What the frakk

[Seadog777]

My story was "sent back" and this was the excuse given to me,

• The paragraph formatting didn't come through properly. There may be hard returns in the middle of sentences. Sometimes this happens when you cut and paste from the word processor to the form. Please go through and format your text into the paragraphs you intended with two hard returns only between paragraphs so we can post this story. Thank you!

What is this person Laural even talking about, because it passed spell check and all the format corrections.

 

[ChloeTzang]

How did you submit it? As a word document or thru the UI?

 

[Winter_Fare]

It's ended up double spaced after the copy and paste. This happened to a story I was editing for someone before, it happened when moving from Google docs to word.

 

[Seadog777]

How did you submit it? As a word document or thru the UI?

I typed my story in Google Docs.
It passed Spell Check and Format Correction.
I then submitted it using "rft", just like it said to in the FAQ section.

 

[Seadog777]

It's ended up double spaced after the copy and paste. This happened to a story I was editing for someone before, it happened when moving from Google docs to word.

I typed it up in Google Docs and then submitted it using "rft", just like it says in the FAQ about submissions.

 

[Winter_Fare]

I typed it up in Google Docs and then submitted it using "rft", just like it says in the FAQ about submissions.

No clue then, I always cut and paste into the submission box, if I need italics, etc, I use html. Hope you find out what it was. I did submit a docx once last year and that worked ok.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

I use LibreOffice and have never managed to submit a rtf file - it is rejected with that message. If I just copy and paste into the webpage, it works just fine.

Stories pasted in rather than as files are accepted more quickly, so I've never tried resolving the formatting issue. You get to preview your text, too.

 

[ElectricBlue]

My story was "sent back" and this was the excuse given to me,

• The paragraph formatting didn't come through properly. There may be hard returns in the middle of sentences. Sometimes this happens when you cut and paste from the word processor to the form. Please go through and format your text into the paragraphs you intended with two hard returns only between paragraphs so we can post this story. Thank you!

What is this person Laural even talking about, because it passed spell check and all the format corrections.

Obviously it didn't.

Best suggestion is to copy and paste it into the submission text box and Preview. That shows what the copy will look like when it's published.

Laurel doesn't make stuff up - I suspect you have unnecessary returns. There's no point fighting city hall, just scrub through your text and resubmit it.

 

[oggbashan]

I copy and paste from Word 365. Sometimes I find that all the paragraphs haven't come through properly and once a single quotation mark was changed to +39 - why? I don't know, but I always, now, check the paragraphing on the preview.

 

[gunhilltrain]

Obviously it didn't.

Best suggestion is to copy and paste it into the submission text box and Preview. That shows what the copy will look like when it's published.

Laurel doesn't make stuff up - I suspect you have unnecessary returns. There's no point fighting city hall, just scrub through your text and resubmit it.

I've never submitted it through a file upload, but I assumed that it would still go into preview mode and let you see what will it will look like.

Items like italics and bold work best with the HTML code "bracketed" around the necessary text. I think that can be done either in preview mode or the original text.

 

[Seadog777]

I use LibreOffice and have never managed to submit a rtf file - it is rejected with that message. If I just copy and paste into the webpage, it works just fine.

Stories pasted in rather than as files are accepted more quickly, so I've never tried resolving the formatting issue. You get to preview your text, too.

Thank you for your polite suggestion, it was much appreciated.
I took your suggestion and used the "copy and paste" method.
When it brought it up in "Preview" it looked the same.
In the "Admin Note" section, I reiterated that it had passed Spell Check and Format Correction.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I've never submitted it through a file upload, but I assumed that it would still go into preview mode and let you see what will it will look like.

Items like italics and bold work best with the HTML code "bracketed" around the necessary text. I think that can be done either in preview mode or the original text.

No, you only get the preview if you use the text box.

I use it all the time now, to catch those hidden glitches you never knew where there. WYSIWYG.

 

[Carnevil9]

After writing in a full-format word processor, I always copy and paste my story into a plain vanilla text processor, like Windows Notepad. That strips away ANY formatting that might have accidentally gotten embedded in it. Then I copy and paste again, from Notepad into the Lit text box. That has never failed me.

