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asterekmess · 4 months

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The more I write, the more I understand why Google (in this case, specifically google drive) has such a chokehold on the world.

There is just no other platform that covers all the bases when it comes to the different services and abilities I want to have available for my work.

Google Drive offers a cloud storage i can access on pretty much any device that can download the app or access a browser, and if I'm willing to stoop to using chrome (im not), I can even access/edit my files offline. I can share my files with anyone else that also has access to the app or a browser easily and directly, and give them varying amounts of access to the work. I can have conversations with them INSIDE the document, either in the chat window or through leaving comments on the work itself, all in real time, and easily respond to suggestions from others without having two versions of the project open and skimming for the differences.

There's even an ao3 script I can use for google docs that adds in the html coding I need to make my formatting work properly on the archive.

In an attempt to move away from google drive, I tried a few other options, and none gave me the freedom/services that I need/want from a writing platform. There are file-sharing websites that would let me send a document to someone else, but no way to transfer back comments unless they reformatted the file, edited it, then sent it back for me to reformat. Plus those websites almost always require the other person to also have an account with them. There are offline options, like Scrivener, which is what I use currently for a few different fics, and while it has lots of options, there are almost none that relate to intercommunicative work with editors or Betas or anyone else. Because everything is saved to my computer rather than a cloud, I can work offline, but I'm limited to only being able to access my work from a single device, unless I save everything to an external harddrive and plug it in whenever I want to work. I can't access it on my phone, or share it with others, or leave comments within the work for referencing later. Because it uses its own formatting, I can't even copy/paste writing into it or out of it. In order to put anything in ao3 from scrivener, I have to download the file in a specific format, then re-upload it to google drive and run it through the script i have, THEN copy/paste it into ao3. In order to get any perspective from an editor/beta, I still have to download it and upload to drive, then share the file with the person I want. Then, either I make the changes in the drive document, then Re-download and Re-upload it to scrivener and have to completely recreate the chapters/files that I had working for me, or just have both versions open and only make changes in the scrivener version and just keep downloading/uploading it over and over again to drive. I believe the mac version of scrivener is supposed to let you send documents more easily to other people who ALSO own scrivener, but it's not the kind of back and forth sharing that I would want. It's just a faster file-share than downloading and e-mailing it to someone.

No matter where I look, i cannot find any other platforms that offer the ability to save your work to a cloud (without it ONLY being hosted on the cloud, like Drive. I just want to be able to save a copy of it so that my work is in two places) then share it with others easily, and allow them to make edits/suggestions/comments within the document, while still letting you retain the ability to work on your documents offline when you so choose. Why then, do I not want to use google drive, if it offers everything I'm looking for? Because google fucking sucks. If my documents get to more than like 60 pages long, the entire page starts lagging, as if I'm asking the page to load a massive picture instead of basic text. There is no fix except to make an entirely new document and repaste the words. Drive also kicks me offline at random, despite my internet working literally everywhere else on my computer, and while my work is offline, I can't make any changes, so I have to deal with random pauses in my writing where i'm just waiting for it to reconnect. I can't use the offline edits feature without using a chrome browser. Plus, it breaks constantly, buttons on the screen going missing and documents corrupting in strange ways. In short, it's google. I don't want to use it. But for some reason NO ONE else has made a platform that actually works like google drive, but isn't shit. I don't know whether what google drive offers is actually that difficult to recreate without the concessions that google forces people to put up with, or if no one making websites/platforms understands that this is what people need/want.

The hoops writers have to go through in order to do any collaborative work (and in fandom, that's SO Much more common) outside of google drive is infuriating, and made more so Because google drive exists. I wouldn't be so annoyed that I'm not getting All the options that I want from one platform, if it weren't for the fact that drive is sitting RIGHT THERE proving that it's totally possible for it to exist. it's just that no one's made it, or if they have, it's locked behind a massive paywall.

#personal #rant #writing rant #I hate google but drive is the only reasonable option for people who need beta-work midway through their writing process #NO i do not want to write out the entire fic or even entire chapters before being able to get advise/help/opinions from my beta #Yes that makes me picky and prissy and NO i don't care

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juuls · 2 years

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Humans Are Weird Compilation

HEY FOLKS! I finally did it! (Yes, with permission.)

So until Tumblr made changes to their browser interface, I was having a heck of a lot of trouble with how to get all 100,000+ words of this thread into a cohesive whole, at least easily. For once, Tumblr staff pulled through with an 'upgrade' that actually helped, though there is one issue that cropped up.

While the Notes section is from oldest to newest (I placed this section at the top), the next section of 'comment only' reblogs has no such filter for ascending or descending order.

So yeah, all the fun reblog stuff and additions have to be read from the bottom of the document and up, bottom to top.

Since Google Docs decided there were way too many words to function properly, I'll be hosting a Word Document file in my Google Drive, which I'll link to (you can view it even if you don't have Word). I will be editing out extraneous comments that literally have nothing to add (i.e. "I FOUND IT!") and then maybe eventually I'll start another document where I paste everything by hand in the proper old to new order. And try to add in new comments when I can. (This will take forever, honestly.)

This is a b*tch of a project, honestly, so I'm happy enough with how it turned out, even if it's not perfect. It isn't in the same format like you would read one of this thread's reblog chain, but I feel like the gist is there, and really there are just so many reblog chains it's insane.

I'll make a new, separate post stating this same thing, as well as reblog onto one of the thread's chains, and I hope you enjoy this and all the wonderful creativity of all involved. This has become a favourite reading topic of mine. <3

So for now, current to July 4th, 2022, here is the link to the ridiculously huge document I spent like 12 hours on, and it's still not perfect. It's on Google Drive but it's a very large file and Drive doesn't react well to large files -- I will work on separating things into different files to help with that.)

Humans Are Weird: A Compilation by @arcticfoxbear & The Cool People of Tumblr, patched together by @juuls

I'm also including a direct link to the (again, for now, single -- I'm getting on that ASAP) document on my Dropbox, as well as a link to the folder it's in because I like to compile some of r/HFY (Humanity F*ck Yeah)'s stories into easily readable format. I add those every so often.

Humans Are Weird (.docx version) on Dropbox. (It'll possibly say 'something went wrong' but if you go up to the top and open it in 'Word For Web' it worked pretty easily for me.)

Humans Are Weird .doc version.

r/HFY folder on Dropbox.

