F A Q

11. In what format should I post my stories to the lists?

All posts to the archive and to email lists should be in ASCII/text format (on Windows computers, the format is usually called Text Format with Line Breaks). Many people can't read other formats. If you write your story in a word processor, please save it as an ASCII file, also known as Text Format With Line Breaks.

Here are some other tips for making your stories reader-friendly for the lists AND for the archive:

TURN OFF HTML IN YOUR EMAIL PROGRAM:

Check out the Configuring Mail Clients to Send Plain ASCII Text website for info on how to turn off HTML in a variety of email programs.

LINE LENGTH:

Please keep your lines to 70 characters or less. More than that and your posts come out with weird formatting, with alternating long and short lines that make reading them very annoying or may be broken up strangely by mail programs that don't use word wrap.

SMART (curly) QUOTES and SPECIAL CHARACTERS:

Avoid using "smart quotes" (quotation marks that curve, rather than the straight ones that I have here around the words "smart quotes"). They turn out as gibberish in ASCII and make reading difficult. Similarly, avoid "high ASCII characters," which are those characters made by using various key combinations, such as [ALT] and a number for PCs, or [Option] and a letter for Macs, such as an accent over the letter E. They, too, turn up as gibberish, sometimes mutilating nearby text as well. Using these smart quotes or special characters may also cause a delay in archiving your story as the archivist has to remove all codes manually (and sometimes it's difficult to tell what character &8217; is supposed to be!)

FILE SIZE/MESSAGE SIZE:

Some mail programs choke if a post is too long; for example, America Online's mail software turns anything longer than 50K into an attachment, and others cut off the excess completely. If your story is much longer than about 300 lines or 30K, it makes it much easier for others if you break it up into several chunks to post them, labeling "part 01/05," "part 02/05," and so on, as noted above. (Using "0" for stories with more than 10 parts makes it possible for the computer to sort them properly; otherwise, they will be sequenced 1 - 10 - 11 - 12 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 -7 - 8 - 9 because computers sort in strict left-to-right order.)

NUMBERING:

Please note that labeling with Roman Numerals indicates stories that are part of a *series*, NOT parts of a longer story. Multiple part stories should be labeled in the "part 01/05," "part 02/05" manner. If you don't know how many parts a story is because you're posting as you write, label "part 01/?," "part 02/?," and so forth.

PARAGRAPH FORMATTING:

Putting a blank line between paragraphs breaks up the text and makes it easier to read. It also keeps paragraphs from running together by accident due to weird formatting and it is essential in getting your story archived promptly! Any stories without a blank line between paragraphs may be delayed in archiving as the archivist has to manually insert paragraph breaks.
My preference is that you not indent paragraphs on the first line but I won't scream about it if you do. Please look at your story carefully before posting if you try this, however, as many mail programs don't recognize a break between paragraphs WITHOUT a two-line space between. It's also possible that those indents will be lost in the process of archiving the story at Down in the Basement.

BETA-READING/PROOFREADING and SPELL-CHECKING:

Please try to have someone proofread your story before posting if at all possible. And use spellcheck if you have it. I'm not trying to be nit-picky, but if you take the time to write a story you should be proud of it -- proud enough to give the story the care it deserves. Now granted, no one's perfect, but at least let someone give it a once-over. If the story is good, it's jarring to see spelling and grammatical errors -- it stops the flow of the story and breaks the spell of total immersion. There are many people on the mailing lists willing to proofread (also called beta-reading in the computer world); just ask. This is a really helpful group, and all you need to do is ask and someone will help. In addition, the Wonderful World of Make Believe fanfiction archive offers a list of available beta-readers.

PARAGRAPH FORMATTING, PART TWO:

A personal stylistic quibble: An awful lot of stories contain dialogue of two or more characters in the same paragraph. It is much MUCH easier for your readers if each character's statements are contained in separate paragraphs; that way, they can tell who says what without trying to parse the paragraph. If you find that your stories are just mutating when they post, please try to skip a line between paragraphs. The more "user-friendly" your work is, the more likely you are to get read, and, so, the more likely you are to get feedback. And this makes it much easier to read, believe me!

And check out these pages for more information:

Writers' FAQ #1
Writers' FAQ #2

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