How to Post an Entry to Seasonal Spuffy - the Beginner's Guide
This is part 5 of the LiveJournal tutorials that I've been posting on tumblr and Facebook. If you've participated in Seasonal Spuffy before, feel free to scroll past -- you're good. :) If you haven't and you might want to, welcome! An overview of how this community works is available in the profile, and this post demonstrates in detail how to create an entry, assuming one is new to LiveJournal.
STEP 0: Things to do before posting to Seasonal Spuffy
[(click to open)]
STEP 1: Open the post editor
[(click to open)]Click “Post to Community” or a pencil icon at the top of the recent entries page of seasonal_spuffy, or click “Post New Entry” in the top right corner of any LiveJournal page. See screenshot 17, recycled from the previous tutorial post.
There are currently 2 post editors.
STEP 2: Select the community
[(click to open)]See screenshot 18 (showing the legacy editor). If the community isn’t set, click “To Community” above the subject line of your entry-in-progress and select seasonal_spuffy.
In the new post editor, you can set posting to a community at the bottom of the window instead -- see screenshot 28.
STEP 3: Write a title (”subject”)
[(click to open)]Ideally, the title describes your entry. Here are three good examples:
STEP 4: Fill in the header (the version for fic)
[(click to open)]If you’re posting fic, please fill out this header at the top of your post:
Title:
Author:
Era/season/setting:
Rating:
For “title” and “author”, please give us the info you’d like us to use when we link to your entry.
You might need to add another header line for warnings. If your entry includes Spike/Other or Buffy/Other pairings, you always have to warn.
You can continue the header if you want, e.g. add a line for “Author’s Note”. Adding a summary might be a good idea.
STEP 4: Fill in the header (the version for art etc.)
[(click to open)]If you’re posting art or other work, the basic header is only 2 lines:
Title:
Creator:
We will use this title and name when we link to your entry.
You might need to add another header line for warnings:
STEP 5: Insert your work (the version for fic)
[(click to open)]The visual editor preserves formatting if you paste text into it. Sometimes, it keeps too much, like the font or the background color, and this can become a problem with longer fic posts, because LiveJournal counts all formatting tags towards the character limit. If you want to find out whether this happened, at this stage you can switch to the HTML editor and see if there's a lot of "span" tags throughout the text. If there’s too much formatting and you feel like cleaning the post up, you have 3 options:
When posting multichapter fic:
STEP 5: Insert your work (the version for artwork)
[(click to open)]See screenshot 22 below. After clicking the image icon in the toolbar, I dragged and dropped the image from my computer, set image size to 600 pixels, and put a checkmark in “Add a link to fullsize picture” so that people can click my image to view it in full size. Any size is fine as long as you use a cut (see step 7 below), and you can resize later by selecting the image and clicking the same image icon again. I left the other settings as they were. Then, I clicked “Insert Pictures”.
The visual editor now shows an image in the entry, while the HTML editor shows some link code where I can insert descriptive alt text and hover text for the image if I like.
As an alternative to uploading, you can insert an image from various hosting sites by selecting “Paste URL” or one of the other options.
STEP 6 (optional): Add some end notes
[(click to open)]If you like, you can add some notes below your work, like credit for images used.
When posting multichapter fic, it is a good idea (though not mandatory) to link to the next chapter if you can. Once you've posted Chapter 2 (for example), copy its URL and edit Chapter 1 in order to add the hyperlink at the end.
Screenshot 23 shows how to add a link.
STEP 7: Add a cut
[(click to open)]Cuts are “read more” links that will hide parts of the entry when people see the entry in a feed. For Seasonal Spuffy, cuts are required for all stories, large graphics, and NSFW content. You can’t go wrong if you just “cut” everything except the header.
Unlike some “read more” links that hide everything from that point onwards, LiveJournal cuts have both a beginning and an end.
To add a cut in the visual editor:
To add a cut in the HTML editor:
STEP 8: Add tags
[(click to open)]Please add these kinds of tags to your Seasonal Spuffy entry:
If you’re posting for the first time, your creator tag might not be available yet. That’s okay - we will add it later.
If tags bewilder you, it’s okay to skip this step or skip some kinds of tags. The mods can clean the tags up for you. If there’s enough time, it’s also okay to ask for help. :) You can contact one of the mods, like thenewbuzwuzz or Rebcake, or email sspuffy@gmail.com, write to us on Messenger, etcetera.
