Forum: Author Hangout

I find it depressing that you think you need such a notice

It could be a squick.

to make it clear the notice is not part of the text.

That's why I want to put it before the chapter heading "Chapter 1"

I don't need a blank line between "warning" and the warning. I don't know if the Wizard system requires it.

I don't know if the SOL translator will allow something put before the chapter title line.

From what I've seen, once the Chapter, Author, and Copyright lines are presented, the translator treats everything else in your file as story text. Based on that, I don't think the Wizard/translator has any requirement related to how you format the warning. If you don't want a line, don't put one in.

I just sent the question to Webmaster. I'll report back with the answer.

The answer:

If you put it between the author name and the 'chapter 1' marker,
it will end up on the cover page.

If you want it in the first chapter, then put it below 'chapter
1' marker.

The answer:

If you put it between the author name and the 'chapter 1' marker,
it will end up on the cover page.

If you want it in the first chapter, then put it below 'chapter
1' marker.

In your case, Switch, I'd probably do both, just to cover my ass. Place it on the cover page so it'll be obvious to anyone accessing the story, but also put it in the very first chapter, simply because most people utterly ignore the cover page.

Putting it on every chapter might be nice for those who find it via searching and thus jump to the middle.

I thought about that, but to me anything below the chapter name is story (not about the story). I'm going to put it on the story page.

Putting it on every chapter might be nice for those who find it via searching and thus jump to the middle.

Just to be safe, why don't you put it in every single chapter? In fact, why not just replace ALL the offensive text with the warning, and all the other text as well. Just have twelve chapters of nothing but warnings! :(

You want to cover yourself against those who are inherently stupid, as they typically complain the loudest, but there's no guarantee against the combination of stupid and arrogant, so I wouldn't get too carried away.

Geek of Ages, I realize you were teasing, but those kinds of responses always rile me up!

So, I was probably going to include the warning on each chapter.

I did that with an informational message in a 20+ chapter story. Richardshagrin found it irritating, when I updated the story, I took the hint and removed the extra messages.

Personally, most people start reading a story at Chapter 1, not in the middle.

The warning would definitely belong in the first chapter. If you want to repeat it, perhaps every third of fourth chapter would be more than adequate.

Richardshagrin found it irritating,

As would I. I also hate when the author summarizes the previous chapter in the beginning of the next chapter.

I also hate when the author summarizes the previous chapter in the beginning of the next chapter.

If the summary is short and the author releases new chapters at intervals of a week or more, I think it's a good thing. It saves having to re-read the previous chapter to refamiliarise where the story has reached.

AJ

You seem unusually eloquent today. Have you finally succumbed to the lure of the Dark Side (minimalist)?

Oops, thanks for pointing that out.

No, my post succumbed to the 'everything in angular brackets is zapped if it's not in the subset of supported HTML'.

I've edited my post with the obliterated text in round brackets.

What a palaver to give a thumbs-up to someone ;)

AJ

Is 'palaver' a rarely used term, something like a 100$ word?

more of an archaic word for talking or discussion.

Is 'palaver' a rarely used term, something like a 100$ word?

Prolonged or tedious fuss or discussion. I used it in the 'fuss' sense.

It used to be relatively common in my childhood (UK English) but it has dropped out of fashion. I can't remember seeing it used in US English.

So yes, regrettably it's now a $100 word.

Send my $100 to ... ;)

AJ

The funny island folks can swim or sink with it, for all I care.

"Funny island folk" cover a lot of different regions, most of which are not terribly humorous. 'D

minimalist

I'm not obsessed with making my stories cleaner, stronger, whiter, with healthier gums ;)

AJ

In this situation, I would agree that a previous chapter summary would be a good idea. I would recommend that when the story was complete to remove those summaries.

I ran up against this when posting my six book series (featuring real books, not just excessively long chapters). I only summarized the previous books so readers could catch up quickly, but I found it necessary (with previous chapter summaries, at least) to remove the summary portion after I'd posted the initial chapter posting subsequent chapters. In the end, trying to keep up with the summaries ensured I never again issued summaries in the first place.

