Secret Author Stories Contest 2024 Talking Topic

[Mikiesboy]

1 minute ago, BentedWreath said:

They'll definitely be credited of course, whenever I finish the story and am able to brave the story posting system and figure out how.

Just step by step.. and your editor is an expert at posting things... probably.  🤣

[Jason Rimbaud]

1 minute ago, Mikiesboy said:

Time for you to start another then, Jason.    ☮️

My friends say they are too old to participate in my insane street art pieces, they lack the conviction of youth methinks.  

[Jason Rimbaud]

13 minutes ago, BentedWreath said:

They'll definitely be credited of course, whenever I finish the story and am able to brave the story posting system and figure out how.

I do think the posting system here is a bit complicated. I get the fact that there are too many for a mod to actually format everything and post it for authors, but damn, you have to have a degree in computer science and horticulture to figure out how to get your damn story formatted correctly so you don't get an email from Cia. 

I would pay anyone in food if they could post my things for me. I'll even give them all the credit just so I don't have to figure that part out. Maybe I could use @Thirdly for that!  

Not a fault of GA but on me being not computer good 

J (I think the only reason I submitted a story for Hidden Author, was Cia said she was going to format and post it, no lie)

Edited August 15, 2024 by Jason Rimbaud
Clarification

[Lee Wilson]

3 minutes ago, Jason Rimbaud said:

I do think the posting system here is a bit complicated. I get the fact that there are too many for a mod to actually format everything and post it for authors, but damn, you have to have a degree in computer science and horticulture to figure out how to get your damn story formatted correctly so you don't get an email from Cia. 

I would pay anyone in food if they could post my things for me. I'll even give them all the credit just so I don't have to figure that part out. Maybe I could use @Thirdly for that!  

J

I’m not sure I would want to trust anyone here with my credentials. Lord knows what kinds of stories “I’d” post. Hehe

I’d have no problem formatting them externally for you, then you can just copy/paste. Or for the computer savvy, ctrl+c/ctrl*v

[Jason Rimbaud]

1 minute ago, Lee Wilson said:

I’m not sure I would want to trust anyone here with my credentials. Lord knows what kinds of stories “I’d” post. Hehe

I’d have no problem formatting them externally for you, then you can just copy/paste. Or for the computer savvy, ctrl+c/ctrl*v

I'm sure they'd be better than the ones I would post. 

And if you aren't joking, I might take you up on that formatting thing, because the last time, after failing several times, I just typed everything from scratch. I'm a fast typer but that was just more insane then fighting city hall about the dandelion murder. 

[Thirdly]

10 minutes ago, Jason Rimbaud said:

I do think the posting system here is a bit complicated. I get the fact that there are too many for a mod to actually format everything and post it for authors, but damn, you have to have a degree in computer science and horticulture to figure out how to get your damn story formatted correctly so you don't get an email from Cia. 

I would pay anyone in food if they could post my things for me. I'll even give them all the credit just so I don't have to figure that part out. Maybe I could use @Thirdly for that!  

Not a fault of GA but on me being not computer good 

J (I think the only reason I submitted a story for Hidden Author, was Cia said she was going to format and post it, no lie)

I actually do have a degree in computer science and Cia still had to flag a few of my mistakes before. 🤣

[Thirdly]

3 minutes ago, Jason Rimbaud said:

I'm sure they'd be better than the ones I would post. 

And if you aren't joking, I might take you up on that formatting thing, because the last time, after failing several times, I just typed everything from scratch. I'm a fast typer but that was just more insane then fighting city hall about the dandelion murder. 

That's where I would just paste as plain text 

[Jason Rimbaud]

Just now, Thirdly said:

That's where I would just paste as plain text 

Let me explain what I know. If it's excel, I could write a book and know all the shortcuts and formula's. I can make a spreadsheet that would cause you to lose sleep at night. 

Doc's, I now how to copy and paste, that's it. Don't know what is plain text or how one would paste as plain text. Is that just dressing in tans and browns  plain? Dunno, 

[Thirdly]

3 minutes ago, Jason Rimbaud said:

Let me explain what I know. If it's excel, I could write a book and know all the shortcuts and formula's. I can make a spreadsheet that would cause you to lose sleep at night. 

Doc's, I now how to copy and paste, that's it. Don't know what is plain text or how one would paste as plain text. Is that just dressing in tans and browns  plain? Dunno, 

The way I do it is ctrl + shift key + v

[Lee Wilson]

14 minutes ago, Jason Rimbaud said:

I'm sure they'd be better than the ones I would post. 

And if you aren't joking, I might take you up on that formatting thing, because the last time, after failing several times, I just typed everything from scratch. I'm a fast typer but that was just more insane then fighting city hall about the dandelion murder. 

Completely serious. We could always try once and if you’re not happy, fire me, no worries.

[kbois]

23 minutes ago, Jason Rimbaud said:

I do think the posting system here is a bit complicated. I get the fact that there are too many for a mod to actually format everything and post it for authors, but damn, you have to have a degree in computer science and horticulture to figure out how to get your damn story formatted correctly so you don't get an email from Cia. 

I would pay anyone in food if they could post my things for me. I'll even give them all the credit just so I don't have to figure that part out. Maybe I could use @Thirdly for that!  