STEP 9 (optional): Preview
[(click to open)]Once you’re done, it’s a good idea to click the white button “Preview Entry” at the bottom of the post editor. This option is only available in the legacy editor. The preview will open in a new window, and you’ll have to close it and return to the editor to finish posting your entry.
You can’t see cuts when you preview a post, because they won’t be visible when your post is open. This is normal.
If you have time and you want to make absolutely sure everything is fine before making the real post, you could make a private test post on your journal. The option to make the entry private is under Security near the bottom of the window, and you’d have to edit the “Post” settings at the top to post to your journal. After that, if you see everything *is* fine, you can open that post for editing, go into the HTML editor, and copy everything for posting to the community.
STEP 10: Post
[(click to open)]Double-check the text on the blue “post” button right before you post. The button caption should say “POST TO SEASONAL_SPUFFY”.
For Seasonal Spuffy entries, we don’t require you to do anything with the various settings that are available directly before posting. See screenshot 26 for an explanation of what some of them would do if you did use them.
If LiveJournal won't let you post because of the character limit, you might need to split your story or chapter, or this might be a formatting issue. The character limit for LJ posts is approximately 65,000 characters, counting by the version of the post that you see in the HTML editor, not in the rich text editor. Formatting adds to the character count, especially if LiveJournal is trying to keep too much of the formatting that the text originally had before you copied it. To find out whether that's the problem, switch to the HTML editor and see if there's a lot of "span" tags throughout the text. If there is, see step 5 of this guide for things you can try.
If your entry is finished but it’s not yet your posting day/ not a free-for-all day, you can schedule the entry to be posted on the right day.
STEP 11 (optional): Check and fix as needed
[(click to open)]
If you have any questions about Seasonal Spuffy or posting, please feel free to ask! :)
STEP 0: Things to do before posting to Seasonal Spuffy
[(click to open)]
- For most rounds and free-for-all days, you need a LiveJournal or Dreamwidth account unless you want to email your work to sspuffy@gmail.com and have the mods post it in your name;
- join the community (currently optional, but makes posting easier);
- sign up for a posting day by commenting on the signup post before the round (optional!);
- OR, if you don't want a specific posting day, wait for a free-for-all day, when everyone can post without signup.
- create a new Spuffy work of almost any kind (detailed guidelines here).
STEP 1: Open the post editor
[(click to open)]Click “Post to Community” or a pencil icon at the top of the recent entries page of seasonal_spuffy, or click “Post New Entry” in the top right corner of any LiveJournal page. See screenshot 17, recycled from the previous tutorial post.
There are currently 2 post editors.
- The new post editor looks like in screenshot 27, and it produces posts that are formatted like this. If you start in the new post editor and change your mind, click “Switch to old version” at the bottom of the page. (*ETA: it looks like this is currently called “Edit in legacy editor”.) Your post-in-progress will open in the legacy editor. You cannot switch back with the same post.
- The legacy editor has 2 modes -- visual editor and HTML. You can switch between them freely, using tabs at the top of the area where you write your post. In the mobile site, you only get the HTML editor. Compared to the new post editor, the legacy editor gives you much more control over formatting, and it lets you preview the entry before you post. ETA: here's how to access the legacy (HTML) editor:
1. Go to https://www.livejournal.com/manage/settings/?cat=display
2. Scroll down to the "Use modern post editor" checkbox and uncheck it
3. Directly above the checkbox, find "Entry Editor Default" and pick "HTML" (optional, but it helps)
4. (important) Scroll to the bottom of the page and click "Save" in bottom left
STEP 2: Select the community
[(click to open)]See screenshot 18 (showing the legacy editor). If the community isn’t set, click “To Community” above the subject line of your entry-in-progress and select seasonal_spuffy.
In the new post editor, you can set posting to a community at the bottom of the window instead -- see screenshot 28.
STEP 3: Write a title (”subject”)
[(click to open)]Ideally, the title describes your entry. Here are three good examples:
- Four Banners
- Icons: Night & Day
- Fic: Buffy and the Bloodmobile (2 of 4)
STEP 4: Fill in the header (the version for fic)
[(click to open)]If you’re posting fic, please fill out this header at the top of your post:
Title:
Author:
Era/season/setting:
Rating:
For “title” and “author”, please give us the info you’d like us to use when we link to your entry.
