Absolute Chaos Discussion Boards
Fic Talk => General Discussion => Topic started by: exclusive on March 17, 2008, 03:58:25 PM
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Hello everyone, so I'm new to the board, but have been on absolutechaos for like six years.lol Don't know if this is the right place to post this, but I guess we'll find out.
Anyway, I was going to post a new story (my first) in response to the March challenge and for whatever reason, when I preview the text that I posted, it formats the paragraphs to centered, rather than left. Does that make sense? If so, how do I keep that from happening so that when I post for real, it comes out normal?
Maybe this has already been asked, but I looked and didn't find anything. I'd really appreciate some help. Thanks in advance. ;)
~exclusive
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Mine does that all the time, too. I just highlight the whole chapter and click the button for left justify. It's a pain, but that's how it works for me too. Hope that helps!
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For me it did that in preview mode, but once I actually posted it, it turned out fine.. *shrug*
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For me it did that in preview mode, but once I actually posted it, it turned out fine.. *shrug*
Ahh, see, I never actually posted after seeing it centered in preview, so it may have worked right for me, too. I dunno.
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You have a left justify button? I only have a little text box and have to add in all my own code if I want it done. *shrug* Maybe it's the browser I use?
Sorry, I'm not sure how to help, but I'm just jazzed that someone new wants to respond to the challenge! Yay, I have way too much fun with the challenges. Welcome exclusive! Hope we hear from you more often!
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You have a left justify button? I only have a little text box and have to add in all my own code if I want it done. *shrug* Maybe it's the browser I use?
What browser do you use? I have the left, center and right justify buttons, and a few others things-I don't remember what they all are.
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mostly safari. (I'm on a Mac.) but I do have a version of firefox on here somewhere. I could try that I guess. I know that makes the difference for me over at fictionpress. they don't support safari very well. A lot of sites don't yet.
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I think it's just one of those annoying things that happens. Unless you highlight it all and do the right thing, it'll automatically center everything. Make sure you use the correct toolbar. I know i've made the mistake of thinking I was using the main body toolbar when it was actually the summary one etc.. lol
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I actually tried posting a chapter today without doing the highlight and left justify thing, and it showed up center in preview, but normal when I posted it just like Sakabelle said hers did. It's weird that it does that.
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All this left justify talk is confusing me (hehe), like someone else said I use safari so I don't know where that button would be. lol
But I guess I'll just post it all and see what happens like a couple of you suggested. Thanks for all the help everybody, I really appreciate it!
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Sorry, I'm not sure how to help, but I'm just jazzed that someone new wants to respond to the challenge! Yay, I have way too much fun with the challenges. Welcome exclusive! Hope we hear from you more often!
Aww see you're making me all nervous now, I'm so scared to post it 'cause it's kind of plotless, but I thought I'd give it a try. I have a couple other stories in the works but I'd hate to post anything before it's finished, just because I don't want to leave people hangin' in case I don't get a chance to finish...but we'll see maybe there will be the more to come. ;)
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hahahahahaha then you, my dear, are far more considerate than most of us around here. I personally, leave people hanging all the time, and for far too long.
Aww, but don't be nervous. Post it! lol that's not an order or anything. All the challenges are kind of pointless, just cute little snip-its. That's kind of the point. Have you been reading any of the responses to the challenges over the months? They're all pretty fun to compare.
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hahahahahaha then you, my dear, are far more considerate than most of us around here. I personally, leave people hanging all the time, and for far too long.
Aww, but don't be nervous. Post it! lol that's not an order or anything. All the challenges are kind of pointless, just cute little snip-its. That's kind of the point. Have you been reading any of the responses to the challenges over the months? They're all pretty fun to compare.
Okay, Okay! I did, I did! lmao I ended up just posting it centered in the preview, and it posted normal. It's called Keeping up Your End. I think I did this challenge just because I'm more drawn to drama than humor and this is one of the first challenges I read that could have gone drama, you know what I mean?
I had another question though, are the summary and the story notes included in the word count? Because in my document it said I was under 2000 words, but on here it said I was over, so...confused. lol
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Ugh, this is pissing me off!! I would love to be able to post mine and have the formatting from Word still show up - italics, underlining, and all of that - without having to do the coding myself - but when I try to attach it as an HTML doc, the indenting is all messed up. Some of the paragraphs are indented a lot, and some only a little, so it looks all lopsided. And it took me a few tries just to get it looking that nice.
Now I remember why I usually just copy/paste and don't worry about the formatting LOL.