Humans Are Weird .pdf version. I've been told this is the quickest, easiest version to open, thank you!

Do enjoy!!!! And consider reblogging (with or without additions!) the original post found here: HUMANS ARE WEIRD. Because it's awesome.

Oh and here's a link to my Mediafire hosting of the .docx file while we're at it! Just in case. As well as the .pdf version of the file.

>~<

Again! I will be dividing this into smaller sections, as well as trying to put things in oldest to newest order. Be patient, please, but hopefully some of these options work for you! If not I can try emailing you a copy. :)

#humans are weird #arcticfoxbear #humans are space orcs #humans are awesome #humans are space oddities #humans are space australians #earth is space australia #hfy #compilation #collaboration #collab fic #writing collab

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quinloki · 9 months

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Writers - Where You Gonna Post?

Hey all, so the TL;DR of this is that I post on Wattpad, Tumblr and Ao3 - All have their pros and cons, and this post is going to get into those (with a neat little summary at the end).

Note this is not an endorsement or criticism of any of them. Just my personal understandings of each, the pros and cons I've noted, and a chance to put it all in one place.

We're going to touch on - Ease of Posting, Visibility, Tagging, Searching, Cost, Security & Visibility, Functionality, and less objectively - Vibe.

word count: 1,874

-:- Ease of Posting -:-

Wattpad: 7.5/10 Tumblr: 9/10 Ao3: 4/10

Wattpad and Tumblr have direct-from-source formatting, meaning your paragraphs, italics, bolds, etc. stay in place when you copy from Word, google docs, or - I assume, Scrivener.

Tumblr has more options for font size, color, and links within the body of the text, and so scores higher than Wattpad's more limited capacity (Wattpad does allow for centering, justified, etc. positioning of paragraphs.)

Ao3 has far more CAPACITY than both, but the ease isn't there. You have to know your HTML markups, and for so people that can be a pain. There's a very useful Google Doc markup template that can do a lot of the heavy lifting for you, but hyper linking, image inserting, and other functions that are available have to be done manually.

This is great, in terms of options, but lowers Ao3 on the whole "ease of use".

-:- Visibility -:-

Wattpad: 4/10 Tumblr: 3 or 9/10 Ao3: 9/10

Wattpad has an algorithm and their tagging system - compared to Tumblr and Ao3 is pathetic. I realize I said I was going to be objective, but that is being objective. It's a spaceless tagging system, so you get really awesome tags like roronoazoroxblacklegsanjixreader and... yeah. There's also a limit on the number of tags, so if you're doing a collection of one-shots it's hard to get everyone in there.

On the upside, their search function doesn't just search by tags (would that it did though.) So having information in your summary will help your visibility. What really gets your stuff visible are reader interactions - knowing someone established on Wattpad and having them give you some shoutouts when you start is your best bet for being seen.

Tumblr's visibility - tagging, searching, etc rely HEAVILY on what kind of writer you are. SFW items are far easier to search than NSFW ones, and the Mature label hides you from people who have opted in to see Mature content, which still boggles me. The in-site search function leaves a bit to be desired, but google searches in better enough to off-set that a bit. Tagging is far more robust on tumblr, but it's also a little hit or miss, especially with new users. (I had no clue how to "tag" properly when I started, believe you me).

There's a solid foundation of readers here, so that makes it a good place to get your feet under you without being on TikTo-- I mean Wattpad.

I'm not going to say much here, because let's be fair, Ao3 was BUILT for visibility. There's no algorithm and the tagging system is robust and customizable. Searching is easy - as long as writers are decent with their tagging, and it's not too hard to find what you want, fluffy or otherwise.

-:- Tagging -:-

Wattpad: 4/10 Tumblr: 7/10 Ao3: 9/10

I've touched on this already in the other sections. Wattpad has a lot of restrictions on its tagging system, and aside from using it to "rank" stories, I'm not entirely sure what else it does. I really don't think it comes into play with searching - key words pull from titles, user names, and summaries at the minimum.

Tumblr tagging is a bless - for the most part. The site deems some words "problematic" and doesn't let you search them, which is poor practice because it doesn't differentiate smut from sex ed. (Personally, not that I want it to block anything on my behalf. If I type it Tumblr, I mean to look for it.) Fortunately, as stated, you can use external search engines to get around this.

Ao3 has probably the most robust, and most customizable tagging system of all three. This is great, as long as you know what you're doing, and terribly confusing if you don't. There's primers out there for tagging in Ao3 and other general "good to know" type things, but it's not intuitive. You really do need the primers.

And Ao3 limits neither content nor tags, so take care when searching, and use the omission functionality if you need to - Ao3 won't hold back unless you tell it.

-:- Searching -:-

Wattpad: 6/10 Tumblr: 6/10 Ao3: 10/10

Smash visibility and tagging together and you get search ratings. Wattpad can be hit or miss because of the Tikto- er - algorithm, my best advice is don't be afraid of the results on page 2 and beyond. As much as it tries to "rate" works, rating is just too subjective. You're going to have to dig, just like you do on Tumblr and Ao3.

Having fan fic reader connections is really your best bet when searching, but slugging through the proverbial trenches yields gems too - and one man's quartz is another man's diamond, so I'm not putting any writing down when I say this - what we're looking for varies, and what's out there is multitudinous and variable.

Ao3 is your best place place for good hunting - it's literally built around it. The only hangups are the limitations of what an author puts in for tags vs what you think to search. Differences in how we perceive some words regionally can limit what bounces back - and sometimes a writer might not think of the word in the first place to add it.

-:- Cost -:-

Wattpad: 3 or 9/10 Tumblr: 10/10 Ao3: 10/10

Wattpad has ads - on the mobile app. You can pay for some stuff on the desktop too, but it's not in your face there like it tends to be on the mobile app. Still, you can use it for free.

Tumblr and Ao3 both request money and offer stuff in exchange for money. Sites need money to run, so it makes sense. Neither locks functionality behind cost (neither does Wattpad, not even on the mobile app), but it's easier to ignore ads on Tumblr than Wattpad's app (and no ads on desktop at all for Wattpad >.> just fyi).

-:- Security & Visibility -:-

Wattpad: ??? Tumblr: ??? Ao3: ???

What's important about security and visibility changes from person to person and I'm not really sure how to rate them numerically.

