Two new writer questions

[Marcie1603]

I'm new here and need answers to a couple of questions that I don't find in the FAQs.

1) Is it ok to use the actual names of cities, universities, hotels, airlines, cars, clothing brands, restaurants, et cetera in a story?

2) I'm using a MacBook Air. How would you suggest that I go about writing and submitting a story? I have so far not used my Mac to send anything other than emails. If you have a Mac, I would greatly appreciate hearing exactly how (assume that I know nothing) I would go about writing a story on my Mac and then exactly how I would go about submitting it to Literotica.

Thanks for your help in advance. As I'm sure you can see, I am a feckless Luddite who depends upon the kindness of strangers when it comes to computers.

 

[KeithD]

1. Yes.

2. Sorry, I have no idea.

 

[eroticstoryspinner]

I'm new here and need answers to a couple of questions that I don't find in the FAQs.

1) Is it ok to use the actual names of cities, universities, hotels, airlines, cars, clothing brands, restaurants, et cetera in a story?

2) I'm using a MacBook Air. How would you suggest that I go about writing and submitting a story? I have so far not used my Mac to send anything other than emails. If you have a Mac, I would greatly appreciate hearing exactly how (assume that I know nothing) I would go about writing a story on my Mac and then exactly how I would go about submitting it to Literotica.

Thanks for your help in advance. As I'm sure you can see, I am a feckless Luddite who depends upon the kindness of strangers when it comes to computers.

KeitdD got the first question. As for the second, while i reject Apple and all its pomps, I would thing that if nothing else you can use the LIT submit stry feature and cut and paste the text for what ou created i from. It also lets you upload text files. For Mac specific info on that i would commend you to Google.

 

[yukonnights]

I'm new here and need answers to a couple of questions that I don't find in the FAQs.

1) Is it ok to use the actual names of cities, universities, hotels, airlines, cars, clothing brands, restaurants, et cetera in a story?

2) I'm using a MacBook Air. How would you suggest that I go about writing and submitting a story? I have so far not used my Mac to send anything other than emails. If you have a Mac, I would greatly appreciate hearing exactly how (assume that I know nothing) I would go about writing a story on my Mac and then exactly how I would go about submitting it to Literotica.

Thanks for your help in advance. As I'm sure you can see, I am a feckless Luddite who depends upon the kindness of strangers when it comes to computers.

Marcie, I write all my stories on a MAC laptop.

What I do:

I write the draft in the Text Edit app. This gives you a document in .rtf , which can be either uploaded or copied and pasted into the text field on the submissions screen here at Literotica. (I have always done a copy/paste)

(One short coming of my Text Edit version is there is no word count info. Apple Pages app does have word count, also there are a number of websites that have free word-count tools. (The word count is important to you in order to manage your story lengths etc. — one Literotica screen page is approximately 3750 words. ) (note: Apple Pages format is not compatible with Literorica, but you should be able to convert it to a .doc format in the pull down options - I've never messed with all of that though.)

Text Edit also has a pretty decent spell check. It will catch most of the obvious. You can also do a search with it, a search & replace, and a rudimentary grammar check.

That should get you going on your story draft. If you have any other questions, you're welcome to contact me with a Direct Message (Private Message / PM)

 

[AlinaX]

I use Google Docs these days. Sometimes iA Writer.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

Keith and Yukon got it right...

You could also probably find a free app for you Mac, that would allow you a little more flexibility in how you write.

Personally, I like to the copy and paste method, yet I do most of my writing in MSWord.

Welcome to the madhouse and good luck.

 

[BrokenSpokes]

I'm new here and need answers to a couple of questions that I don't find in the FAQs.

1) Is it ok to use the actual names of cities, universities, hotels, airlines, cars, clothing brands, restaurants, et cetera in a story?

Totally fine. I do it all the time. They say write what you know, people could make a really good guess as to where I live and hang out based on my stories.

2) I'm using a MacBook Air. How would you suggest that I go about writing and submitting a story? I have so far not used my Mac to send anything other than emails. If you have a Mac, I would greatly appreciate hearing exactly how (assume that I know nothing) I would go about writing a story on my Mac and then exactly how I would go about submitting it to Literotica.

I also have a Macbook Air. Good choice! I use Google Docs. That way I can write on my Macbook, then pick up right where I left off on my iPhone if I want to using the Google Docs app (free!) Once I'm ready to submit, I copy/paste the whole thing from Google Docs to Word, do a final read-through/edit, then submit the Word document through your author dashboard.

 

[Voboy]

I write on a MacBook Air running MS Word. It's how I've done every story I've published here. I type it, save it, then upload it as a file and let Laurel deal with formatting it.

I've never messed with html tags or any other sort of formatting. Submitting in Word makes the story on the Lit page look exactly like it looks on my MacBook.

 

[litfan10]

I'm new here and need answers to a couple of questions that I don't find in the FAQs.

1) Is it ok to use the actual names of cities, universities, hotels, airlines, cars, clothing brands, restaurants, et cetera in a story?

2) I'm using a MacBook Air. How would you suggest that I go about writing and submitting a story? I have so far not used my Mac to send anything other than emails. If you have a Mac, I would greatly appreciate hearing exactly how (assume that I know nothing) I would go about writing a story on my Mac and then exactly how I would go about submitting it to Literotica.

