I notice when I attempt to paste a script from Celtx into the script forum, the formatting is stripped. This seems to be a problem with Celtx since it is also stripped when I past it into my computer notebook. Would be nice to preserve the formatting. Is there anything that can be done about this? Thanks
No. The posting format is quite basic, and is part of the forum software. It isn't perfect, but it really cannot accomodate every document format. Word documents lose the paragraph formatting as well,. necessitating members to insert blank lines manually to separate paragraphs. No need to blame Celtx either. It's simply that the clipboard cannot know and translate every possible format for transferring data, so it must simplify whenever you copy between different document types other than those specifically known to the clipboard. It isn't magic. It's computer science. Some compromises are unavoidable.
Ok. Dang it! I may wish to post a scene or two at some later date. I assume I can format it manually but that's like misplacing the remote for the TV: rather than just get up and press the ON button on the TV, most people would rather spend 30 minutes looking for the remote.
Don't try too hard to make it pretty. If the placement and content of the elements is well-formed and readable, tht's what matters. Don't worry about not being able to insert indents or line up columns. Critiques are based on te writing, not the beauty of presentation. If anything, decorating a piece of writing for aesthetics more often gets in the way of critiques.
since i mentor aspiring screenwriters, i check out the posts in that forum daily and don't see a major problem with the dialog being left-aligned, which is what happens when you post script excerpts... as long as the poster knows it doesn't belong there in an actual script, no harm's done... just insert line breaks between the script elements and don't worry about it... love and hugs, maia