Tumblr and Ao3 let you make your works private - member or password access only, so there's a layer of visibility control with these platforms that does NOT exist on Wattpad.

Ao3 let's people download works to read offline. Technically you can copy/paste with Tumblr and do this as well. Wattpad does not allow this - you cannot download or copy/paste a work from Wattpad (you can copy/paste when in edit mode on things you own on WP, but readers cannot).

You don't need an account to interact with Ao3 and Tumblr - I *think* you do for Wattpad, but all three are free sign ups - Ao3 is just by invitation (when did that start, btw? I signed up years ago and missed that change).

Which is best, is up to you.

-:- Functionality -:-

Wattpad: 8/10 Tumblr: 7/10 Ao3: 10/10

Let me start by saying that Tumblr's functionality for Short Form Fiction is easily 10/10 - the search limitations notwithstanding. Tumblr's functionality for LONG Form Fiction can be a real pain in the ass, hence the 7/10 overall. Linking posts is a manual nightmare, and sometimes breaks between mobile and desktop for no reason.

Wattpad's limitations on some styles of formatting and linking aside, it does have an easy to use update process, and if there's a limit to how many words can be in a chapter, I haven't seen it, or heard of it.

Wattpad's mature settings are also more functional than Tumblr's, leaving the onus of if the reader is old enough on the reader by the words of their own ToS (I still block minors, personally, since you can see who votes and comments.) They do have stricter limitations, regarding "dark" content, and there is by no means any threat to be levied against minors allowed. Shonen levels of violence, sure, but you're not posting Juno the novel on the site without some issues.

All three sites - Wattpad most recently - have blocking functionality. Wattpad's recent changes allow for deleting comments as well as blocking users, which can be a cathartic ability to have.

One thing Wattpad and Tumblr have that I'd LOVE to see on Ao3 (and if it has it I've missed it) is the ability to schedule your posts and updates. Wattpad added this recently - it's only functional on the desktop, but it works.

For those of us who can write 10k words one day, and none the next two days, it's useful for spreading out your posts. Plus there's just something nice about being able to create a backlog of content, especially if you post on a schedule.

-:- Vibe -:-

No rankings, we die like blorbos.

One of the best things - to me - about Wattpad is a paragraph-by-paragraph ability to comment. Wattpad's readers have a similar vibe as Tumblr's readers - and I mean this affectionately.

You're all GREMLINS.

It gives me life and I love it.

Assholes exist everywhere, but my general vibe of who has the most goes: Wattpad Tumblr Ao3

Maybe some of you aren't assholes, you just don't think about how your comments can be taken before you post.

Ao3 gives me the most Long Form Comments I get out of anywhere else, and I love them. Please, PLEASE, gush to me about what you loved. Feel free to toss in what you didn't vibe with - as long as you're not cruel about it, I can take it. I can't possibly write something everyone perceives flawlessly.

I post to all three, because I like the combined experience I get from them. Ao3 feeds me in ways Wattpad and Tumblr can't, and honestly you can exchange all three of those entirely.

Ao3 feels like I'm walking down the street perusing sex toy shops and someone stops me and goes "Oh I read your story and really liked it, please keep up the good work!" (sometimes maybe they throw a drink in my face.)

Tumblr feels like I'm at a rave with 500 other people and there's 50 blorbos people are doing body shots off of and we're all having fun - and occasionally some asshole comes in, but they're handled pretty quick.

Wattpad's like... being at a Barnes and Noble having coffee in the cafe that's inside the store, and there's a BDSM class being taught in the manga section that's upstairs, and sometimes people take the escalator up and right back down again cause oops.

That's my breakdown - I hope it's helped you, or at least made you laugh a little. Good luck out there, where ever, however, and whenever you post, I hope you find the words you're looking for.

(I do want to add that Wattpad does, as mentioned, have a bit of a TikTok vibe. If you don't vibe TikTok you're not gonna vibe Wattpad, flaws and all).

#quin muses #fan fiction #wattpad #ao3 writer #ao3 #tumblr writers #writers of tumblr #platforms for writing

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in-the-mines-of-veingadd · 4 months

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This comic is discontinued.

I think everyone's seen this coming now. >.>"

Sorry for trying to draw it out so long. I did try, and I wasn't pretending to salvage this comic... but let's say I've done a LOT of missteps that ruined the experience for me.

I'll put the longer stuff under read more, but the basic is: I'm sorry that it had to come to this. You may shoot some asks if you wanna know the rest of the story, or what my thoughts are, or anything else, really! And if you're disappointed, I understand. I am, too. But I think it's best to put the pencil down for this project.

Thank you to those who were waiting. ;o;

The story I planned for this comic was pretty big, and it was my pride for a long, long time. I even had a whole google docs at 23 pages worldbuilding for this comic! But it seems like despite all I try, it still didn't work out for me.

The basics are these:

I am not a person who can focus on a huge project for too long. It feels like a chore eventually and my motivation for it dies. I needed a handbook to hold onto, and I didn't have it! Because I didn't plan the story through!! So if you're like me who keeps jumping projects, maybe limiting yourself to a shorter, simpler story and writing everything down in text format BEFORE turning it into a comic will work wonders.

I discussed it with too many people... Now, having friends isn't bad, and sharing work with your friends isn't bad, either! The problem is, as I said above, I DIDN'T have a strong grip on the story and kept asking people to 'help figure things out with me'. This really muddies my story and overtime, I forget my true intent for it... which pushed me away from the story altogether.

I. STARTED. TOO. BIG. Despite my weaknesses, I chomped down on it because I thought I could do it. I got way too eager, way too greedy, and without pacing myself properly I just shot myself at the foot and lost steam early in the race.

Please note that this only works for me. I am someone with massive focus issues, a full-time job, and other real-life stresses, and I cannot hold the weight of this story over time. So don't be discouraged if you are planning on making your own comic. Just be prepared and try things out before you jump into it.

Pilot comics are always good. Yes. Please do that.

Thank you! Really. For still waiting all this time. I appreciate all of you, and I'm sorry for all of this. I hope the comic was fun while it lasted. As I said, if you have questions or need advice, please ask away! (I won't answer complaints because, sadly, it bogs me down. I'm also unhappy with my own decision! ; ;)

(The good news is I am using this energy to make another comic, but you will see that in +6 years once I ACTUALLY finalize and plan the story down.)