Thanks for your help in advance. As I'm sure you can see, I am a feckless Luddite who depends upon the kindness of strangers when it comes to computers.

Marcie! Welcome to Lit! Good luck and happy writing.

When your story posts make sure you put a link in your sig

 

[JamesMiehoff]

I don't use Macs but I have found that anything I can create a text file or cut and past from into the edit window will work. I normally use Word because that is what I use at work so it is familiar. There is Open Office which is fairly similar and I am sure there is a Mac port. I used Open Office for a while before I found my license for Word and reinstalled after a hard disk crash.

I have been known to write in Notes on my Android phone, then email to myself so I can drop it into Word for spell and grammar before cutting and pasting into the edit window.

James

 

[GroverLang]

Write in Pages - concert to Word

I write using Pages because 99% of my writing is done in Pages on my iPhone. It’s instantly duplicated in Pages on my laptop and vice versa. It takes seconds to convert the Pages file to Word and save it in my story file prior to submission.

 

[LWulf]

I'm new here and need answers to a couple of questions that I don't find in the FAQs.

1) Is it ok to use the actual names of cities, universities, hotels, airlines, cars, clothing brands, restaurants, et cetera in a story?
...

First, you used "et cetera" which could be problematic depending on what et cetera includes.

Cities: yes, nobody owns a city (except Hollyweird, and libitards own that with a rabid team of lawyers to defend it)
Universities, hotels, airlines, cars, clothing brands: (owned or regulated by individual or group, and might take exception if you present their company name in a demeaning manner)
celebrities/famous people/people you know: There is a section of literotica stories based on celebs/fanfics. Technically, it flies under the radar, but use good sense.

Here's the question nobody thought to ask back:
WHY do you want to name drop? Do you think it will make your stories more popular by mentioning Gucci, or whatever hoity-toity brand is nouveau on the scene?
You might actually distance yourself and your story by "dating" it. Let's say you feel like poking fun at Johnson & Johnson's ...Tool Werks. The story is a parody hit for a while. Meanwhile Johnson & Johnson closes down shortly thereafter, unrelated to your story. Not your intent, but no skin off your nose. right?
Five years later, and nobody remembers Johnson & Johnson's Tool Werks anymore, and your reference becomes an enigmatic mystery.

Use references lightly, name drop sensibly, and passingly. If the reference is less than familiar, then my question becomes why bother???

 

[SimonDoom]

Here's the question nobody thought to ask back:
WHY do you want to name drop? Do you think it will make your stories more popular by mentioning Gucci, or whatever hoity-toity brand is nouveau on the scene?
You might actually distance yourself and your story by "dating" it. Let's say you feel like poking fun at Johnson & Johnson's ...Tool Werks. The story is a parody hit for a while. Meanwhile Johnson & Johnson closes down shortly thereafter, unrelated to your story. Not your intent, but no skin off your nose. right?
Five years later, and nobody remembers Johnson & Johnson's Tool Werks anymore, and your reference becomes an enigmatic mystery.

Use references lightly, name drop sensibly, and passingly. If the reference is less than familiar, then my question becomes why bother???

These are great questions to ask, and I always ask them myself when I am considering naming the brand of something, whether it's a show, or a website, or a watch, or a soft drink.

There are authors who like to use brand names copiously because they think they lend the story authenticity. But I tend to agree with LWulf that brand names should be used sparingly. Use descriptive names, or make up your own fictional brand names. This isn't a hard and fast rule, by any means, but think carefully when you consider naming something in your story.

There's nothing illegal about doing it. You're not going to get sued by mentioning that your erotic story character wears a Rolex watch, or Laboutin heels. But it's something to think about in terms of style.

 

[ElectricBlue]

There are authors who like to use brand names copiously because they think they lend the story authenticity. But I tend to agree with LWulf that brand names should be used sparingly. Use descriptive names, or make up your own fictional brand names. This isn't a hard and fast rule, by any means, but think carefully when you consider naming something in your story.

There's nothing illegal about doing it. You're not going to get sued by mentioning that your erotic story character wears a Rolex watch, or Laboutin heels. But it's something to think about in terms of style.

Agree this, everything in moderation. You only need to mention Louboutin* heels once to add a grace note to a character, but to do it repeatedly in the same story is just showing off.

If you over-egg a cake it might not turn out the way you planned. There's a spectrum between soufflé and omelettes, choose your place wisely .

*I didn't know how to spell it either, until Madelyn owned a pair and I had to check. Perhaps Suzie wears sneakers .

 

[SimonDoom]

*I didn't know how to spell it either, until Madelyn owned a pair and I had to check. Perhaps Suzie wears sneakers .

Interesting psychology point: I actually looked this up, not being certain of the spelling, and my fingers typed the wrong spelling anyway. Either I have rebellious fingers or I'm just getting old and careless. I don't want to speculate about which it is.

I don't own any Louboutin shoes. I'm not saying about Suzie. Maybe you know something about that I don't on that subject?

 

[ElectricBlue]

I don't own any Louboutin shoes. I'm not saying about Suzie. Maybe you know something about that I don't on that subject?

Hmmm. Adam loaned Amanda a blue shot silk vintage dress, and Bonnard makes lingerie. So if Suzie wandered into one of those stories, she certainly be pampered. But I hear she's doing very well as a cam-girl. The Daddy-Bear tee-shirt routine is very popular, I hear .