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I would like to try to post a story but have a really basic question:
What program should I use to write/compose it? Is any format better or easier than others: Word, Notepad, Other? I've read the FAQS and posting seems complicated, but first I have to compose, rewrite and edit the story. I use XP & Win7 and would be willing to download or buy a program if there was a real advantage.
I'm so new to this that I don't even know what I don't know! Pretty dumb huh? Any help or suggestions would be warmly appreciated. I throw myself on the group's mercy.
Hugs,
Maren Sorenson
What program?
I personally use Word to write in because of the spell checking - although it doesn't catch the wrong word spelt correctly - I then import into Dreamweaver and flush out all of Word's extraneous crap and use the resultant HTML.
Of course, if you don't want to use bold, italics, underline, lists, bullets or any of those other fancy-pants things, plain text will do. You could even go through afterwards and use the editor here to put those in should you feel the need.
Really, this site is quite user friendly and if you need any help, the people are pretty user friendly too :)
I don't just look it, I'm totally into helping out where I can
Writing Formats
Maren,
This topic comes up frequently, and you will find there are almost as many preferences as there are authors. If you go to the create content link, it will lead you pretty much by the hand. The tool bar will let you do many things to embellish your story. As far as the program you write in, I don't think it matters too much. If you use word, always double space between paragraphs. Don't use hard returns at the end of lines, don't justify on the right. When my story has been proofed, I copy it (ctrl, shift, end; right click, copy). Then I paste it into the block under 'create fiction'. It will take some experimentation for you to change fonts, insert photos, etc. Don't try to do too much at first. The nice thing is that the program allows you to view your story before you actually post it.
Once you get your posting format the way you want it, copy your input block and save it as a document to use as a template. That way you can have all the html codes in place, and all you need to do is put in your new words for your next story. In my files for each story I have my original document plus my formatted copy for posting here.
I know this is not the way the more proficient writers do it, but as I am ignorant on the ways html, it works for me. Good luck on your writing and posting.
Portia
Portia
Google Docs
I use Google Docs online to work on my stories now. Not only does it have the basic features I tend to need for my writing, but you can set it to "share" with anyone you like. This allows my editor to read as I write, make suggestions, and generally be a pain in the neck (just kidding on that last)
"Let me succeed. If I cannot succeed let me be brave in the attempt." Pledge of the Special Olympics.
dorothycolleen
Thanks for asking!
Maren,
I was going to ask something very similar. It's hard to know where to start.
Again, Thanks
Ole
We are each exactly as God made us. God does not make mistakes!
Gender rights are the new civil rights!
OMG!! Don't buy something!
Using Google Docs is a great idea. If you are not happy with the programs on your local machine(s), download OpenOffice. (OpenOffice.org) It's free and just as capable as the MS program.
I spent a lot of years in the process control industry; a place where if you didn't ask questions, it could cost serious money, even lives. I took on the philosophy that the only dumb question is the one you don't ask.
Erin and her team do a fantastic job of making sure we don't go all hormonal and bitchy on each other and rarely get the thanks and appreciation they deserve.
So, welcome to the community. You will find us much as the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy describes the Earth, "Mostly harmless."
Janet
Mistress of the Guild of Evil [Strawberry] Blonde Proofreaders
To be or not to be... ask Schrodinger's cat.
Janet
Mistress of the Guild of Evil [Strawberry] Blonde Proofreaders
To be or not to be... ask Schrodinger's cat.
Notepad...
Or whatever.
The most direct route is to just type into the text box. The only problem with that is that you will lose everything if your connection goes down.
I write everything into a plain text editor, go through the proofing process, then copy and paste into the text box. If you know how to add HTML tags, more power to you. Otherwise, just copy and paste, then use the formatting buttons on the text box to add any bold, italics, blockquotes, or whatever you want.
You can save your work as plain text in MS Word, Open Office, Wordpad, and most every other editing application. Plain text works well. Pasting some kind of formatted text may or may not work. I never tried it, but I have seen some real messes from those who have.
I'd like to knoe, as I just
I'd like to knoe, as I just wrote and posted my first story for the site,how I can edit the article if I want to correct something.
Thx for answer, Misrah
------------
"Die Gedanken sind frei / Sie fliegen vorbei
Kein Mensch kann sie wissen / Kein Jäger sie schießen
Mit Kugeln und Blei / Die Gedanken sind frei"
Wait a bit...
Once the site admins have promoted you to author status (may take a day or so), you'll find an Edit tab at the top of your story. There's also an Outline tab, to enable you to collate it into a 'book' (you may have noticed that on some stories, the right hand side of the screen contains links to other stories by the same author or universe).
If you make significant changes to the story (beyond simple spelling / grammar / layout fixup) it would also probably be worthwhile writing a blog to inform everyone that it's now improved on the original.
There are 10 kinds of people in the world - those who understand binary and those who don't...
As the right side of the brain controls the left side of the body, then only left-handers are in their right mind!
There can sometimes be a short delay
...for new authors until the "special features" are enabled. When they are enabled, there will be an "Edit" tab at the top of your story if you are signed in. Hit the tab and write and/or remove just as you would when you post, as well as preview and submit. Hope this helps.
Dio vi benedica tutti
Con grande amore e di affetto
Andrea Lena
Love, Andrea Lena
I'm find it confusing to.
I understand your frustrations Maren.