Not a fault of GA but on me being not computer good 

J (I think the only reason I submitted a story for Hidden Author, was Cia said she was going to format and post it, no lie)

GA does not play nice in the sandbox with Google Docs. I write in Docs so I can easily share with my team, then copy and paste into Word to format correctly. That's the document I copy when it's time to post.  

Computers suck. 

[Jason Rimbaud]

9 minutes ago, Thirdly said:

The way I do it is ctrl + shift key + v

No offense, but I just hit what you said, and my drive didn't magically open, nor did it start dressing in tans and browns. You can tell me to hit this amount of keys all you want but I don't think my tiny brain comprehends things like normal people. 

I do like the fact that Lee Wilson just managed to position himself into being able to read my little stories before they are posted.  

J 

[Jason Rimbaud]

9 minutes ago, Lee Wilson said:

Completely serious. We could always try once and if you’re not happy, fire me, no worries.

Again, after you read my next little (180K word story) you might fire me. It's nothing like I ever wrote before. For one, it's highly erotic, something I'm not known for doing, secondly, it deals with things that I had to do a ton of research because I never did that or experienced before so I couldn't write about it until I did. You have been warned!  

J 

[Lee Wilson]

6 minutes ago, Jason Rimbaud said:

Again, after you read my next little (180K word story) you might fire me. It's nothing like I ever wrote before. For one, it's highly erotic, something I'm not known for doing, secondly, it deals with things that I had to do a ton of research because I never did that or experienced before so I couldn't write about it until I did. You have been warned!  

J 

I would guess 180k words would be a bunch of chapters. If not, I could suggest breakpoints, or just take a few days to tackle it. I’m usually far enough ahead on my own stories to take a short sabbatical. My email is on my profile. We can take this discussion to email if you wish.

[Jason Rimbaud]

1 minute ago, Lee Wilson said:

I would guess 180k words would be a bunch of chapters. If not, I could suggest breakpoints, or just take a few days to tackle it. I’m usually far enough ahead on my own stories to take a short sabbatical. My email is on my profile. We can take this discussion to email if you wish.

It still has to go to an editor and everything. so trust me, it won't be for a long time. It wouldn't be all at once, GA doesn't allow posting of whole stories right? It must be a chapter at a time, every few days. Right now the chapter are about 4000 or so words each. 

[Cia]

Another tip is to do a final editing run from bottom to top. As authors, we know what we expect the words and story to be so we don't see the words for the story. Try starting at the last paragraph and reading that one, then next to last, the one before that, etc... This way is easier to focus on the words and symbols that are there and catch errors as a final proofread. 

[Thirdly]

1 hour ago, Cia said:

Another tip is to do a final editing run from bottom to top. As authors, we know what we expect the words and story to be so we don't see the words for the story. Try starting at the last paragraph and reading that one, then next to last, the one before that, etc... This way is easier to focus on the words and symbols that are there and catch errors as a final proofread. 

That is an awesome method of madness.

Edited August 16, 2024 by Thirdly

[Jason Rimbaud]

1 minute ago, Thirdly said:

That is an awesome method of madness.

Trust @Cia to present new levels of madness for us.  

[CassieQ]

15 hours ago, Lee Wilson said:

I usually have an extra doc that I keep the timeline and key moments in.

Y'all are so cute and organized.  I just throw everything in and pray it somehow makes sense.

[kbois]

26 minutes ago, CassieQ said:

Y'all are so cute and organized.  I just throw everything in and pray it somehow makes sense.

I think we must be soul sisters. 😆

[CassieQ]

Just now, kbois said:

I think we must be soul sisters. 😆

Must be.  When I read your SA entry, it felt like reading something I would write.  

[Mark Arbour]

20 hours ago, kbois said:

GA does not play nice in the sandbox with Google Docs. I write in Docs so I can easily share with my team, then copy and paste into Word to format correctly. That's the document I copy when it's time to post.  

Computers suck. 

I type all of my chapters in Word (Doc) then upload them to Google Docs so my team can edit them.  When a chapter is ready to publish, I download from Google Docs (File: Download: Microsoft Word), do a final read, then cut and paste it into GA.  Seems to work for me, but then again, I like formatting, which the site doesn't appreciate, so I don't post unformatted text.

20 hours ago, Cia said:

Another tip is to do a final editing run from bottom to top. As authors, we know what we expect the words and story to be so we don't see the words for the story. Try starting at the last paragraph and reading that one, then next to last, the one before that, etc... This way is easier to focus on the words and symbols that are there and catch errors as a final proofread. 

That's an interesting idea.

Edited August 16, 2024 by Mark Arbour

[Gary L]

11 minutes ago, Mark Arbour said:

I type all of my chapters in Word (Doc) then upload them to Google Docs so my team can edit them.  When a chapter is ready to publish, I download from Google Docs (File: Download: Microsoft Word), do a final read, then cut and paste it into GA.  Seems to work for me, but then again, I like formatting, which the site doesn't appreciate, so I don't post unformatted text.

That's an interesting idea.

But here’s someone who’s got PhD in publishing on GA!!!

[Gary L]

On 8/15/2024 at 6:22 PM, Mancunian said:

Take comfort in the fact that you are not alone. At least you guessed, many didn't even try.

I was too afraid of failure 😞 

[Alexmugs]

Did I miss something? Has the poll results been posted yet? I didn't see it anywhere.