#minecraft

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danpuff-ao3 · 9 months

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Fanbinding Process 1: Typesetting

Someone asked me to chronicle a fanbinding project a while back and now that I'm in the starting stages I figured "oh yeah I should do that!"

Disclaimer: still new at this. Please don't judge me. And also this is just what I do and really when it comes to some of the smaller details, that's personal choice and stuff you'll decide once you get going and know what you wanna do with it!

Anyway current project: A Choriambic Progression (one of my faves!) (I'm also doing In Between Days at the same time but I'm further along in that one so it's not a good one to really show.)

Step 1: Gotta save the fic! I'll say ahead of time how I do this with AO3 fic, even though A Choriambic Progression isn't on AO3. With that, I go to Download > HTML. I've found that way will copy over all the formatting whereas the other ones didn't for me. Then I open the HTML file and copy paste into Google Docs.

Instead with A Choriambic Progression I just went to the Wayback Machine link and copy/pasted all of that.

Step 2: I do my page setup before fixing the body of the work, so I inserted a few pages above the work. I consulted a few books on hand to decide the layout. Page 1 is a simple title page:

I know when I print, odd numbered pages will show up on the right and even numbers will be on the left. So when I first open the book, the simple title page will be face up.

Step 3.) Which means for Page 2 I do the copyright page:

I temporarily removed my actual location for this, but: I made a name for my bindery. Most I've seen have the location of the publishing company, so I have my location in that section. Most copyright pages vary in the setup and even some information, so I borrowed what I liked! A lot have like "First Printing: Date, Second Printing: Date" so I list where all I've found the work, plus when I'm binding it. Even though it's July right now, I figure most of my work on this will be in August so I put August 2023 for that.

For ISBN I usually will put AO3 ID: and the work ID #. Since this was originally posted to Ink Stained Fingers I used Ink ID instead and it's ID # (which is 21???? Very cool.) Also since this fic is old and not really anywhere else, I had to do my best guessing on the date, which as best as I can figure was sometime 2004? And the print line for funsies! Though I don't think I'll do more than this one printing of it, but who knows!

Step 4.) Images in Canva. Which is just....me creating whatever icons and images I want to use in Canva, which is at least a title image. In Canva I opened an Instagram Post sized template. I threw in the title + artist. I had no idea what sort of art I wanted, so I just typed in "magic" and found this crystal & plant art I liked. I fixed up the font how I liked and then went to Share > Download > check Transparent Background > Select Pages: 19 (to just save page 19) > Download.

I also went into another Canva project for smaller images that i call "icons" to make my bindery icon and also a simple image I want to have at the top of the first page and downloaded both of those.

Step 5.) Back in Google Docs aaaand....I knew I'd need some pages before my title image so on Page 3 I added the "archive information" (which is where I'll normally pull the info from AO3, but I did the same basic idea here.)

Then Step 6.) I inserted another blank page (CTRL + Enter) and on Page 6 I went to Insert > Image > Upload from Computer and added my title image. Below it I added my bindery icon and spent over fiddling with it to get it properly centered. (It never wants to center correctly.) Iirc I went into Format > Align & Indent and played with "center" and "increase/decrease indent" until it behaved itself.

Step 7.) CTRL + Enter for another blank page. Then I make sure the start of the fic is on an odd page (though I can always fix this later in Acrobat.) I inserted my cute lil story icon above the start of the story:

Step 8.) I realized I had a problem in that I did all this setup BEFORE setting my font. So I had to CTRL + A to select it all and set it to Times New Roman 16, which I know will print in a way I like.

Next I'll say, I like to keep the space between paragraphs in an ode to fanfic-y ways. But I also like indented paragraphs. So this is a personal choice, but with everything still selected I went to:

Format > Align & Indent > Indention Options > set Left & Right to 0. Then select Special Indent > First Line > set to .5.

THEN I had to go back and fix my title, copyright, and archive pages, but it's less annoying to do that than it would be to try to highlight over 300 pages to do this for JUST the fic. I later added some extras (such as the poem at the end, the author's note, and some review/recommendations for the fic that I wanted to format differently.)

....Basically just figure out how you want to format it.

Step 9.) CTRL + F. This fic was a NIGHTMARE to fix up, ngl. I did all of this last night but basically...I had to find all the scene breaks by going CTRL + F and searching "***" so I could replace those with a horizontal line (Insert > Horizontal Line.) But a few places had tildes instead so I had to do an extra CTRL + F: "~~~~" That wasn't so bad.

The bad part was realizing how much had to be italicized. Regular italic words had a "*" on either side, while correspondence began and ended with an underscore. So I had to CTRL + F: "_" and then highlight and italicize all the letters. Then CTRL + F: "*" to find all the italicized words of which there were like 200. Very tedious.

Step 10.) File > Download > PDF Document

Step 11.) I opened the PDF in Adobe Acrobat for my final stages. Mostly here I make sure all of the pages are in an order I like and make sure all of my pages that need to end up on the right are odd numbers. And if not, I can go to the sidebar on the right and go to "Organize Pages"...there I can reorganize or add blank pages where needed.

Step 12.) Page Numbers & Headers! Again this is personal preference but I can show you how I did it and you can make your own decisions about how you want to do it.

Close out of Organize Pages. Then from the sidebar I chose "Edit PDF." Then at the top toolbar I click on "Headers & Footers" and select "Add."

For me, I wanted the title as a header, and I wanted to insert page numbers. So in "Header Center" I wrote the title and in "Footer Center" I clicked on "Insert Page Numbers."

Then because I want my page numbering to start on Page 3 (I like to start numbering at the Archive Information page) I click on "Page Range Options" and in "Pages From:" I changed "1" to "3."

Note, if you fiddle with the pages later on and reorganize or add new blank pages, Adobe won't adjust the page numbers for you, which is why I make sure my pages are all in order first.

Step 13.) My least favorite part is REMOVING headers & footers from pages I don't want them on. So on all blank pages I took off the title & page number. I took the title off of the Archive information and the Title Image page. I took the title off of the "Recommendations" pages later on, too. It's not only tedious but Acrobat likes to be difficult about letting me select the page numbers so it takes a few tries of me getting the page just so before I can select and delete the page number.

Anyway at that point it's ready to go so I make sure to save it to my Fanbinding folder and next up I can print! So...we can do printing & page folding and maybe page cutting in Part 2.

