Rich text formatting issues

[anthorn]

So they want the sample chapters in RICH TEXT FORMAT, preferably.

So I saved my file in RTF and the result was everyother paragraph WAS LIKE THIS ALL THE TIME WITH ALL CAPITALS.

Then some lines are

doubled


spaced.

Or even changes font for a line, becoming italic etc?

Any problems for you?

 

[chrispenycate]

Never had anything like that; a few page settings to retouch, sometimes margins and the like.

And that's from Open Office writer, "save as"?

Try opening a new document, save with the relevant title as an .rtf document, then opening your .odt file (without closing the blank document), ctrl A, cntrl C, to collect the entire text then ctrl V it into the empty document. If your problems persist, you might have to check invisible characters (I've noticed that your submissions to critiques contain a lot of useless repetition of font styles and sizes; this could be part of the problem) or go through .txt, then reinstall all your clever details (yes, not much fun; but it does get the piece an extra reread, with a different mindset, which can't be a bad thing).

But it certainly shouldn't do that; not that it's not a very good idea to check when you change standards, but normally the changes are subtle, not the sort of brutal modifications you've described.

 

[Ursa major]

That's odd, Anthorn. As a test, I've just saved an RTF version of WiP1 from Word 2007 and using the Full Screen Reading view, I can't see anything amiss. (I wasn't looking for problems with italics, but there are no strange line spacings or unwanted lurches into all caps.)





Do you get the same errors each time you save the file to RTF or are they more random than that?

 

[Vertigo]

I've never had problems saving from Word to RTF, but Chris seems to think Ant's using Open Office and I've not tried with that so can say nothing. If that is the case Ant, maybe you could get the original to someone with Word (it can read Open Office documents now) and have them send you back the RTF - I would be very happy to do it for you if you wish.

 

[anthorn]

Um, it's the same everytime and yes I am using Open Office.

I'll try and sort it out and if push comes to shove send it as a PDF

 

[Ursa major]

That would be okay.

As far as I recall, they accept RTFs (their preference), PDFs and Word files (though you'd probably want to ask of this means .doc, .docx or either).

 

[Vertigo]

Oh just another thought; these free open software programs like Open Office do rather rely on feedback to help them with testing (not having the resources of big corporations like MS). It would be a service to them and the community as a whole if you could send them the document causing the problem (it's only sample chapters after all but do include a copyright notice with them) along with a description of the problem. It is only through people doing this sort of thing that they can find and fix bugs like this.

 

[J Riff]

What are you converting from?
I had open office trouble. Maybe there's a 'remove formatting' setting in the options.
Mayhap you could simply select the entire text, once in .rtf, and reset the font size, and paragraph spacing for the whole thing.

 

[anthorn]

I was using Office world. My entire manuscript 503 pages 111 500 pages worth. I have lived with this work for 7 years. Do not want to reformat

I wrote the Query letter and the exerpt inside the Officeword. ODF. I used Bold for some headings and highlighting names and underlining for where it should be italic.
Saving it to RTF was easy but when I opened it up it appeared like this.

guilt and sends Anthorn to Imara. Anthorn is tasked with escorting the daughter of a merchant, Nikita Sarakus back to Caraksand.
Nikita is more than Nikita winds him up etc.

them all is actually the Aspect of Silendra, one of four End-Lords that came to Onchara over a thousand years ago. Xara plans to use them to complete a rivalry against Kara, her sworn enemy.
Alwyn who has been left behind is recruited by the remaining Scarred, a mercenary group who have returned from a perilous mission to the Abandoned Isle. They have come to take Alwyn to Damorkine in an attempt to warn the others of Xara's plans, though Kara the one who had sent them on this mission fears they will not get there in time. Terin and Sarana and Rosina at the camp of the Dumas Erandi where they meet up with Anthorn and Nikita moments before it comes under attack from the Guardians. Only by the arrival of a second army from the south do the people in the camp survive the attack. In the aftermath of the battle Xara tells them of the manipulations of their destiny through half truth and lies, asks them to join her in a quest to make Kara pay for these crimes.
Intentions.
[FONT=&quot]I see this novel as the beginning of a trilogy with the 1st draft of book 2 already having been

Formatting changes when I post here it all goes back to normal.. PDF it is then
[/FONT]

 

[Ursa major]

I tend to agree. The last thing you want to be doing is worrying about formatting errors introduced by a program. Your time is best spent honing the the content of what you're sending.

Good luck, by the way.