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[RokofAges75]

Grr!  See, I'm used to writing that way, just not indenting and putting spaces between paragraphs, cause I think that's what looks best online.  But when I started this one, I actually looked up how to correctly format a manuscript and told myself I would write it that way from the beginning so that I wouldn't have to go back and re-format it later.  I just did that for Broken and am in the process of doing it for BMS because I'm printing them out, and I want them to look real book-ish.  And it is freaking time-consuming!  I don't want to have to do that again, on top of editing and revising the content.

I figured out how to get the editor on AC to work instead of just the text box, but when I tried to post a chapter that way, it posted the whole thing in one paragraph!!  Ahhhh!

Has anyone been successful in typing a story in Word, correctly formatted, with indented paragraphs and no space in between, and been successful posting it on AC without the formatting getting screwed up?  I've tried it all the different ways I can think of, and no way is perfect.

[nicksgal]

I have! My secret is....

I paste into notepad before I post it into the AC box, so that all the formatting is gone, then I redo it by hand on AC. lol

lmao That's not what you wanted, but that's how I like to do it. It's the time I use to make sure everything's right before I finally post it.

[honey]

^ ick! that sounds like no fun.


Yeah, I've only formatted one of my stories in actual "submitting" format. It's a big pain in the A, but at the same time, I'm so used to seeing it "AC" style on the page that I have a hard time reading in real format. My brian gets mad at me and I mix stuff up a lot more. So for now I'm sticking with what my eyes are used to and will just have to go back and reformat before I send it to my editing friends. (then they can hopefully catch any formatting goofs I make as well)

[RokofAges75]

Ugh, Dee, yeah... that would drive me nuts.  I have done it before when I really need a part to be in italics or whatever, but to do every bit of formatting in every chapter that way?  No thank you LOL.  I'd rather have slightly crooked indents.

[nicksgal]

Well, it is the reason it takes me like a half hour to post a long chapter. lmao I just like having the last minute time to fix things.

But, the AC way makes my eyes hurt when I write. lol So I like posting it on my computer in the normal way.

The only other writing format I can handle is probably closest to what most people call "script format" but I call it "paneling format," since I use it when I write out comic scripts. lol

[honey]

how do you write a whole novel in script format???   I wrote Whitmore Lake as a screenplay first and then decided to convert when I decided I liked writing novels better. I think screenplays are soooooooo much harder, but yeah, reading wise, that's an easier format for me as well.

[RokofAges75]

I think a screenplay would be hard.  Kinda fun, but definitely a big change.  Sometimes I wish I were writing a screenplay instead of a story because it would be so much easier to make certain scenes into movies than trying to portray the right action and emotion on paper.  But that only works if someone actually makes a movie out of your screenplay LOL.

[honey]

lol too true.  I think what makes screenplays so much harder is that you absolutely cannot go inside a characters head. You have to tell the entire story literally through visual actions and dialog. That, and you have to take everything out. Seriously, bare minimum story. Then you have to trust the actors to make up the difference in feelings and emotion. and so on...

[nicksgal]

Because it's suppossed to be a comic. ^_^; I write it that way so the panels are seperate... It's actually how I originally started writing Gobosei, because it was a comic first. lol Like I said, it's not really "screenplay format," but that's probably the closest thing to it....

But PBox, I could never write that in that format, it would be too hard...

Hang on... I'll get an example....
This is one page:

Rianna is at school saying “bye” to some friends, all female. They wave and call to her. (In order: friend #1-wears a similar uniform, has short dark hair with bangs and dark eyes; friend #2-wears a similar uniform, has light blue hair up in pigtails with dark blue bows and bangs that part in the center, and has purple eyes; friend #3-wears a similar uniform, has shoulder length light hair with bangs and has light eyes.)
Friend #1: See ya, Rianna-chan.
Friend #3: Bye-bye!

One panel, two parts. Rianna is smiling, her friend has one eye closed and is a bit annoyed.
Rianna: If any of you see Darren-chan…/Let him know I was looking for him. Okay?
Friend #2: Okay, only if I see him.

Rianna’s eyes are shown, she is thinking.
Rianna: Where the heck is he? I wish I could’ve found him… He knows I that have an acting audition after school; he’ll come over later.

Full shot (more or less) of Rianna looking at her watch. Her watch is in the background showing the time and is surrounded by cracking glass.
Rianna: OHMYGOSH! I’M LATE!/Darnit, I’ll have to take a shortcut…

Panoramic shot of Rianna’s upper back and a bunch of trees.


Does that make sense? lol

[honey]

yeah, I can see that.

Pbox would be a bit difficult like that lol

[RokofAges75]

Wow!  That looks like a lot of work, but fun if that's what you like to do.  I happen to suck royally at drawing, so I would just get frustrated with it LOL.

[nicksgal]

Pbox would be a bit difficult like that lol

That's why PBox is a novel. lmao

Wow!  That looks like a lot of work, but fun if that's what you like to do.  I happen to suck royally at drawing, so I would just get frustrated with it LOL.

It takes a lot of time. I've done like twelve drafts of this chapter alone... But... It'll probably never get published this way... I'm actually thinking of turning it into a novel series.

[RokofAges75]

^ Cool!

[nicksgal]

^Maybe we'll all get published eventually?

[RokofAges75]

^Maybe we'll all get published eventually?

That would rock!!

What we need is for one of us to become a literary agent... and then help the rest of us out!  Because I've heard your chances of being published with a good publisher are much better with an agent.

Anyone going to school for that kind of thing or already working in such a job?