Comments Downloadable Versions of Kathy in FL's Stories

C

Cedar Lake

Connecticut Yankee
Kathy in FL said:
@Cedar Lake asked me about the process of how I create the "books" out of the stories so that they have cover pages, table of contents, etc. My semi-simple answer is that I use MSWord.

You open a blank document: File >> New >> Blank Document

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Add Cover Page: Open blank document then go to Insert >> Cover Page (Using the drop-down menu there are several preformatted options. You can create your own but I generally use the preformatted ones and then change them up like using my own picture, change the colors, etc.)

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Add Table of Contents: Go to your next page. I generally do this by forcing a page break (Ctrl + Enter). At the top of that page ... References >> Table of Contents (Then use the drop-down menu to pick your style of TOC.)

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How you get the TOC to update so you don't have to do it manually is that you make sure you format your chapter numbers as a Heading and you do that under Home and you see Styles to the right. Just highlight your "Chapter #" with your mouse and then hit Heading 1 or which ever style you want. To update your TOC, just use the update feature on the TOC or on the bar under references where you picked your TOC style.

Page number is something else you can add and there are a bunch of different styles of those as well. That's Insert >> Page Numbers. Use your dropdown menu and pick your style and location. The TOC works without the page numbers being inserted visually but it looks better in the final product.

The pictures, footnotes, endnotes, etc. is just a matter of formatting. I'd need to have a specific thing you want to do to explain it otherwise we'll end up with a MSWord booklet right here. LOL.

Anyway, that's the long and short of it. Hope this answers your question(s).

Oh, and how I take it from the MSWord document to a .pdf is easy peezy as well. When you go to print something, instead of printing it to a specific printer, there is an option in the drop down menu to print it to:

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Kathy, thanks for all the pointers. I'm going to try this on a couple stories that I have in my ''updating story'' folder.
 
babysteps

babysteps

Veteran Member
I've been re-reading several of my favorites, both completed and still in-progress. Trying not to "bump" the uncompleted ones :lol: is SO HARD.

Kathy, we don't say it nearly often enough. You are a treasure and you have an incredible talent.

THANK YOU for so many years of stories. Looking forward to many years of moar. :D
 
DIMDAL

DIMDAL

Contributing Member
I don't see Eidetic Sunshine on your updated list. Could you port it over when you have a chance please?
 
Sammy55

Sammy55

Veteran Member
Oreally said:
no real publisher would ever go near this amateur effort.
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Most writers who have books published are VERY much more "amateur" than our writers on TB. The only reason that those writers' books are published and look so professional is because of the intense work of the editors at the publishing house. ANYONE who has a good story idea can turn out looking like the best writer in the world IF they have a great editor.

I know...because I am an editor. And my job is to make everyone's work look top notch professional (including your writing which is worse than a lot of other writer's I've seen).

So, knock it off with the negative comments. As an editor, I'm always encouraging people who have great story ideas to write them down, even if they say their writing is terrible. As an editor, I can make them look great. I just don't have the stories they have. So, as an editor, someone who is discouraging people who have great stories to keep them from writing is a HUGE NO-NO!!
 
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