Basic Text Formatting 101

After several disastrous attempts at submitting an .rtf file for my stories, I decided to start using basic HTML coding. As a former volunteer editor for Literotica, I've sent this particular file to others in the past to help them with formatting their stories. I still get quite a few of my 'regulars' who ask how to format their stories.

It's not much extra work, you can add the formatting as you write or proofread your story. Once you've finished, simply copy and paste your story into the Story Text field. Hit preview and you'll see the formatting instead of the tags. This method will work with any form of word processing program. (Notepad, WordPad, etc.)

Submitting an .rtf file takes longer because the moderators need to go through and add the formatting themselves.

Doing your story this way saves time for everyone because the moderators will simply copy and paste what you've pasted into the Story Text field.

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Here are the basic tags used for formatting text in stories:

<b> = bold (closing tag </b>)
<i> = italicized (closing tag </i>)
<u> = underline (closing tag </u>)

To use bold formatting:

-- The sun was low in the sky <b>but</b> it shone brightly over the land. --

The above sentence will appear like this when you use the bold tags:

-- The sun was low in the sky but it shone brightly over the land. --

Using the bold tags before and after a word will make only that word bold. If you do not include the closing tag, everything after the bold word will also appear bold.

An example if you forget the </b> (closing) tag:

-- The sun was very low in the sky <b>but it shone brightly over the land. --

The above sentence will appear this way if you forget the closing tag:

-- The sun was very low in the sky but it shone brightly over the land. --

Subsequently, anything after that sentence will also appear bold. The correct way is how it is shown in the first example above. To make an entire sentence bold text, add the <b> tag at the beginning of the sentence and the </b> at the end.

Example:

-- <b>The sun was very low in the sky, but it shone brightly over the land.</b> It was a humid day, the air hung thick all around. --

The above sentences will actually appear this way when using the bold tags:

-- The sun was very low in the sky, but it shone brightly over the land. It was a humid day, the air hung thick all around. --

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To use italicized formatting:

-- Mary had a <i>little</i> lamb. --

The above will appear as this:

-- Mary had a little lamb. --

If you want an entire sentence italicized:

-- <i>Mary had a little lamb.</i> --

This will appear as:

-- Mary had a little lamb. --

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To use underline formatting:

-- It's fleece was <u>white</u> as snow. --

This will appear as:

-- It's fleece was white as snow. --

If you want an entire sentence underlined:

-- <u>It's fleece was white as snow.</u> --

This will appear as:

-- It's fleece was white as snow. --

As a side note: if you do not want the punctuation underlined, simply put the closing tag before the punctuation, like so:

-- <u>It's fleece was white as snow</u>. --

It will appear like this:

-- It's fleece was white as snow. --

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To use a combination, here's an example:

-- Everywhere that Mary went, that lamb was <b><i><u>sure </b></i></u>to go. --

This will appear as:

-- Everywhere that Mary went, that lamb was sure to go. --

Same rule applies if you want to use a combination of tags on the whole sentence:

-- <b><i><u>Everywhere that Mary went, that lamb was sure to go</b></i></u>. --

This will appear as:

-- Everywhere that Mary went, that lamb was sure to go. --

NOTE: When using the closing tags, use them in the same order as the 'opening' tags (see my examples above). If you want the formatting before the punctuation, put the closing tags before.

Remember, for any of the above tags, you MUST remember the closing tag or everything after the 'opening' tag will appear as either bold, italic or underlined.

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It's not as complicated as it seems and this is the easiest way I could break it down for you. If you're confused, hit that feedback link and drop me an email (if you expect a reply, don't send an anonymous email.) Or you can just hop on over to the Author's Hangout, I'm sure someone there will be happy to help you.

Congratulations! You now know the basics of HTML and text formatting! I hope this tutorial was helpful for you.