***FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS***
If you have questions about this website, you might find your answers here. If you don't, just email me.
The questions on the FAQ mostly refer Fanfic Submissions. A lot
of people shyly ask me to guide them through the fanfic submission process
because they don't know much about computers. So most of them are
just simple computer questions.
Never be embarrassed to ask me even the simplest questions!
Honestly! When I first started out, all I knew how
to do was to push the power button on my PC! I'm not kidding!
So if you know more than that, you're way ahead of me. ^_^
1. What do you mean by "plain text"?
2. What do you mean by "HTML"?
3. What is a "KB"?
4. I don't understand what you mean when you talk about formatting. What do you want?
5. I want to submit my first fic. Should I email it to you?
6. How do I use the Upload form?
7. Saving Your Fanfic to a File -or- How do I save my fanfic?
8. You want to chat?
9. I've noticed that a few of the fanfics in your archive are illustrated. Can I send you an illustrated fanfic, too?
1. What do you mean by "plain text"?
Whenever you type up a paper or an essay or a fanfic, you are using
a text editor. There are a lot of different text editors available.
Some text editors would be: Microsoft Word, Wordperfect, Notepad, Wordpad,
emacs, vi, Simple Text, BBEdit ...
Most of the time if you use one text editor to type and save your work,
you won't be able to use another text editor to read it again. For
example, if you save something in Microsoft Word format (*.doc), then you
won't be able to read it from Notepad.
However, all text editors will let you save whatever you type as "plain
text" (i.e. *.txt files). The benefit of plain text is that it's
readable by ALL text editors.
(Actually, Notepad will only allow you to save stuff as "plain text".
So if you use it, then you're good to go.)
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2. What do you mean by "HTML"?
"HTML" means exactly that: any *.html or *.htm document.
Web browsers such as Netscape and Microsoft Internet Explorer can only
read *.html or *.htm files. (There are a few exceptions.)
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3. What is a "KB"?
75 KB = 75 KiloBytes
A KB is a unit of measure. It tells you how much memory on your
disk is used. It takes one byte to save each character that I type.
1000 bytes (or 1 KB) can save 1000 characters. This FAQ is about
11 KB.
If you are using a PC with Win95 or higher, you can see how much memory
your files are using. Just right click on the file with your mouse
and select "Properties".
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4. I don't understand what you mean when you talk about formatting. What do you want?
There are 2 types of formatting that one can talk about when talking
about fanfics.
The first type of format refers to HOW you SAVED your fanfic.
Did you save it as a Microsoft Word document? Did you save it as
plain text? Did you save it as a Word Perfect document? I refer
to this in Rule 5.
The second type of format refers to WHAT your fic LOOKS like (or HOW
it APPEARS). This is what I'm talking about in Rule 4. Basically,
I want your fanfic to LOOK GOOD. That means that you need to:
A. indent properly when you type paragraphs
B. start a new paragraph every time there is a new speaker
C. start a new paragraph whenever you switch main ideas
If you do these things, then you're fic will LOOK GOOD. All I
want is for you to follow ALL the rules of proper English that your teachers
ever taught you!
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5. I want to submit my first fic. Should I email it to you?
NO. Do not send me your fanfics via email.
I don't care if they're email attachments! I no longer accept
fanfics via email. Please read the Rules.
You will need to submit your fanfics via the Submission Forms.
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6. How do I use the Upload form?
First, you MUST have written the fanfic and saved it somewhere
on your computer.
You: Duh, Sherry! I knew that already!
Me: Sorry about that. But I just had to mention
it. Once, someone actually asked me how to use the upload form when
he/she hadn't even written the fanfic! The email went something
like this:
Hi! I already filled out your Fanfic
Submission Form. But I'm not sure how to use the Upload Form.
Could you please show me? Also, could you tell me how to write a
fanfic? What do I need to do?
*sweatdrop*
(If you don't know how to save your fanfic to a file on your computer,
please read the instructions for "Saving Your Fanfic" below.)
To upload your fanfic, you should click on "Browse". Then find
your fanfic on your computer.
(You will find it in the directory that I told you to remember in part
<1> of "Saving Your Fanfic" below.)
Click on the fic.
Then click on "Open".
Then click on "Submit".
If you have done everything correctly, then you should see an "Upload
Successful" message that looks like this.
If you don't see this then you have not submitted your fanfic correctly!
You will need to try again. Please send me email if you still have
problems.
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7. Saving Your Fanfic to a File -or- How do I save my fanfic?
These instructions assume that you use a PC. If you're on a Mac,
email me and I'll explain
it for a Mac.
To save your fics on a file, it actually depends on where you typed
up your fic. Notepad is the most basic text editor on a PC.
To access Notepad: Start -> Programs -> Accessories -> Notepad
If you use Notepad, you would just type up your fic as you would normally.
Then when you are ready to save your fic, go click on "File" at the top left of Notepad. Then click on "Save As". This will bring
up a new window. The new window has 3 things of interest to you.
<1> At the top of the "Save As" window, you should see a field called
"Save in". This tells you where on the computer your file will be
saved. REMEMBER THIS!!!
<2> At the bottom of the "Save As" window, is a field called "Filename".
This is where you type in what name to call your file. Remember:
the name you specify here should be the SAME as the name you specify on my Submission
Form. Type in a filename.
<3> Below the "Filename" field is a "Save as type" box. It
should default to "Text Documents". If not, you should make sure
that it says "Text Documents."
Click on the "Save" button on the right!
You're done saving your file.
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8. You want to chat?
I'm always so surprised by this question. Why would you
want to chat with me?
Most of the time, I'm kind of busy. I do have an AIM (Netscape-AOL
Instant Messenger) account. But I don't use it much. Usually,
when I go online, I don't want to get distracted and I find that when I
have AIM turned on, I don't get much done!
However, if you would like to chat, my AIM screen name is: SherryHui
Bet'cha never would've guessed that one, huh? ^_~
You can try to catch me with AIM turned on (very hard) or you can email
me to arrange a time to chat.
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9. I've noticed that a few of the fanfics in your archive are illustrated. Can I send you an illustrated fanfic, too?
Yes.
However, I will not be hosting the illustration that goes with your fanfic on my site. I don't have resources for this.
To submit illustrated fanfics:
- You need your own webspace. Save your illustration(s) on your webspace. That means that your illustration is somewhere on the internet!
- You must submit your fic as HTML; plain text is not acceptable for this.
- In the source code of the HTML'ed fanfic that you submit to me, you should include an absolute path to your illustrations.
A good example would be Learning to Deal by RaJa.
In the HTML that she sent me, she included the absolute path to an image that she wanted to use in her fanfic.
<img src="http://www.angelfire.com/anime/fanficgems/flashes.gif">
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