It's better to handle summaries in the text themselves (say having the characters discussion past events between themselves, recasting what happened previously within the scope of what they face in the current story).

It's better to handle summaries in the text themselves (say having the characters discussion past events between themselves, recasting what happened previously within the scope of what they face in the current story).

That can get highly annoying too if it happens multiple times in the same book.

It's better to handle summaries in the text themselves (say having the characters discussion past events between themselves, recasting what happened previously within the scope of what they face in the current story).

That's why it's best as the first chapter (prologue) in a sequel, so it's not too painful to read while refreshing the readers' memories. It won't work at all for an ongoing serial.

having the characters discussion past events between themselves,

Those aren't the summaries I'm talking about. Often, someone repeats at the start of a chapter what happened in the last paragraph or two of the previous chapter.

I understand why. So they don't have to go back and read the end of the previous chapter. I just find it annoying when the story is complete.

The solution is easy. Use the {notice} and keep removing them when the next chapter is posted.

In this situation, I would agree that a previous chapter summary would be a good idea. I would recommend that when the story was complete to remove those summaries.

they should be removed as soon as the next chapter is posted.

I would recommend that when the story was complete to remove those summaries.

If the summary was in the {notice} that would be simple to do.

If the summary is short and the author releases new chapters at intervals of a week or more, I think it's a good thing. It saves having to re-read the previous chapter to refamiliarise where the story has reached.

Except, in the long term, the majority of readers will be reading the chapters one after another without the break, and thus find it extremely boring repetition and will dump the story after a few chapters of constant repeats.

It saves having to re-read the previous chapter to refamiliarise where the story has reached.

That's the crux of it. I write a story as if someone is reading a full story even if I post it a chapter at a time. You'd never see that in a purchased paperback. As a reader, I don't start a story until it is complete. When I start the next chapter I want to jump into what's going to happen next, not what already happened.

I see where it's necessary the way stories are posted to SOL. Now knowing about the {notice}, that would be the place to summarize the previous chapter. It could easily be skipped over.

That's the crux of it. I write a story as if someone is reading a full story even if I post it a chapter at a time. You'd never see that in a purchased paperback. As a reader, I don't start a story until it is complete. When I start the next chapter I want to jump into what's going to happen next, not what already happened.

That's why those of us who do as you do—complete the story before posting—schedule the posts close enough together that readers are unlikely to forget what happened. The problem is, for serial writers who write as they progress, they often fall behind as real life intervenes, and thus a week soon turns into two, then into a month and soon into a couple of months.

Yes, it can. The author repeating one or two sentences as a lead-in isn't too bad.

I'm reading many stories, I tend to get them confused. When a new chapter is posted, I usually go to the end of the prior chapter to refresh my memory as to where the author left off.

I'm not teasing at all. I've been contemplating this very thing, as I have a story under consideration that would have a lot of squick material in it, and I'd rather not have someone going through the search to stumble in halfway through and encounter things without a content warning. So, I was probably going to include the warning on each chapter.

However, that's a lot of duplication, and I don't know how common a use case that is.

In that case, the typical response is to post a warning initially (so squicked readers know not to proceed), and then another on the chapters in question (so anyone already enjoying the story are warned and can skim over the chapter if they're bothered by it). That beats labeling each individual chapter. (That's how many handle cases of MM sex in SOL stories.)

It would be nice if from the search there were a way to identify stories that have content warnings or something like that.

There's the "warning" story tag.

But that isn't the reason for my warning. I've had readers think I was the character. I'm saying, "This is the character, not me."

between the "Show Story Details" and the story text in "Heather Among the Beagles."

Thanks for the link. That shows me what it would look like, except the chapter names would be after it (or maybe before it ... hmm)

Thanks for the link. That shows me what it would look like, except the chapter names would be after it (or maybe before it ... hmm)

In "Stockings" the cover art and Notice appear between the Copyright line and the "Show Story Details" line, followed by the chapter listing.

In "Stockings"

That shows the {notice} is before the chapter names which is good.
Thanks.