My one and only attempt messed up the front page(to my mortification!)
Thankfully the kind administrators promptly fixed my mess.
It is not easy for the uninitiated. It is only simple for those who know how.
My knowledge of HTML rules are non existent.
With patience and forbearance I'm sure some more knowledgeable people will guide you in your purpose.
I look forward to seeing you successfuly post your stories.
I'm not really certain
I have begun (several times) to attempt a story post but have run into a problem which (for me) is quite serious.
When I write, I use many images and fonts.
Normally once I finish a story chapter I excerpt it out into a pdf file so all the fonts, page formats, and other 'stuff' is imbedded and fully under my control. Thus I am able to maintain the appearance I wish for my story.
My question therefore is this:
Is it possible to download a pdf file in the same manner as I would an image file and then post the pdf file somehow?
if not, then the question becomes.... can I download the true type fonts so my chapters can reference to them to achieve the appearance I am looking for in my story(s). If I can do that then it will only require a large amount of time on my part to rebuild my story chapter so it looks something close to what I wanted in the first place.
That, of course, brings about another question....
How do I place an image such that the text flows around it (on one or both sides) rather than the way I have found in which the image is isolated to it's own block with text leading and following but not beside it?
Thank you
Anesidora
Don't!
One thing you must realize is that not everyone on the internet is going to be able to read your story in the exact same format as you have conceived it.
For starters, you have no idea of the size of the display device they are going to be using. They could be on a 1920x1080 flatscreen, a 1024x768 CRT, an iPod Touch or a Kindle or almost anything in between. You cannot provide a font or even a range of fonts which will work on all these devices.
Besides which, any fonts you supply are only going to be hints as to what the user has available. True, PDFs come with embedded fonts but in my personal experience most display badly on the three different screen formats I have available - and that is because a PDF is designed for printing. Pump it out onto sheets of paper and it will look good, on displays of varying sizes not so much.
What about those with poor eyesight? Will your choices of fonts and colors, which look cool to you, mean that these readers will be unable to enjoy your story?
Some of us still have to access the site over slow links, too. Embedding fonts in your files just increases the file size unnecessarily. Don't do it. HTML is not designed to be used that way. Just send the reader your text, and let their browser - the choice of which you have no control over - decide how best to display it - to the reader's satisfaction.
After all, the most important part of your story is the story, isn't it? Anything you do to embellish your story just wastes your time and your reader's patience. You will find the best stories to read here use very few or no typesetting devices. I myself only use italics in my stories, and those sparingly.
Penny
thank you for the information
As everything I write is done with hard bound printing in mind and in a 6 by 9 hardcover format, I suppose it will not lend itself well to use here. For now that will effectively halt my attempts.
I'll need to think about this and see if my word processor of choice will allow me to have multiple page sizes and formats open at the same time (I've never tried that before). I will also need to reeducate myself such that I will not insert images or fonts which to my mind lend flesh to the story. (such as Chinese characters in a sentence with English following [in English, I hope]).
I'll need to take some time to think about this.
Thank you
Anesidora
Wrong angle
I think you're looking the wrong way how text works in a browser.
There is no concept of "page size" or shape. Text starts in a box and just flows from left to right down the page. The browser itself decides how to display the content, and, as I explained above, this is going to depend on many things including the display itself, the particular browser program used, the fonts available to the user and even which languages the user has set up on the computer.
You shouldn't really get too involved in that. Okay, you can put some 'bells and whistles' at the top of your post, a lot of people do, and it is just some simple HTML code. (The same code can be used to insert pictures in a suitable place, re your other question above.)
The way I write for this site is to use OpenOffice Writer. All my machines here at home run Linux, as it happens, but that's neither here nor there. I happen to save my files as Rich Text Format as I write, that's because it's a convenient file type I can convert for other websites as well. For BCTS (here), once I've checked the chapter out I also save it as HTML. There are no bells and whistles in the basic text.
Your chosen word processor will tell you that you have margins of such-and-such and that you have written so many pages. Just ignore it, since this will bear no resemblance to what your reader will see.
Once it's in HTML I open the file with a basic text editor and strip out all the excess that OO Write inserts; if you use Microsoft Word you'll probably get a whole lot more unnecessary crap put in your file as well. If you don't know how to slim down your file don't worry, I understand the site takes care of most of it anyway. Final task is to copy/paste a small title section at the top and update it for the current chapter. The file is then uploaded to BCTS.
Once you are familiar with what happens you can then start embellishing if you must, but be aware that you will put some people off every time you add something.
Penny
Thanks Again
Everything I save is saved in .pdf format and is submitted that wsy for use on the Kindle itself.
Every PDF has been examined by me on three different screen sizes and types prior to transmission.
What they do with my pdf's I don't know, but the formating I use in pdf seems to be the same when I download it to my Kindle.
I have used as many as fourteen different fonts within one story and every chapter has an image at it's start, these have been represented well. If they are restructuring my works prior to their offerings then they have been attempting, at least, to hold them to that which I have sent in pdf form.
I don't know HTML and have never used it (to my knowledge). At my age just switching between Windows Seven and Linux requires me to go through some mental gymnastics as I try to remember how to use the one or the other. (usually, never quite successfully so most of my work in done in Windows seven)
I have three different processors including Open Office.
I use Word, and WordPerfect as well. WordPerfect is used mostly for the legal briefs though.
;)
Anesidora