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I do the same thing Julie. I even started writing my stories in word in an AC kind of way. like I have full spaces between paragraphs, and I never indent anything cause I know it won't stay that way and a lot of times where I would bold or italicize i just use all caps cause I'm too lazy to input my own code. I probably don't even know how to correctly format a story anymore.
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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.
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I have! ;D 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. :)
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^ 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)
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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.
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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
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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.
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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.
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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...
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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
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yeah, I can see that.
Pbox would be a bit difficult like that lol
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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.
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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. :)
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^ Cool!
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^Maybe we'll all get published eventually? :)
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^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?
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Sorry, I'm going to school to be a teacher too. lol
But you know what they say, if you work hard you get results. :) I'm sure if we all keep working hard, we'll get what we want eventually. :)
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Yep... like I said, Mare is an inspiration! I have low expectations; if I could just get a book in print and available on Amazon, I'd be satisfied!
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I thin that would be really cool! I do wish they were available in bookstores though....
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I know... I wish Mel's Tree was. I went to the Barnes & Noble store to order my copy, thinking that if they had to order one, they might order a few just in case... but they didn't. I got my book, and when I checked, there were no others on the shelves. Blah to Barnes & Noble.
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You're gonna be a teacher too Dee? Damn what is with writers being teachers? lmao :P ;D :D. We need more writers majoring in psychology darn it. But literary agent would be nice, or at least very handy.
hehe.
I hate formatting. Any story I know is going to be a fanfiction I write in AC mode with the italic coding and such. My original fiction I format properly cause I know it isn't going anywhere near alone lol.
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I know... I wish Mel's Tree was. I went to the Barnes & Noble store to order my copy, thinking that if they had to order one, they might order a few just in case... but they didn't. I got my book, and when I checked, there were no others on the shelves. Blah to Barnes & Noble.
I can order it from the bookstore? Will it be cheaper?
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You're gonna be a teacher too Dee? Damn what is with writers being teachers? lmao :P ;D :D.
It's more because it's what I'd be good at, than because I want to write. lol
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I can order it from the bookstore? Will it be cheaper?
You can order it from the bookstore, but I don't think it's any cheaper. And then you have to go pick it up at the bookstore instead of having it shipped right to you.
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You can order it from the bookstore, but I don't think it's any cheaper. And then you have to go pick it up at the bookstore instead of having it shipped right to you.
Ahh..... I wish it were cheaper... lol
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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.
I write mine in word, put the html into word as a type it, then I copy/paste into the text box (not the rich text one) and I haven't had problems... not that I ever post anything :\
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I write mine in word, put the html into word as a type it, then I copy/paste into the text box (not the rich text one) and I haven't had problems... not that I ever post anything :\
That's what I don't do... because when I post it on my own site, it keeps whatever formatting I do on Word (as in, just highlighting and clicking italics instead of putting in the italics tags), so I'm not used to having to do it by hand.
I figured if I just save each chapter as an html doc and then upload it, it keeps all my formatting, and the only thing it messes up is the indenting, which is all lopsided, but I can deal with that I guess.
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To be honest I did notice that the indenting changed, but it didn't bother me
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Oh good... cause if I take the indents out, then there's no spaces between the paragraphs, and it's really hard to read. So otherwise I'd have to have two completely differently formatted versions of the story... one with no indents and spaces between paragraphs, and one the correctly-formatted way. And since I just finished reformatting fanfic Broken and am working on doing the same with BMS, I know how freaking time consuming and tedious that is.
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You could always use my method. lol
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Also too time-consuming LOL.
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Sorry double editing method. *pets its head* I still love you.
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Oh good... cause if I take the indents out, then there's no spaces between the paragraphs, and it's really hard to read. So otherwise I'd have to have two completely differently formatted versions of the story... one with no indents and spaces between paragraphs, and one the correctly-formatted way. And since I just finished reformatting fanfic Broken and am working on doing the same with BMS, I know how freaking time consuming and tedious that is.
If it was one giant paragraph I wouldn't read it, I'll take the wonky indent every now and then lol
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Reading a story as one big paragraph every chapter makes my eyes hurt.
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I finally got a little less lazy and fixed this indenting problem by just not indenting... and now there's spaces between the paragraphs, so it's readable. I figure if I stick to posting one chapter at a time and reformatting one chapter at a time, it won't be so tedious.
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You're slowly figuring out the intracacies of AC, aren't you? lol
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Yeah... like how if I put NO spaces between my paragraphs and upload the file, AC will put spaces in. So it looks like crap on Word, but okay on AC... compared to perfect on Word but all weird-looking with giant gaps on AC.
I like AC, but yeah... I HATE the formatting LOL.
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That's why I reformat everything. lol