allows an extra line space.

Story story story

******

More story story story

That seems to work.

 

[ElectricBlue]

If I have to insert an extra line for a story break, I just use a row of asterisks or something which allows an extra line space.

That seems to work.

Yep, that's my default for a section break.

* * * *

Four stars, carry on.

 

[missyunderstanding]

Auto correct space reduction

I am not sure what this site does regarding written material that is reformatted. But I have often though that an 'auto correct space reduction' device would help shrink swollen heads much the same as Preparation H is said to shrink swollen hemorrhoids.

In some cases I am convince that a little Preparation H scalp treatment would be in order.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Nevertheless, I agree that "space" looks better than a row of x's.

 

[AllenWoody]

You might want to check some of AwkwardMD's work

Thanks! I just took a look at the sample of Orchid that you shared a link to. As mentioned, the technique looks great and reads well. I'm also sure it took a LOT of work.

 

[jaF0]

I tend to use a row of x's to indicate a break,

Yep, that's my default for a section break.

* * * *

Four stars, carry on.

I'd be more inclined to use dashes ---- or tildes ~~~~ and centered if that tag works here. Carats << >> might work too.

 

[Bramblethorn]

Carats << >> might work too.

Those are angle brackets, aka a form of chevron, or greater-than/less-than symbols. A caret looks similar but points upwards: ^.

 

[jaF0]

And a v looks similar but points down.

<^v>

Put them together differently and you get a face with pointy ears.

<^v^>

 

[jaF0]

Or you could get creative with your spacing, use brackets to give the face cauliflower ears and make it look like it's reading the next section;

~~ {^u^} ~~​

Neener Neener


Yes, I'm feeling very different today floating 'round my tin can.

 

[46n2]

Literotica uses a "keep it simple to give the reader a uniform view" style. The author is not the format designer. Best to learn Literotica's style and follow it.

True enough. Adjust accordingly.

They're right, btw. Literotica. It's why they were so successful. Does anyone care that the site itself is not all that "pretty"? Nope. Kept it simple. Let the words speak for themselves.

How's the big L and Manu doin' these days, btw? Anyone heard?

 

[BuckyDuckman]

I'd be more inclined to use dashes ---- or tildes ~~~~ and centered if that tag works here. Carats << >> might work too.

Is there a "best practice" for how to do this? A line break? Four or five asterisks? Dashes vs tildes? Center vs letting it left justify? I'm never sure and wind up defaulting to five spaced asterisks "* * * * *"

Seems to me that three X's used to signify the end of a story, didn't it? X X X?

I'm too lazy at the moment to look up a "How to" or FAQ for allowed HTML in a story. I seldom add anything fancier than italics or bold, but I do use both quite often.

I've been tempted to explore more of the formatting control Lit does offer authors and use them to shape how a story looks on the page, but it generally feels like a bad idea.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

OK, just discovered something.

I use fair bit of italics, both for emphasis and to indicate thoughts. I've noticed that the next non-italicized word is often too close to the last italicized one and that just hitting the space bar a couple of times doesn't do much. As a solution, I've found inserting &hairsp; between them more-more-less guarantees an additional space.

As an experiment, I added that to the blank line between two paragraphs then hit Return (in other words, on my screen, I had a paragraph, then &hairsp; on the line below it, then a blank line below that, then finally a second paragraph one line further down). The print preview shows I gained an additional blank line, which is what I think some people have been looking for. In other words, instead of one blank line between paragraphs, I got two. I tried it using &hairsp; twice, on two lines and got three blank lines between paragraphs. (In the above, I have coloured &hairsp; red just for clarity; it works with any colour.)

NB - I have not tried to publish with this yet.

FWIW, I composed in MS Word, copy and paste onto the submission page.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I've been tempted to explore more of the formatting control Lit does offer authors and use them to shape how a story looks on the page, but it generally feels like a bad idea.

I got clever for a year when someone showed me how to do html codes, but then I had a few stories/chapters go spectacularly wrong to the extent I had to resubmit, so I now limit myself to the occasional italic word here and there, and bold headings sometimes. It's too much hassle to futz with too much html - and it doesn't change the meaning of the word.

 

[SimonDoom]

Is there a "best practice" for how to do this? A line break? Four or five asterisks? Dashes vs tildes? Center vs letting it left justify? I'm never sure and wind up defaulting to five spaced asterisks "* * * * *"

Seems to me that three X's used to signify the end of a story, didn't it? X X X?

I'm too lazy at the moment to look up a "How to" or FAQ for allowed HTML in a story. I seldom add anything fancier than italics or bold, but I do use both quite often.

I've been tempted to explore more of the formatting control Lit does offer authors and use them to shape how a story looks on the page, but it generally feels like a bad idea.

I looked this up in the Chicago Manual of Style, my go-to reference, and found nothing. I don't know the answer to the question, but my impression from the reading I do is that the customary practice is to leave extra white space to indicate a break in a scene. But since Literotica doesn't let us do that, authors do their own thing, and I'm not sure if there is a best practice.

I customarily use four lower case x's, but I'm thinking of switching to asterisks, because I think they look better.

I'm not sure if there's a "right" number to use. I'd say three or four is enough to do the job but nobody is going to complain if you use five.

 

[KeithD]

I've used (return) * * * * (return) forever for section breaks. I'm sure it was what I was told to use by some publishing house, but it's always been accepted, so it's just what I do. When it ultimately gets published, it accords with the publisher's design choice for that work (and publishers universally retain format design privileges). If I discerned that Literotica was changing the format of the section break, I'd just do here what Literotica does.

 

[mfan2112]

You can throw in a little html to help with spacing, sparingly.

The < br / > tag forces a line feed, but not a new paragraph so it’s helpful if you are doing texts and you don’t want each line to be a different paragraph.

I did this for some song lyrics, and it turned out okay.

That is one I didn't know, thanks for sharing