EVERYONE: A basic tutorial in Hyperlinking and Index-Making

[Bandit Keith]

I would like what my title asks for. I have a fanfic I'd like to start, but I need some help on the site mechanics involved, since i am bad at the things I mentioned, and I would like an outline of the formatting involved, plus Dramatis Personae writing advice.

Thanks,

Muk-a-matic

 

[Misheard Whisper]

Well, let's see. To link to a post, first click the little number you see in the top right corner of that post. That will take you to a page that snaps to the top of that particular post. You can then take the link from there (Ctrl+L, Ctrl+V). This ensures that your link goes to that post, and not just your thread in general.

So post your chapter first, and then grab the link. Once you have the link, go back to your first post (which should be a chapter index) and edit it. Add the number, title or whatever of your chapter to the list. Now decide which part of the line you want to link. For example, my fanfic's index here links from the title of each chapter, but not the number or the dash next to it. So work that out first.

At the start of the link, write [noparse]. Include those square brackets, and obviously replace my text with the url you copied in the first step.

At the end of the link, just write [/noparse] and it will appear as a link when you save the post.

As a summary, then:

[noparse]11 - The Fires of Battle[/noparse]

Will show up as this:

11 - The Fires of Battle

Alternatively, just select the text you want to become a link and click the 'Insert Link' button at the top of the editor (looks like a little globe with a chain link on it). A little box will pop up, and you paste that link there. This is probably easier, but I always do it the hard way for some reason so I didn't think of it at first.


In terms of the actual layout of the index, keep it simple. Something like mine, which I linked before should work fine - chapter number followed by a name. I break my story up into arcs, but you don't have to.

As for the Dramatis Personae, I'm not sure. I've not done one of those for my fanfics, but I imagine it'd be fairly straightforward. Just stick in their name, maybe a brief description or a picture if you have one, and repeat for all the characters you want to include. Put it in a separate post and link it in the index (at the bottom or something) or do what many people here do and make a separate thread in the Author's Atlas, which can contain character profiles, guides, maps, background and so on. It's a great help if you want to avoid cluttering up your thread.

I hope I was helpful; best of luck with your fanfic!