Submission format

[panpipes]

I've had two stories accepted so far, but have found that when they show up on the site the punctuation has gone berserk--missing periods (and I don't mean pregnancy scares ), even unwanted punctuation (my last got infected with randomly placed question marks).

Is there a way to avoid this? I've tried submitting in text format, but that seems to result in hard returns at the end of every line, even if I go through and remove them manually; I've used rich text, but that led to the plague of question marks; and in the latest edited version I tried the cut-and-paste-into-the-box approach--we'll see how that works. Is there a preferred method, or one that's most likely to minimize problems?

I used to be an editor, so it's really embarassing to see a story of mine come up with bad punctuation. It has made me go easier on other people's stories that I might have rated lower because of run-on sentences--it may not be their fault after all.

Pan

 

[Alex De Kok]

Have a look at my 'How-To'

It's aimed at people who want to incorporate bold or italic in their submissions, but covers the basics of submission too. It might help, although as you say you submit in text format, perhaps not. I have to say, I've had no trouble with hard returns so far.

You'll find it at Bold or Italic?

Alex

 

[KillerMuffin]

You must write in Word or something similar. Turn off your smart quotes and then use find and replace to replace your " with ". Odd, yes, but the smart quotes turn quotation marks and apostrophes into word processor codes which most online forms cannot read.

 

[panpipes]

I use WordPerfect. The odd thing is, the first story I submitted, I simply saved as a text file and uploaded--it was accepted. then I read it on the site and was horrified that many of the periods and some em dashes had just disappeared. I edited the text file very carefully and submitted the edited version--it was rejected because of hard returns after each line (they're only supposed to be after each paragraph, but that's the way DOS text does things as a rule). I went through and deleted all except the paragraph returns, and it was rejected again for the same reason (go figure--they weren't there when I saved the file!). So I submitted it in .rtf, figuring that maybe the editors can work it out manually. I don't know how that's worked out yet.

Meanwhile, I submitted another story in .rtf, which was accepted, but when it showed up on the site there were all these question marks where I never put them. So color me perplexed.

Pan

 

[KillerMuffin]

Ahhh, that explains it.

WordPerfect really truly doesn't translate well into the scripts. I prefer it myself, but it puts in so much word processor gunk. My main problem has always been that words get run together and spaces removed.


The software that pilots the submissions page was designed based on Word, so it's going to be a little finicky. I'm not sure how much of the bells and whistles that you use, but if you do use them, shut them all off. Don't use styles. Don't use auto anything.

In fact, if you can, write in Wordpad for windows. The word processor junk is getting in the way.

However, you can try this:

Tools, Quick Format...,

Smart Quotes tab and click all of them off. Then Format-As-You-go tab and click off Quick Symbols and Quick Lines. You can shut of Quick Tabs or just never use tab when writing for lit.

This will take all of the queer symbols out of your text when you submit because it will prevent WP from replacing the symbol you typed with a word processor code. While it makes the printed product look fabulous, it makes the cut and pasted product look badly. Saving in .rtf doesn't do any good, I've discovered. I've always had to c'np it into wordpad and save into .rtf when I send it to editors who don't have WP. I've never had the problem with Lit, though.

If you use the styles feature, don't. Use the Open Style Document template if it's not the default. Don't indent. The scripts read [SRt] and [HRt] easily, but none of the rest of them. It'll read soft pages as soft returns.

If it gets rejected for the same reason, copy and paste the rejected submission from Lit itself and paste it into wordpad or notepad and make your corrections there. Once finished, paste it back into the screen. Hit preview to see what it looks like.