You know...if I remember. 😬

#danpuff binds #progress pics #step by step #wow this is a lot #whoever asked for this i hope you're happy 😂

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icedteaandoldlace · 6 months

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I had a long, detailed post written out and Tumblr ate it. But anyways, if anyone knows why copying a document from LibreOffice and pasting it into Google Docs changes the appearance of the opening quotation marks at the start of a paragraph, and whether it's a bug in Libre's automatic formatting or some weird setting in Docs that I need to turn off, I'd like to know what I can do to make it stop doing that.

Literally all my quotation marks match properly except for the ones at the beginning of a paragraph, specifically in paragraphs that start with a quote. And no, it's not a matter of straight quotes vs. smart quotes, because they're all smart quotes. They just look like they're in a different font, even though they're not, and adjusting the font/size does nothing. Neither does using find-and-replace. The only way to correct the appearance is by creating a new paragraph above it and retyping the quotation mark, then backspacing the original into the new paragraph, and that's time consuming and annoying.

If my Internet connection ever gets strong enough, I'll attach a picture so you can see what I'm working with here. It's the weirdest problem, and I have no idea what's causing it.

EDIT: I figured it out. See notes for the solution.

#Google Docs #LibreOffice #writer problems #I figured out a fix but it involves adding a third writing program into the mix #and I'm trying to solve this for when accessing that one isn't an option #the irony of Tumblr's paragraphs getting stupid on me while I'm writing this #they've just been all out of whack for everyone lately #never mind why I have three different writing programs and have to move the same document around between them so much

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artdecosupernova-writing · 7 months

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Okay, damn! It's time.

I'm looking for beta readers for book three of the Darkspace Portent series, Thriving: Rebirth! There is no limit to how many readers I'll accept. And I'm tagging @drippingmoon because I'm fairly certain I'd be beaten within an inch of my life if I didn't 😩 (kidding of course)

Prerequisites:

18+ only, for the love of god

you don’t have to be following me!

must have read the published versions of books one AND two (for feedback clarity)—you can find purchase links here

What I’m Looking For:

Here's a questionnaire for you! Please read everything carefully!

I can provide the draft by sending you:

an email with the file type of your preference (I can do .pdf, .docx, .rtf, and .odt), AND/OR

a link to a Google Doc of the draft created just for you (meaning no one else has access to that copy but you)

If you're interested, you can reach out through tumblr or discord! My discord username is artdecosupernova and I'm willing to add people who aren't interested in beta reading as well.

Things to Know:

▷ Should you receive a Docs link, I ask that the comments feature be used ONLY for commentary you may have, and to keep critique/feedback in the questionnaire. That said, of course, commentary is NOT required (but I love it 😁).

▷ Rebirth has MATURE CONTENT, including but not limited to drug mention/use, scenes of a sexual nature, and violence. Please keep in mind!

▷ I have not had the patience or the spoons to make this draft sound pretty. Things like word choice and repetitive words and sentence structure (I don't even have the spoons to properly figure out what the hell I'm trying to say) will be dealt with after the beta reading process cuz I'm gonna need the break lmao

What is Thriving: Rebirth?

After waking up on a strange planet to a full-on war between what have become the Consortium worlds and an alliance hell-bent on taking control of the Milky Way, Warren falls into a brand-new existence while getting used to being mutually in love with Thrive. The two of them embark on a mission to round up a team of elite individuals with the purpose of taking down the Blue Prince Hyret, the Morrite head of civil unrest, all while the Emmuli start to reach out directly, toying with Thrive and Warren’s sense of security and reality.

Bonus Content:

All beta readers will get exclusive BONUS SCENES (unedited and as-is) in your format of choice (Docs, .pdf, etc.). They are part of one file and will be titled and separated so hopefully you'll be able to jump to/skip any scene you'd like.

(There will be explicit bonus scenes! I've labeled them so they're easy to avoid (or find 👀))

As of posting this I have not quite finished the bonus content, but rest assured it will get to you. It's hella spoilery, so, sending it to you when you're done would probs be better anyway.

Deadline (⚠IMPORTANT!⚠):

...There is none. If you're committed but busy, that's totally fine. If you need time to buy and read the first two books, go for it. All I ask is that you give me some updates here and there about progress so I know what's going on.

#not writing #beta reader call #tag: Rebirth #hahaha I'm scared

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isnt-it-pretty · 1 year

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any advice for someone who never wrote a fanfic before?

Writing is a skill like any other. You wouldn't expect to pick up a flute and know how to play, would you? So no matter what, just keep writing.

Beyond that, here's a few pieces of general writing advice:

- Make sure your dialogue formatting is correct. A new paragraph every time a new person speaks, proper quotation marks, etc.

- Remember your tense. If you're writing in past tense, make sure everything is in past tense. The same applies if you're writing in present tense. It's an easy mistake to make, but people will notice.

- Don't use physical descriptors in place of nouns. Like this:

"Dialogue dialogue," the raven haired man said.

It's one of the quickest ways to turn people off your work. Use pronouns or the character's name unless the reader doesn't know the character's name. Sometimes you can get away with character relationships, ("blah blah," his father said), but use them sparingly.

- In a similar vein, just use 'said.' Words like whispered, shouted, etc., should be used for emphasis, not for regular dialogue.

- Don't learn to write from reading fics. You can tell when somebody does because they use all the tropes common to fanfiction, but honestly, those aren't very good (we've had passionate debates in my discord server about whether "golden orbs" or "the bluette said" is a greater sin. There is still no agreement.)

- Run your work through Grammarly. Copy and paste it into Grammarly's word processor since that works better than their google docs extension. Even the free Grammarly will help you a lot with little grammar things you don't notice. I know it picks up typos and such for me all the time.

- Personally, I suggest checking out some nonfiction writing books too. I'm fond of Stein on Writing by Sol Stein, and The Story Graph by Shawn Coney, but most people never do that, and they write fic just fine.

- Depending on the topic you plan on writing, research. I'm serious; the number of stories I've read that just toss in a deaf character because the author likes the headcanon is insane. If you want to deal with topics like disability or social issues, you need to research.

- If you post on ao3, learn the tagging system and use it properly. For example, "/" is romantic, and "&" is platonic. In general, don't use both for the same two characters.

- This is an excellent master list of writing advice by tumblr user she-who-fights-and-writes. Not all of it will apply to fic writing, but the basics are the same.

