1I have been collecting comments from my Beta Reader volunteers (Hey folks, thanks ever so much!!!!) and a couple of comments have me thinking . . .
The first one is that since this is a Seasons Story with many old friends showing up, I should and will endnote it somehow so that new folks can go find the original appearance of that character. Maybe do a search and find on the story to remind them of the character's role in that story and how it relates to the new one. Can I make that an end note listing? sorta of like
Michael saw Karen (1)
or
Valerie (2) was off on the continent. .
End notes
1. A Losing Season by Tigger
2. Tucky Seasons by Ellen Hayes
thoughts? Sigh. I don't think the APA Style Guide addresses online fiction writing. Suggestions welcomed! I'm thinking of only adding the endnote once per subsection, so if Michelle shows up in two sections, only the first appearance in that section will be notated. Or should once for the whole story be enough? I mean, Seasons of Change is 28 years old and my newest story is almost 11 year old!
Another question that occurred to me. Do I need to provide a quick summary of recurring characters? Example - Edith White?
The second comment is harder for me. I've been online for almost 30 years - dating back to modems and compuserve and electronic bulletin boards. Before html and back when WYSIWYG was more like What you see is not what you wanted, or more often, just plain ASCII Text. In those bad old days, we would use pre and post phrase asterisks (*asterisk* = asterisk) to indicate bold text, or all CAPS to indicate yelling or strong emphasis on a word in dialog, eg She ordered him, "Sit down. NOW!"
As I still post my stuff to FM and sometimes to Nifty, I don't insert html codes into my stories and still default to the convention above because in my head, that is how I 'hear' what I write.
Anyway, my question is: Is that convention too distracting or annoying? I could go back and 'fix' the usages. I probably won't try to insert formatting codes because I know I will mess it up and also because I don't want multiple versions of the story floating around depending o where it is posted. (and because it is easy to do a search for case sensitive search on suspect posts on Kindlle!)
So, let me know what you think and what you do in your own writing. How hard is it?
Really appreciate your time and consideration on this.
And Again, warm furry attack cuddle thanks to my diligent beta reader team!
Hugs!!
Tigger
Comments
Liberty Hall
This is Liberty Hall, Tigger, you can spit on the mat and call the cat a bastard. :) (This may be an old saying but I heard it from A.Bertram Chandler's Riworld stories.)
Anyway, do what you are comfortable with, * for bold and all-caps for emphasis is okay by me. I would want to fix those to be more in keeping with current standards if I were publishing your stories on Kindle.
Speaking of which, would you be interested in DopplerPress doing a Kindle version of Study in Satin? That's my favorite of your stories (well, that I can easily call to mind). Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is unlikely to object. :)
Hugs,
Erin
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
I have 100's of books
On my shelves and I don't think any of them have html coding yet I find them quite readable. Always have. No different here.
Commentator
Visit my Caption Blog: Dawn's Girly Site
Visit my Amazon Page: D R Jehs
I struggle with the same thing!
Most of my earlier stories are exactly as you describe, Tigger--because I'm an ancient writer, like you... LOL
Anyway, I am trying really hard to break myself of those habits and use html instead--I have gotten so many comments about it...
Personally, I don't see the big deal--but most readers (at least of my stories) seem to greatly prefer the html versions...
As for footnotes, I have experimented with a list of characters for my Christmas story, this year, since it had been a year between the last story in the series and this continuation. If I had been in your shoes, I could have linked to the older stories through that. Seems like maybe a cleaner solution and easier to maintain?
HUGS!
S
References
What you propose regarding references looks fine to me. Links to the referenced stories where possible would be even more helpful.
Formatting
Honestly, I have no issue with however you wish to format your text. I just enjoy your writing and eagerly await whatever you come up with next. Also, as a big Tuck fan I would love to see something continuing that story line. I am sure lots of others out there feel the same.
To my liking
The only suggestion I would make would be that either the footnote or the reference to the footnote have a link inserted to the actual story in question.
Such as: Michael saw Karen (1)
Or: 1. A Losing Season by Tigger
As for the rest of it... it's your choice. When the convention was started it was easy to convert for the reader by a cut and paste to a word processor and simply going through and replacing the second * with a manually entered * and the word processor would do the conversion. These days... not so much.
Erin is right about publishing for ereaders. The new tech savvy kids these days who don't know about dial-up internet, much less newsgroups or modems wouldn't know what's up with that and may even find it annoying.
Hugs
Patricia
Happiness is being all dressed up and HAVING some place to go.
Semper in femineo gerunt
Ich bin ein femininer Mann
The problem with links
is if you post the story at FM you would have to change the links, etc.
As Tigger has an author page all the stories here can be found quickly just by looking to the right hand column while the story is open and clicking on the story link there. It would be much the same at any other site where the authors' stories are all gathered in one place under their name.
Commentator
Visit my Caption Blog: Dawn's Girly Site
Visit my Amazon Page: D R Jehs
Adding a 'previously' to stories
I heard an interesting and slightly related fact on the Radio (yes, it still exists) the other day.
It was where a director of a TV series was explaining why they had decided to do away with the up to two minutes or so of 'Previously on Peyton Place' at the start of subsequent episodes.
It was all down to the reduction in people watching a single episode each week and the rise of the 'Box Set' viewing.
If you are binge watching a series (or reading a sequence of chapters in a book) then why do you need the review of what went before.
He went on to say that his writing teams had handled the need for extra content well. {probably more shots of the LA/Vegas/NY skyline between scenes... sic}
Until I heard this, I'd never noticed this 'removal' but TBH, I don't watch many things on TV that need a 'previously' section. YMMV
Samantha
Previously
Indenting or Italics can make the previously section easily skipable. I find that if the time between postings exceeds a couple of weeks, for most series I really appreciate a brief summary of where the story is.
Regarding TV programs, series DVD's tend to have previously and next time teasers separately selectable from the episode. I'll admit that I almost never watch those items.
For serials it might make sense...
I recently started with a "Last time on 'The Lokian Way':" section and so far the feedback had been positive.
I keep it short and use it not as a complete synopsis, but as a short reminder of the highlights of the last installment.
@Tigger
I experimented a little with HTML code.
One thing I did implement early in my serial was that the main character keeps a list of noteworthy facts and information she had found out. A list I share with the audience. To highlight what changed or was added to the list I make parts bold. Beside that I don't really see a reason to use extensively HTML code.