You might need to add another header line for warnings. If your entry includes Spike/Other or Buffy/Other pairings, you always have to warn.
You can continue the header if you want, e.g. add a line for “Author’s Note”. Adding a summary might be a good idea.
STEP 4: Fill in the header (the version for art etc.)
[(click to open)]If you’re posting art or other work, the basic header is only 2 lines:
Title:
Creator:
We will use this title and name when we link to your entry.
You might need to add another header line for warnings:
- if your entry includes Spike/Other or Buffy/Other pairings;
- if your entry is explicit/ not safe for work.
STEP 5: Insert your work (the version for fic)
[(click to open)]The visual editor preserves formatting if you paste text into it. Sometimes, it keeps too much, like the font or the background color, and this can become a problem with longer fic posts, because LiveJournal counts all formatting tags towards the character limit. If you want to find out whether this happened, at this stage you can switch to the HTML editor and see if there's a lot of "span" tags throughout the text. If there’s too much formatting and you feel like cleaning the post up, you have 3 options:
- the simplest option if your text shouldn't have much special formatting: paste text without formatting instead (paste in the HTML editor, or right-click in the visual editor and Paste as Plain Text, or copy from Notepad), and then manually add back any formatting you need such as bold or italics;
- the most effective way if you need to keep a lot of italics or such: try a tool such as https://wordhtml.com/ to change your original formatted text to something you can paste into the HTML editor. This should remove at least some of the excessive formatting quickly;
- ...or, after pasting into the visual editor, you could switch to the HTML editor and remove the formatting tags that you don’t want (although this could be time-consuming).
When posting multichapter fic:
- your first post will, generally speaking, be Chapter 1 (unless you have a prologue or you're continuing from where you left off). There is generally no need for a special "table of contents" post (unless you're posting especially many chapters over several days and you really want a separate table of contents).
- Make sure to include the header info in every post (though you don't have to repeat all the author's notes if you don't want to).
- Every chapter goes in its own post. Sometimes people have to split chapters if they exceed the LiveJournal character limit.
- If you can add links to previous and/or following chapters, that will make reading smoother. You don't have to do this, however.
- If you're unsure, please see these examples of well-formatted multichapter fic: ( 1), ( 2), ( 3). Your posts don't have to be as elaborate. The main thing is to have the header and mention the work title and chapter number.
STEP 5: Insert your work (the version for artwork)
[(click to open)]See screenshot 22 below. After clicking the image icon in the toolbar, I dragged and dropped the image from my computer, set image size to 600 pixels, and put a checkmark in “Add a link to fullsize picture” so that people can click my image to view it in full size. Any size is fine as long as you use a cut (see step 7 below), and you can resize later by selecting the image and clicking the same image icon again. I left the other settings as they were. Then, I clicked “Insert Pictures”.
The visual editor now shows an image in the entry, while the HTML editor shows some link code where I can insert descriptive alt text and hover text for the image if I like.
As an alternative to uploading, you can insert an image from various hosting sites by selecting “Paste URL” or one of the other options.
STEP 6 (optional): Add some end notes
[(click to open)]If you like, you can add some notes below your work, like credit for images used.
When posting multichapter fic, it is a good idea (though not mandatory) to link to the next chapter if you can. Once you've posted Chapter 2 (for example), copy its URL and edit Chapter 1 in order to add the hyperlink at the end.
Screenshot 23 shows how to add a link.
STEP 7: Add a cut
[(click to open)]Cuts are “read more” links that will hide parts of the entry when people see the entry in a feed. For Seasonal Spuffy, cuts are required for all stories, large graphics, and NSFW content. You can’t go wrong if you just “cut” everything except the header.
Unlike some “read more” links that hide everything from that point onwards, LiveJournal cuts have both a beginning and an end.
To add a cut in the visual editor:
- Highlight the part you want to hide.
- Click the scissors icon “Insert Cut” in the toolbar (screenshot 24).
- Change the “Read more” text if you like or just click Insert.
- See if there are cut lines now: dotted lines with little scissor images.
To add a cut in the HTML editor:
- Add before the part you need to cut and after it,
- OR highlight text and click the Insert Cut (scissors) icon. This will add the cut code.