None writing but still important things:

- You'll never be happy if you compare your work to others. You can look at your pieces all day and wonder why they don't sound right or feel right or why it isn't like your favourite fic author, and it won't to make a difference.

- Coming off that, jealousy is a natural part of being involved in a skill-based community, but don't let it sour your friendships or make you bitter. I've seen it happen, and it makes everybody involved feel shitty. Meet people with kindness and move on, even if you think they don't deserve their popularity.

- Make friends! Fandom is a community. Authors should make friends with each other and with their readers. They should participate in the community by leaving comments on fics, reblogging art on social media, etc. This is supposed to be fun, so let it be.

- It is illegal to earn money off fan works. Don't mention anything to do with money on ao3. Don't link a kofi, paypal, say a work was a commission, etc. It breaks the terms of service.

- Just be kind and have fun.

#asks #writing #i'm sorry if this isn't helpful #i'm not very good at giving advice

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bacon-sandwich-of-dionysus · 7 months

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A little thought that's been on my mind...

I'm feeling a little whimsical and slightly braver about sharing original stuff... as in properly.

What's been super fun is my friends and I have played a rather chaotic homebrew of my original wip, using what worldbuilding I had and making a super fun, though brief, adventure! Having done this has got me wondering if I should share some of my stuff.

BG3 has been providing me lots of inspo, in particular for characters, especially as I've been watching Neil Newbon's playthrough of the game so far. I'm delighted to see he's as obsessed with Astarion as the rest of us (slay!).

#original work #writing wip #worldbuilding #dnd homebrew #astarion is casually rotating in my head like a meal in a microwave #tumblr polls

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sebastianswallows · 1 year

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🛒 🛠 ❌ for the writer emoji ask?

🛒 What are some common things you incorporate in your fics? Themes, feels, scenes, imagery, etc.

Oh my, lots of things, and the more I think about it, the more embarrassed I am, because I just keep revisiting the same stuff 😂

I'd say the most frequent are:

characters who find it hard to accept love

nature scenery (gardens, forests, fields)

kisses over the centre of the chest, specifically over the heart (I find this to be the most romantic thing, expect to see it a lot)

obsession, pining, unrequired love, anything to do with this

female lingerie in any of its forms (I just think it's pretty)

🛠What tools/programs/apps do you use to write?

I use Wavemaker, which has two versions, old and new. For my more "serious" writing, I use the old version because it's more stable. For fics, like the ones I'm writing currently, I use the newer version (I guess as a way to help beta test it).

I've tried a few other options, like Google Docs and Scrivener, but Wavemaker has been the best one so far, and I highly recommend it. It's flexible, it works in your browser, it has folders and notes and planning boards and timelines, and it auto saves via cookies and on Google Docs.

But I will say that if you use it, make sure you have a backup, and that your backups and backups. Export your files in Word format or something on a regular basis. I sometimes hear about people losing all their work because they didn't save properly or something happened to their computer. Not often, but I have heard of it.

❌ What's a trope you will never write?

There's a lot of stuff I won't write, actually 😅 I guess slash fic? Does that count as a trope? Or stuff like friends with benefits or casual sex type stuff. I don't think I'll ever write crackfic either, because I'm bad at comedy.

Thank you for your questions, dear anon! 💕

→ Fanfic Writer Emoji Ask

#sswallow;answers

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kogarashi-art · 14 days

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Posting Fic - How to prep your writing to display correctly on AO3 (via LibreOffice)

So I've seen guides online about how to convert your fanfic for AO3 after writing it in Google Docs, because a lot of people use GDocs to do their writing (which is a decent option, since it saves it in the cloud and all that). I'm not planning on repeating that here.

But I don't do my writing in GDocs, I do my writing in LibreOffice Writer, because it emulates an older version of Word (which is what I grew up on and am most used to), and because I can have more robust spellchecking than on GDocs. And when I was first considering finally posting my work to AO3, I'd heard lots of commentary about how often pasting into the rich text editor sometimes loses formatting, or what hoops people had to jump through to make sure everything looked good.

So I'm here with the actually-pretty-darn-simple method I use to post to AO3 for anyone who needs this, because I want to be helpful.

Please note: this is largely for the basic formatting one might use on AO3. I haven't tested it with fancier things (not even smallcaps yet, though I'm hoping that won't prove too difficult when I finally get around to a chapter that needs that functionality). Also, these instructions are for Windows, which is what I use.

The first step is, obviously, to write up your story in LibreOffice Writer. I have some formatting standards I prefer because it makes my works look like they're publication-ready, which helps me stay in the "I'm actually writing fiction here" groove.

Once you're done writing, you need to make sure the file is ready to save for AO3. With how I write, the only thing I change is that I remove that first-line indent across the whole document. This is easy enough. Select everything, and then go to Format > Paragraph.

Once in that dialog, change the first line indent to 0. If you don't see a number there at all, just enter the number in there.

Then press "OK." This will realign all the paragraphs, including their first lines, to the left margin.

Note that I haven't changed the spacing between paragraphs at all. It's still single-spaced, and that's fine, because the next step can handle that.

DON'T SAVE OVER THE ORIGINAL.

What you want to do at this point is select "Save As" and make sure to save it as an html file, not whatever file format you normally use. LibreOffice will probably ask if you want to do that or use its native format, and you can just tell it "use html format."

You should now have an html file wherever you saved it. If you double-click it, it will open in your default browser, and you can check that the formatting carried over properly if you want. It should look ready for posting, complete with the internet-standard single empty line between paragraphs. LibreOffice knows to wrap each paragraph in html paragraph tags, which is what AO3 likes, and AO3 (and generally the rest of the internet) reads that as the extra empty space between paragraphs, just like you should see here on Tumblr.

Now you need to navigate to where you have the file on your computer via your file manager of choice (I'm on Windows, so I use File Explorer, which I can reach just by right-clicking on the Start button, but I also have a shortcut to it on my taskbar). Right-click on the file, and "open with" Notepad. You can also just open Notepad and open the file from within the program.

You should see the html code for the file.

This is all set and ready to go. Copy everything between the "body" tags in the file (I also skip the lines that are for the chapter title, because I can enter that in a different spot on AO3).

