My head hurts. I’ve been beating it against my desk for the past hour and a half. Why am I banging my head you ask? Because of the formatting issues we’ve encountered lately. I don’t blame you guys for my pounding headache; I realize that this issue is difficult to understand so I’ve created LogicalRaven’s Story Formatting 101.

First I should define what block formatting is. I promise I am not trying to plug my story, but I didn’t want to offend anybody by using their story as a negative example.

Below is part of the first chapter of my story, Harry Potter and the Secret Horcrux..

The dark night sky seemed to show the fact that something horrible had happened. Yet, it could never truly tell the atrocities laid forth on that sinister night. Two figures tore along the forgotten roads that lead to the deepest fears of most mortals. No words were exchanged, for there were no words that could explain what had just occurred. The most callous act of betrayal was nothing compared to what Professor Snape had just done.Draco Malfoy felt Severus Snape’s hand tighten around his arm as the two rounded another shadowy corner. There was no time to pause. Draco made a motion to speak, but Snape quickly silenced him with a single glance. The Unbreakable Vow had been forged and completed. The impossible had been accomplished and nothing would ever be the same again. Albus Dumbledore was dead. Draco felt his body shudder. The Dark Lord would not be pleased with the course of action he had failed to take. His mouth grew dry as he recalled the last words Dumbledore had spoken to him. Even in his gravest hour, he had offered him solace and protection.
“This way,” Snape hissed as he started towards another direction.
Draco glared at him; “Where are we going?”
Snape didn’t answer. The further they traveled the more winding the road became. This was a place Draco had never seen before. Was Snape taking them into hiding? Didn’t he realize that nobody could hide from the Dark Lord?

Notice there are NO SPACES between the lines of text. Now imagine being a fun loving, kind, and helpful staff validator. You start a happy shift of story validation and you’re forced to read thousands upon thousands of words with NO SPACES. It would make anybody go blind. Remember, many of us are old and have the stresses of the real world to give us headaches; we don’t want to go cross-eyed trying to validate.

If you simply add a space between each paragraph it would be greatly appreciated. If you don’t, well we’re going to reject your chapter. Now, the second question in this lesson is what is a paragraph.

A paragraph is defined as one of several distinct subdivisions of a text intended to separate ideas; a new indented line usually marks the beginning. You may notice on the site we don’t have indentions. That means it is imperative (important) that you leave a space between all paragraphs! EACH LINE OF DIALOG IS CONSIDERED A PARAGRAPH! I swear I didn’t make that rule up, the grammar gods did. Also, a paragraph tends to be about 4 to 8 sentences. If it looks like a big block try to break it up.

I implore (beg), for the sake of the staffs’ sanity, everybody who submits a chapter to learn to use the space bar. Here is the above example formatted correctly.

The dark night sky seemed to show the fact that something horrible had happened. Yet, it could never truly tell the atrocities laid forth on that sinister night. Two figures tore along the forgotten roads that lead to the deepest fears of most mortals. No words were exchanged, for there were no words that could explain what had just occurred. The most callous act of betrayal was nothing compared to what Professor Snape had just done.

Draco Malfoy felt Severus Snape’s hand tighten around his arm as the two rounded another shadowy corner. There was no time to pause. Draco made a motion to speak, but Snape quickly silenced him with a single glance. The Unbreakable Vow had been forged and completed. The impossible had been accomplished and nothing would ever be the same again. Albus Dumbledore was dead.

Draco felt his body shudder. The Dark Lord would not be pleased with the course of action he had failed to take. His mouth grew dry as he recalled the last words Dumbledore had spoken to him. Even in his gravest hour, he had offered him solace and protection.

“This way,” Snape hissed as he started towards another direction.

Draco glared at him; “Where are we going?”

Snape didn’t answer. The further they traveled the more winding the road became. This was a place Draco had never seen before. Was Snape taking them into hiding? Didn’t he realize that nobody could hide from the Dark Lord?

# posted by LogicalRaven @ 3:34 AM