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This one will probably be easy compared to the others!

I know stories on the archive are uploaded as test files. Does that mean that ALL formatting is removed? Say, italisized words as well? I'm writing a story where a good deal of it depends on being able to keep up with the scene switches. I've done that with italics.

SQD

No, you can't use italics, bold etc, Robin - it will just be erased as soon as the story is converted to text format for uploading to the Archive, I'm afraid.

Perhaps others have some ideas as to alternative methods.


LabRat

I didn't think you could. (Can you tell it's been a while since I posted with any frequency?) And if others have suggestions, I'd love to hear them.

SQD

While all the formatting is removed - what other people have done is use mark-up that can be converted - like marking italic areas with *____* and bold with something else like <_____>

In theory you could mark-up the .txt file with html code and then all the people downloading the .txt file would have to do is rename the file as an .html and read it on a browser.

I'm confused. Where did <bold> come from? And how common is it? I'd never seen that until a recent GE assignment.

The format I'm used to, the one pretty much everyone I know has been using since I got into this whole "internet" thing, is *bold* and (more rarely) /italics/.

<bold> doesn't make much sense to me. For one, it just doesn't *look* emphasized to me. More.... detached. Like it's a comment (sort of, but not quite, like a short parenthetical) or a placeholder (the author/narrator/speaker can't think of the right word at the time, so put <something> in to make do). For another, < > are the brackets used for all HTML tags, which can be a whole other source of confusion. Oh, and some authors in the fandom have traditionally used them to denote thoughts or telepathic communications.

Paul

I have to say that when I'm posting to archives that use plain text I tend to try to avoid any of this, because it makes the story harder to read.

All that italics and bold do is add a little extra emphasis, or indicate e.g. that someone is thinking. Generally it's better to change the wording a little so that the formatting isn't needed. Is it that much harder to write 'Lois thought that...." rather than writing the thoughts in italic?

No, not harder. But, sometimes, you just want to indulge yourself. <g> I can understand that. Neither way is better than the other, it's just a matter of personal taste and how you feel at the time.

Like Paul, I've always used < > to enclose such direct thoughts when I can't use italics. And used asterisks to emphasise words when I can't use bold. That seemed to be 'the norm' in the past, what most authors used, but I can't speak to any recent changes as I haven't read much in the way of fanfic for a while.

I would probably be confused by using < > as a substitute for bold, or would think it looked odd, if only because I'm used to it denoting something else and my brain is very slow to embrace change.


LabRat

HAS ANYONE THOUGHT OF USING CAPS LOCK,,,


THIS HAS PRETTY MUCH THE SAME EFFECT AS BOLD

(NOT SURE ABOUT ITALICS, BUT DEPENDS ON HOW MANY PHASE SHIFTS YOU REQUIRE)

I GUESS IT WOULD BE EASY TO WRITE IN A FORWARD THAT THOUGHTS USE CAPS-LOCK, AND JUST GO FROM THERE


btw
MS-WORD (or at least the mac version of word) has a function in the formatting palette that would change all highlighted written text into upper-case/lower-case regardless of font
this is as opposed to either having to retype the whole thing in CAPS, or the problem that if you use the Font called (EITHER all caps or uppercase (Word is not open on my computer now...)) the FONTS involving all upper cases would be returned to lowercase in the rich-txt format of the archive, whereas if you use this function, they remain CAPS in any font....


Helena is partying bc I just posted my 200th post

I've used caps on a few occasions where I thought bold was needed - but very few because Gerry yells at me when I do that .

Oh, and congrats on the 200th post, Helena. Your comment made me look at the numbers on other people's post and I realized... SQD, you're only four posts away from 500. Come on, you can do something about that, can't you?

ML

I think I've got a solution. I'll explain it all in the introduction of my story. (Guess you'll have to at least read that much to find out what I went with! ) Thanks everyone for all your suggestions.

SQD (who had to post something for MLT- she's a great cheerleader)

Just testing out a theory.

SQD, before I posted this, my score was 696. So... now it's...

Edit to add: 697

ML

The only problem with using bold is that traditionally internet etiquette has held that using caps is the equivalent to yelling loudly at someone in RL and considered bad manners.

I doubt it would have the same connotation when used in a fanfic, but I suspect that it's been so ingrained into people using the net that it's a bad thing to do that they just don't use it, period.

LabRat

I am coming to this late... and probably too late to be helpful, but...

I personally don't like the caps lock solution. Not only is there the shouting problem that LabRat mentioned, but also I find large swathes of upper case to be an effort to read.

Similarly, I don't like reading paragraph after paragraph of italics... or Comic Sans, for that matter! (Yes, I admit it. I like Arial.)

I think that, if a reader is going to be confused by my switching from one scene to another, then there is something amiss with the way I'm telling the story.

Of course, there are times when the writer actually wants to be confusing, but that's another issue entirely.

This is only my opinion, but I think a row of strategically placed asterisks works as well as anything else to show that the scene is changing. This also cuts down on the distracting use of extra symbols. (And, yes, I have used the *_____* technique for emphasis, so I'm as guilty of that as anyone.)

Chris

As long as you give the readers a key to the symbols you use... we can usually figure it out. ^_~ Just put a little blurb at the beginning telling us what each thing denotes and we will catch on pretty quick. I promise.

Jojo: you are wise beyond your ears. Er...years.

Chris: :p

LabRat (True Defender of Comic Sans )

So do I!

And I'll definitely include a key!

SQD (who isn't trying to be confusing- not really )