Copy the selected code and paste it into the HTML editor on AO3. If you want AO3 to do a bit of cleanup for you, you can click over to the Rich Text editor, then back to HTML, and it will clean up extra carriage returns and such, but this isn't necessary. Double-check that everything looks good by clicking "Preview," and if you're happy, click "Post."

This even preserves smart quotes, which I don't bother to change to straight quotes, though I suppose you could do so if you wanted.

But honestly, that's how easy it is. Save the file as html, copy the html over to AO3, and done. No scripts, no file converters, no worrying if your formatting is going to survive being pasted into the Rich Text editor. Just LibreOffice and Notepad.

#fanfiction #fanfiction resources #tips and advice #how to copy from LibreOffice to AO3

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umilily · 1 year

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Hiii it’s Shoey! So sorry for my absence, I’ve been busy with work sadly (ヽ´ω`)

Buuutt I'm here back with my meru rambling teehee, I've been thinking about him and kaname a lot

1) thinks about. kaname at some point waking up and meeting the reader in coffee cups and the absolute mindfuck and shenanigans that happen after. It would either "why are fucking my brother." or he looks up to you? Somewhere in the middle ground? Kana waking up and being back in sync is definitely a pot hole of itself but it's a fun thought

2) hi. bunny meru. been thinking about him again and. Just imagining putting on the outfit he has on or some sort of alternate outfit. It's such an outfit but I think it would be fun to wear ya know? boobs might be a problem but hey and plus himeru yume goes crazy I need to see his reaction to reader putting on the thing

3) do you ever stop and think about how kaname is butterfly coded and oremeru is moth coded. yeah

anyways I'm gonna go night its late here so if these feel lackluster sorry it's the sleepiness getting to me kay byeeeee

- shoe anon

welcome back shoe, good to hear from you <3 i hope you're not too stressed out from your work :)

yesss... rambling! i've been so busy lately, this feels like a real treat. i much prefer to think about kaname and meru than about biochemistry lmao thanks for always sharing your thoughts with me <3

1: “why are you fucking my brother” lmaooo don’t tempt me to actually put that line in a fic. But yeah, I’ve been thinking about that scenario as well. it’s probably the biggest thing I haven’t actually decided on whether I should have that happen in the series or not. It’s so tempting and I have a lot of thoughts on what could happen in that scenario, but also I’m worried that the sheer amount of issues that would arise with that development might be a little too much to properly fit into the format of the series, if that makes any sense. I imagine that Kaname would be very torn between how much he looks up to his brother and being angry about meru just taking over his life and acting like he’s doing Kaname a favour. Between that and meru just being completely overwhelmed by the situation and being too emotionally inept to understand Kaname and act accordingly, I imagine the overall situation in the household to be quite tense with poor reader just stuck in the middle of it and trying to mediate. Because of course meru (being a bit of a control freak) would insist that Kaname moves in with you when he gets discharged from the hospital. Imagine being home alone with that kid while meru is at work and Kaname just constantly switches between singing the highest praises about his brother just to be grumpy the next minute, complaining that his brother treats him like a child and doesn’t take him seriously. Also, consider the following: I think the reader and Kaname would end up getting along just fine and naturally meru is happy about that and it puts his mind at ease to know that his brother isn’t lonely when he himself can’t keep him company. so everything’s just peachy, right? Think again, because when is anything involving these people ever not complicated. i would imagine that once meru thinks about it, he’d actually get jealous (a little or a lot? lol) when he considers that Kaname and him basically look exactly the same and considering the type of person he himself is and how complicated he can be, he starts to worry that reader could ditch him for his little brother. (as if they would ever lol) and of course that trainwreck of a man would not say anything and just bottle it up until he snaps and- well what would happen in that scenario might be a thought for another day (that I may or may not have a WIP about, buried somewhere in my fic folder on google docs lol)

I haven’t given up the hope that we might get some more crumbs on that whole topic soon, so I’ll be a little patient before I actually decide on whether to write about that or not.

2: I feel like if you’d actually wear his clothes secretly and he caught you, he’d try to act annoyed about it like “you’re gonna stretch the fabric” and all, but he’d also find it way too cute to actually be mad and you could tell lmao just imagine trying on the bunny ears and he just comes home and stands there in the door like 🧍‍♂️ when he see you. he’d probably be so embarrassed lol

3: … actually, I’ve never made the moth connection, but now that you point it out, he really is :o if you have any further thoughts on that, please feel free to elaborate, I have to ponder on that for a bit… also: this is a very random thought that is only vaguely connected to this (?) but do you ever think about how most people like butterflies, but at the same time think that moths are creepy? (or is that just the case with the people I encounter?) Anyway, rude! What did moths ever do to them? they’re cute, fuzzy little friends… now I’m thinking about meru in a very fluffy sweater lol

#lily answers #shoe anon

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postwarlevi · 1 year

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*points mic* What is your favourite way of formatting your fics? 👀

Oh gosh Nick, I hope I get this right, I don't even use google docs or anything, just plain ole Wordpad haha.

I don't think about it much, but I think I have a bit of my own style? Shorter spontaneous pieces don't usually get a proper treatment haha, but for planned out fics I have the title, then I use my favorite purple with bold (and sometimes larger lettering) for the content which includes the word count, and under that, sometimes in Italics, sometimes not haha, I include an A/N aka authors note stating small things like if it was proofread or about the idea or what have you. And if I ever have a possible warning about the fic (which is rare) that will go under the A/N

If I find a picture and/or song to go along with the fic it is placed just before the story starts. Then, in the story usually to make a break I put a bunch of ------ but I should really just start using dividers and shouting out the maker, I only did that once but it looked nice, so I need to not be so lazy and continue that. Any flashbacks are mentioned in bold then words in Italics, with a clear spot where it ends.

At the end I put another A/N if there's something I wanted to mention but felt it needed to come after the story. Most the time (at least now) if I ever tag anyone it would go at the bottom. I always try to properly tag my fics with characters and any theme and warning if needed.

Oh also if there's more than one part to a story that will go up near the top just before the story starts/ after the content and A/N.

I think this all words just fine for me :)

I do hope this long winded answer makes sense and is what you were asking. If not remember I'm old and lucky I know how to use this site at all HAHA.

#eliza answers #moots #moots nick #formatting #is this right?

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scaredysap · 3 years

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The (extensive) MDZS Pacific Rim AU - Pt 1/?