- Go to an empty new line at the start of the section you want to hide.
- A toolbar should open (screenshot 27). Click the scissors icon to add the start of the cut.
- Then go to an empty line where the cut should end.
- In the toolbar, click the scissors icon again to add the end of the cut.
STEP 8: Add tags
[(click to open)]Please add these kinds of tags to your Seasonal Spuffy entry:
- creator (creator: yourusername with your username)
- form (form: banner/wallpaper/manip, form: fanmix, form: fic, form: icons, form: meta/recs, form: other art, form: poetry, form: vid)
- era (era: ats s5, era: btvs s1,…, era: btvs s7, era: comics canon, era: indeterminate, era: post-series, era: pre-series)
- rating (rating: nc-17, rating: other)
- (optional) genre - for fic if applicable (genre: alternate reality, genre: amnesia, genre: baby/kid/parent fic, genre: crossover, genre: holiday, genre: post-apocalyptic, genre: shanshu!Spike, genre: time travel, genre: vamped character, genre: wishverse)
If you’re posting for the first time, your creator tag might not be available yet. That’s okay - we will add it later.
If tags bewilder you, it’s okay to skip this step or skip some kinds of tags. The mods can clean the tags up for you. If there’s enough time, it’s also okay to ask for help. :) You can contact one of the mods, like thenewbuzwuzz or Rebcake, or email sspuffy@gmail.com, write to us on Messenger, etcetera.
STEP 9 (optional): Preview
[(click to open)]Once you’re done, it’s a good idea to click the white button “Preview Entry” at the bottom of the post editor. This option is only available in the legacy editor. The preview will open in a new window, and you’ll have to close it and return to the editor to finish posting your entry.
You can’t see cuts when you preview a post, because they won’t be visible when your post is open. This is normal.
If you have time and you want to make absolutely sure everything is fine before making the real post, you could make a private test post on your journal. The option to make the entry private is under Security near the bottom of the window, and you’d have to edit the “Post” settings at the top to post to your journal. After that, if you see everything *is* fine, you can open that post for editing, go into the HTML editor, and copy everything for posting to the community.
STEP 10: Post
[(click to open)]Double-check the text on the blue “post” button right before you post. The button caption should say “POST TO SEASONAL_SPUFFY”.
For Seasonal Spuffy entries, we don’t require you to do anything with the various settings that are available directly before posting. See screenshot 26 for an explanation of what some of them would do if you did use them.
If LiveJournal won't let you post because of the character limit, you might need to split your story or chapter, or this might be a formatting issue. The character limit for LJ posts is approximately 65,000 characters, counting by the version of the post that you see in the HTML editor, not in the rich text editor. Formatting adds to the character count, especially if LiveJournal is trying to keep too much of the formatting that the text originally had before you copied it. To find out whether that's the problem, switch to the HTML editor and see if there's a lot of "span" tags throughout the text. If there is, see step 5 of this guide for things you can try.
If your entry is finished but it’s not yet your posting day/ not a free-for-all day, you can schedule the entry to be posted on the right day.
- To schedule, use the setting “Date” at the top of the post editor.
- Right after you schedule, LiveJournal will offer to view the post, and it will kind of look like it’s already posted. If you go to the recent entries page of the community, you should be able to see that the post is not there yet.
- If we’re between rounds and we’ve turned entry moderation on, you won’t be able to schedule an entry. You can contact us (message a mod, e.g. thenewbuzwuzz, email sspuffy@gmail.com, or get in touch with us elsewhere), and we can change the setting.
STEP 11 (optional): Check and fix as needed
[(click to open)]
- It’s a good idea to look at your entry in the recent entries page of the community, so that you can see if the cut worked.
- To edit your entry if necessary, hover over its title in the recent entries page and select the pencil icon on the right, or click the title to open the entry, then select the pencil icon in the row of icons above the title. After editing, click the blue button “Save Entry” at the bottom of the page.
- In case of urgent problems posting, message one of the mods who are mentioned in the opening mod post for the particular round; or email sspuffy@gmail.com, or comment on one of the latest mod posts.
- If you have time and you prefer to figure things out on your own, try the LiveJournal FAQ.
If you have any questions about Seasonal Spuffy or posting, please feel free to ask! :)