Forum: Author Hangout

Switch do you post the whole story at once to display at once, or to display a chapter at a time with days between them?

I write the whole story and then post a chapter at a time with days between them. I think that's why I got into the habit of having a separate file for each chapter. Actually, it probably goes all the way back to my story site where I had a separate web page for each chapter.

But I'm talking about the writing process. You spend much more time writing the story than posting it. A novel could take a year to complete. And what I found is it's easier/better to write it as a single doc and then break it up if needed.

And what I found is it's easier/better to write it as a single doc and then break it up if needed.

If you use a master document you can have the best of both worlds. You insert links to your chapters in the master document and then expand the links which pulls all chapters into one document. You can then collapse the master document back to just the links. That allows you to work on the individual small chapter files, or easily pull them together into one large file when you want to do something to all of the files at once.

And what I found is it's easier/better to write it as a single doc and then break it up if needed.

That's how I work too, and why i developed the system i did of breaking it up into posting parts for SoL. Then I lodge the parts all in advance and let the system look after it so I don't have to get on to post each chapter.

But I'm talking about the writing process. You spend much more time writing the story than posting it. A novel could take a year to complete. And what I found is it's easier/better to write it as a single doc and then break it up if needed.

I mainly keep individual chapters because that's how I feed them to my editors, not because of how I post. While they prefer them all at once, I don't want them to feel obligated to edit multiple chapters at once. I prefer they only tackle additional chapters when they feel up to it. However, that's assuming editors can't judge for themselves. (You want readers to stay up all night, but not editors. If editors get too excited about the story, they miss things.)

If editors get too bored with the story, they miss things too.

I'd ask Goldilocks what to do, but she's going down on this guy in a bear suit ...

Is that actually a guy, I wonder? She may be in for a surprise. I'm told bear juice is something else...

EDIT TO ADD; I am so slow. (Well, it's almost 2 am here, that's my excuse.) Just realized the obvious: she's hoping he'll eat her in return, of course.

bb

I mainly keep individual chapters because that's how I feed them to my editors, not because of how I post. While they prefer them all at once, I don't want them to feel obligated to edit multiple chapters at once.

When I'm editing, I like to receive a story all at once. If I don't, how am I supposed to spot continuity errors?

AJ

When I'm editing, I like to receive a story all at once. If I don't, how am I supposed to spot continuity errors?

I didn't say I delivered it all at once, but if they have it all in once place, there's more of a tendency to continue on, rather than thinking "am I ready to start another chapter". It's the same with reading, as long as they can just turn a a page, there's a tendency to read the entire story at once, however long it takes. I can't tell you the number of times I've read a book cover-to-cover, spending all night rather than waiting for more convenient times.

Go to the TOC style definitions and you can format the TOC entries the way you want them to appear. You will need to define the TOC level for each heading level if you use more one heading level.

Since I do graphic chapter titles in my books, I use the < h1="chapter title" alt="blind text">display image command. In the case of lulu's odd capitalization rules, it allows you capitalize separately for the TOC.