First things first, for those who may not know: What is Pacific Rim? From Wikipedia: “The film is set in the future, when Earth is at war with the Kaiju, colossal sea monsters which have emerged from an interdimensional portal on the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. To combat the monsters, humanity unites to create the Jaegers, gigantic humanoid mechas, each controlled by two co-pilots whose minds are joined by a mental link.” ← this is called ‘drifting’ and it requires the pilots to be perfectly in sync with each other, on the same wavelength (be it romantic, platonic or out of being family, anything goes; it’s the power of human unity)

The Jaegers are stored and launched from giant military compounds called the Shatterdomes, which house living quarters, labs to study Kaiju Science, training grounds and much more.

The kaiju themselves are extremely deadly and unpredictable, seeming to have no correlation in how they look like /one might have wings, the other might have tentacles, you never know).

The kaiju invasion has been going for a long time, starting in 2015 and ending (in the movie) in 2026. It is a war of endurance and humanity’s resources are running low. Thus some have decided to redirect funds from the Jaeger program to the construction of an Anti-Kaiju Wall along the Pacific coasts to protect the in-land settlements.

That said, let’s go into an overview of all the major characters into this AU

GUSU LAN

Lan Qiren: Marshall of the Shatterdome, directs the whole operation with a tight grip and strict rules.

Lan Xichen: renowned pilot, partnered first with Lan Wangji and then Nie Mingjue; candidate for the position of Marshall.

Lan Wangji: renowned pilot, partnered with Lan Xichen (and eventually Wei Wuxian); had to be demoted for a time due to acting against PPDC orders, acted as training instructor instead.

Lan Sizhui: pilot trainee, has a knack for K-Science.

Lan Jingyi: pilot trainee, looking to be partnered with Lan Sizhui.

YUNMENG JIANG

Jiang Fengmian: head of Jaeger deployment and transportation; he coordinates with Mission Control to organise the fleet of transport vehicles.

Yu Ziyuan: teacher at the Jaeger Academy, with a focus on physical training; known for her harsh and relentless method, she is harsh in the choice of who makes it past the first cut.

Jiang Yanli: HR/Ambassador between the Shatterdomes and the Anti-Kaiju Wall, she’s a diplomatic genius.

Wei Wuxian: Jaeger Technician and mechanic, partly responsible for the switch from nuclear-powered to digital Jaegers (Mark-3 to Mark-4); he started a study on how to bring the raw power of the nuclear core into the new models.

Jiang Cheng: started out as a helicopter pilot to deploy Jaegers, later became training instructor, stationed at the Shatterdome to keep every soldier in top shape.

LANLING JIN

Jin Guangshan: CEO of a world-class construction company, one of the main investors in the Anti-Kaiju Wall project.

Jin Zixuan: son and soon to be heir of the Jin company; notably confident in the viability of the Wall project as a better alternative to the costly Jaeger program.

Jin Guangyao: JGS’s illegitimate son, started as a Jaeger technician, moved into communications; he eventually got recognised as part of the Jin family and joined the company as his father’s assistant.

Mo Xuanyu: another illegitimate son, he lived most of his life in the Shatterdome and picked up bits of J-Tech and K-Science knowledge; he got claimed by JGS but eventually he was driven out again due to a scandal, returning to the Shatterdome.

Jin Ling: started out as a pilot trainee but just was not suited to it; he moved to the Jaeger Tech program and found his calling there; also a skilled helicopter pilot.

QINGHE NIE

Nie Mingjue: legendary Jaeger pilot (active 2015-2021), originally partnered with Nie Zonghui, then with Lan Xichen; known for being the only pilot to ever get a kaiju kill on his own after NZH was killed in action.

Nie Zonghui: renowned pilot, able to operate two Jaeger arms at once, giving his and NMJ’s Jaeger three upper limbs; cousin to NMJ and NHS. Killed in action (2019)

Nie Huaisang: Shatterdome technician, specifically in the LOCCENT Mission Control, essentially providing communication and data about kaiju attacks between the Shatterdome and the active Jaegers.

QISHAN WEN

Wen Ruohan: K-Science expert, specializes in biology and chemistry; secret head of the market smuggling kaiju parts.

Wen Qing: renowned doctor in many fields, ranging from medical to K-Science (cryptozoologist); the latter got her into the Shatterdome as head of the research department, despite preferring to work in the medical field.

Wen Ning: joined WQ in the Shatterdome, most often works as a Hazmat Officer to neutralize the toxicity of kaiju blood; he also has decent knowledge about other types of long-term threats to humans, such as radiation.

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ao3commentoftheday · 3 years

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Hello! I totally adore your blog, it's led me to look into many quirks, identify with issues that other authors have, and read how people deal with them.

Anyway. I've been reading fanfiction for more than a decade, but the last time I published something was back on ff.net about more than a decade ago. I'm writing again upon joining a small fandom and I want to contribute much, but is there a way to properly upload fics on ao3? (With ao3, it's a totally a different platform than I am used to.) I've seen posts of bugs and formatting issues, and I am very much baffled. I've tried googling but there's just so many stuff I think? If you can lead me to any helpful tips that would be very much appreciated.

Unlike FFN, with AO3 you don’t upload a file. You can either import a work that’s already online somewhere by using the url of the page where it’s hosted, or you can copy/paste or draft the work into the Work Text box.

The formatting issues you’ve heard about are probably related to italics. I forget what the exact issue is, but if you make sure your punctuation isn’t italicized, then I think that fixes it? Or, if you write your fics in google docs, you can use a script to do all of the formatting for you. Instructions and a link to the script are here.

I tend to write directly into the Work Text box because I’m a madwoman who doesn’t use a beta and doesn’t have the foresight to write ahead. I just write the thing and post it directly. You can save your work as a draft, but the draft will be automatically deleted if you don’t post it within 30 days. That might be the bug you’re seeing?

Also, to give yourself an easier time of it, I recommend using Rich Text mode instead of HTML. I’m a big fan of keyboard shortcuts, and when I use Rich Text, I can use ctrl+i and ctrl+b just like I would in any other software like Word or Docs (or even tumblr).

If you’d like to watch a video that covers the basics, I posted one over here on youtube a month or so ago. That might help?

Blog, feel free to share any additional resources you think will help anon out. And if you know of any other bug fixes (or can better explain the one I referenced), feel free to share those as well.

#asks and answers #Anonymous

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