Fic stuff
First, if you haven't done so yet, go read 
thefourthvine's [Rant]: Professional Writers vs. The People Who Love Their Work, Round Umpty-Snout, which is the most awesomest comeback I've read so far.
Second, OMG, I "finished" the first draft for the Anna AU monsterfic-from-Hell yesterday! 80,000 words in so far, and that's before revisions. *gulps*
Third, I figured out the best way (for me) to format and download fic onto my eReader, which I want to share in case someone else might find it useful (note: so far, I've only downloaded from AO3, and still have to try out the method for other archives/formats*).
I'm using the PDF format, since that seems to work well enough with the reader, and I can handle it like any other file.
To create PDFs that fit well on the reader, I use Cute PDF Writer, but this should work with any Print-to-PDF software.
* It's not a perfect method, since your end result is dependent on the website's settings for printing: in AO3's case, that means that you get URLs inserted at the start of each new chapter. But if you don't want to c&p an entire file into a word processor for re-editing, and just want quick 'n dirty decent files, it works very well.
** I'm working with a Dutch language version of Windows, so the actual terminology might be different. Please let me know if I messed up somewhere. This entry was originally posted at http://scribblesinink.dreamwidth.org/230253.html. Please comment there using OpenID.
people have commented.
thefourthvine's [Rant]: Professional Writers vs. The People Who Love Their Work, Round Umpty-Snout, which is the most awesomest comeback I've read so far.
Second, OMG, I "finished" the first draft for the Anna AU monsterfic-from-Hell yesterday! 80,000 words in so far, and that's before revisions. *gulps*
Third, I figured out the best way (for me) to format and download fic onto my eReader, which I want to share in case someone else might find it useful (note: so far, I've only downloaded from AO3, and still have to try out the method for other archives/formats*).
I'm using the PDF format, since that seems to work well enough with the reader, and I can handle it like any other file.
To create PDFs that fit well on the reader, I use Cute PDF Writer, but this should work with any Print-to-PDF software.
- Create a new, custom-sized form (Go to Control Panel** -> Printers and Faxes. Choose Server Properties from the File menu). In my case, 85x115 mm works perfectly; your screen may be different.
- Set the print form you created as the standard form for Cute PDF Writer: Go to Control Panel -> Printers and Faxes. Right-click on Cute PDF Writer -> Preferences for printing -> Advanced -> Paper size, and choose the one you created.
- Next, the fun part: find the story you want on AO3, and make sure you select View entire work.
- In your browser, go to Print preview, set all margins to 0, and zoom level to 80% (note: this gives me a pleasantly sized font format that works well without resizing -- and thus reflowing the document on my reader. It's eReader and user dependent what works best for you, so experiment a bit....)
- Go to Print. If the selected printer isn't Cute PDF Writer, select it as your printer. Click OK, and choose the location where you want to save the PDF file. You might have to try this one or two times and twiddle with settings, before everything's to your liking. I suggest testing with a small story on AO3, and not the novel-sized long!fics :)
* It's not a perfect method, since your end result is dependent on the website's settings for printing: in AO3's case, that means that you get URLs inserted at the start of each new chapter. But if you don't want to c&p an entire file into a word processor for re-editing, and just want quick 'n dirty decent files, it works very well.
** I'm working with a Dutch language version of Windows, so the actual terminology might be different. Please let me know if I messed up somewhere. This entry was originally posted at http://scribblesinink.dreamwidth.org/230253.html. Please comment there using OpenID.
people have commented.