Good luck!

 

[Bramblethorn]

Thank you for your polite suggestion, it was much appreciated.
I took your suggestion and used the "copy and paste" method.
When it brought it up in "Preview" it looked the same.
In the "Admin Note" section, I reiterated that it had passed Spell Check and Format Correction.

There's a ton of stuff automated checking won't catch.

The most likely culprit is exactly what the rejection message says, that you have a single carriage return somewhere. It might not be obvious if the carriage return happens to fall at the end of a line. One way to find that is to paste it into a plain text editor (Notepad or similar), set the width extremely wide with no text wrapping, and skim through it.

If it's all properly formatted, it should look like:

first paragraph blah blah blah blah entire paragraph in one line of text

second paragraph blah blah blah blah

third paragraph blah blah blah blah

But if you have a stray carriage return, it'll look like:

first paragraph blah blah blah blah

second paragraph blah blah blah blah
and then a new line that's still the second paragraph

third paragraph blah blah blah blah

 

[HeyAll]

I think what that message is saying is that sometimes if you copy/paste stories, then all the paragraphs become attached.

Make sure there's a space between each paragraph. You have to check everything manually.

 

[Seadog777]

There's a ton of stuff automated checking won't catch.

The most likely culprit is exactly what the rejection message says, that you have a single carriage return somewhere. It might not be obvious if the carriage return happens to fall at the end of a line. One way to find that is to paste it into a plain text editor (Notepad or similar), set the width extremely wide with no text wrapping, and skim through it.

If it's all properly formatted, it should look like:



But if you have a stray carriage return, it'll look like:

Thank you for the polite response, it was much appreciated.
The format looks like you first example.
Hopefully Laurel will see the Admin Notes and see it for themselves and post my two stories.

 

[Voboy]

I just type in Word and upload. I've never previewed and it's never come through anyway other than perfect.

 

[Seadog777]

After writing in a full-format word processor, I always copy and paste my story into a plain vanilla text processor, like Windows Notepad. That strips away ANY formatting that might have accidentally gotten embedded in it. Then I copy and paste again, from Notepad into the Lit text box. That has never failed me.

Good luck!

Thank you for the politeness and suggestion.
It's much appreciated.
I'll give your way a try if for some reason, it doesn't go through again.

 

[Seadog777]

I think what that message is saying is that sometimes if you copy/paste stories, then all the paragraphs become attached.

Make sure there's a space between each paragraph. You have to check everything manually.

Thank you for your politeness in your reply, it's much appreciated.
What I did on this 2nd attempt was to Copy and Paste in the plain vanilla text space available.
Hopefully it will go through this time around.

 

[neuroparenthetical]

So wait... the fastest way to get stories published is to copy-paste, and then use HTML tags for italics if you want them?

Seriously? That works?

That feels like something that should be covered in a guide somewhere. Also, it feels like the interface for doing so should be better than one that looks like it's best-suited to pasting no more than a fucking paragraph.

 

[ElectricBlue]

So wait... the fastest way to get stories published is to copy-paste, and then use HTML tags for italics if you want them?

Seriously? That works?

That feels like something that should be covered in a guide somewhere. Also, it feels like the interface for doing so should be better than one that looks like it's best-suited to pasting no more than a fucking paragraph.

Yes, it works. I've posted 30k stories into the text box, no problems.

You've not heard of scroll down?

 

[neuroparenthetical]

You've not heard of scroll down?

I mean, there's a reason I said "looks like." Also, you don't think it's a little crappy that the window for pasting stories has less functionality than the very BB we're posting these messages to?

 

[KeithD]

So wait... the fastest way to get stories published is to copy-paste, and then use HTML tags for italics if you want them?

Seriously? That works?

It works for me. I almost universally have a submission posted in two days.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I mean, there's a reason I said "looks like." Also, you don't think it's a little crappy that the window for pasting stories has less functionality than the very BB we're posting these messages to?

It works with two key strokes: Paste, Preview. Who cares what it looks like, it's completely functional - you can't get much simpler than two key strokes to see what a story will look like. What more do you want it to do?

 

[neuroparenthetical]

I dunno, maybe enable and display common formatting without having to use HTML tags?