Uploading Tip: How to disguise your novel (Microsoft Word)

Good reminder, thanks.

The FAQ contains a very similar scrambling technique:

http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/node/402946

Also, note that if your word count is off more than you expect, the NaNo validator counts hyphenated words as one word and your word processor might or might not do that. They recommend writing a few hundred more words than absolutely necessary just to make sure you don't get any surprises and run short at the validation stage.

Of course, the other option is to write hyphenated words the way I did:
twenty- three

That magic space... :-)

I hadn't seen that FAQ before; their solution picks up numbers as well as characters, but I'd rather write numbers in words than type them as numerals. =]

Also: Word 2007 (and maybe 2003) as well as the validator counts words separated by ellipses...as one word. Since Word automatically replaces the three periods with one ellipses, you have to copy the ellipses and paste it into the replace dialog box if you want to replace all occurances of ellipses with ellipses+space.

The validator also does not like words that--for whatever reason--are connected by a long dash. Were I to put that last sentence in the validator it would steal two words from me. :( Again, Word auto-replaces the plaintext double dash with one long one that needs to be copied into the replace dialog box in order to replace all the long dashes with long dash+space.

Happy validating!

The space is your friend!

It's also correct... as far as I know -- my years of editing were long, long ago -- it's also correct to put spaces after an ellipsis or a double dash. :-)

Our ML in South Seattle also gave us a great tip to replace all the nasty contractions with two words:

didn't
don't
you'll
they're

All those little monsters double up when you save/replace didn't for did not. I gained over 800 words that way during the first pass through. I also decided to search on the ' character in case I missed some contractions while I was going thru.

Just another quick gain for your word count!

Thanks much for the other suggestions.

It may be correct, but Word doesn't like it when you do it. It auto-corrects to take the space away.

Why does Microsoft hate my word count?

/heckle off

Xaan, I write precisely the same way as I type here; auto- correction never takes my spaces away for ellipses, or em-dashes (the technical name for what those double dash-marks get converted to).

I'd be happy to take a look if something's wonky on your system if you're coming down by Friday.

Last comment on this, because I'm sure it's putting others to sleep (and they should be asleep, it's nearly 2am!):

Just tried it in Word 2007. It will keep my spaces after single dashes and ellipses, but it DOES delete my space for the em-dash. Since I use em-dashes a lot--I tend to use them in place of parenthetical references during a narrative--it actually chopped almost 200 words off my word count the last time I checked.

Heh. I didn't even notice I'd used the double-dash up there until I reread it. That amuses me. And because it amuses me, that's indication that it's time for BED.

I figured out what we do differently (it's time for me to go to bed as well):
I type a space -- before AND after -- the double- dash.
You type a space-- only after the double- dash.

The former leaves the spaces on both sides, the latter assumes you don't want a space on either side. Ta da! Use many spaces, and all shall be well!

Ok, dumb question that is probably answered in the FAQ, but where do the words go when you paste them in, and what is the danger of just pasting in your manuscript as is?

On Friday I'll register my manuscript with WGAw and when I have a coherent draft I'll copyright. Is that the concern, idea/story theft? Or is it, that it's a vomit draft and embarrassing to post in case anyone should see (true in my case)?

I started uploading my actual manuscript unscrambled because I write in Movie Magic and had to copy to Word and scramble and the FAQ instructions didn't work. Word autocorrected, which I know I can turn off, but it was just too much hassle.

Am I an idiot for not scrambling and what is the potential danger? Thanks!!

It's a matter of trust, of faith in your fellow man (or woman).

Chris Baty has gone on the record more than once that they don't keep anything you submit. Having met the guy, I don't think he's in this to steal the next great novel. (I have a theory that this entire Nanowrimo thing is a scam, but that's besides the point). So no one should be able to swipe your novel when you upload it.

Of course, if you're me, you worry about everyone between here and there; the website isn't secured by SSL, anyone can be executing a man in the middle attack. A little bit of effort to make it useless for anyone who MIGHT intend harm? Sign me up!

I'm just a paranoid. :-)

There's really not much of any danger. The word count is an automated system that tallies the file and deletes it. Feasibly someone could hack the system and recover the deleted files, but really, it's easier to write a novel yourself!

Come on; hacking the system is much less risky than someone monitoring just your communications! They ARE out to get me!

I probably won't be scrambling my novel when I validate it. You see, it's a good novel, but right now it's disguised as a terrible novel that no man-in-the-middle attack would ever want to steal.

The only time copyright/etc gets iffy is when you post your manuscript somewhere for the public to read, and then try to publish it through a publishing house. No one gets to read anything when you send it in to be validated; the only thing saved on the site is the novel excerpt that you entered in for your profile.

Trust me, if Chris Baty could steal our words, he wouldn't be at only 44,000 right now. :P

Thanks nevyn522, waygoose and xaandria for the replies! I didn't think the risk was high, so I will continue to paste the big ugly beast in every day to validate the new word count.

Thanks and best of luck with your masterpieces!

Take the word of an old hand concerning copyrighting your unpublished novel--

Don't do it.

In the eyes of the agents and potential publishers to whom you may submit, it labels you a complete amateur. It also labels you paranoid and very few agents and publishers like to deal with paranoid people.

The U.S. copyright law invests you with copyright in your creation the minute the words leave your fingers. Registering the copyright is useful only if you are suing to enforce your rights. Outside of Hollywood, where paranoia is the norm, registering an unpublished work is considered unprofessional.

Oh, and don't bother sending it to yourself via registered mail instead. Most courts won't accept that as evidence, so you've spent the money for nothing.

Bluntly: No one wants your book (at this stage; they may want it once it's polished). No one is going to try to steal your book. 95% of everything written is drek.

If you don't believe me, then I suggest you hang around some agent blogs (PubRant is good), or maybe a publisher's bulletin board (Baen's bar talk about this all the time).

Seaboe, who knows she is writing in vain--the paranoid will never believe their writing is drek and unattractive to thieves.

Golly, thanks Seaboe! My experience is with screenwriting, and I will probably make my little mess into a screenplay. We copyright in my paranoid corner of the market.

Seaboe, who speaks in the vain third person, isn't one bit insulting, and should by all means feel free to speak on behalf of my unattractive drek.

Keep it coming oh wise one!

Well, I did acknowledge that paranoia is the norm in Hollywood. And it does seem to be necessary there, which I find strange, since the same percentage of screenplays must be drek as general fiction.

Seaboe

I resent the implication that my writing is drek purely because I'm paranoid. I know when I'm writing drek, and some of what I've written falls squarely into that category.

I doubt anyone would steal any of my work. However, if I can guarantee they can't by spending thirty seconds, I'll spend that thirty seconds. Proving the theft of ideas is hard, hard work, and lawyers tend to profit the most from it. Why bother tempting fate?

I wasn't telling people not to scramble the upload, now was I? Mind you, I personally think that wasting even 30 seconds on it isn't worth it.

Seaboe

I scrambled mine. And actually it was pretty cool to see the pages and pages of text (the letter 'a') with punctuation scattered throughout. And because Word told me how many replacements it did I found out that there are 214,489 alphanumeric characters (punctuation excluded) in my novel. Useless, and meaningless, but I found fun in it anyway, so I'm happy.

It was also funny to have Word say that it had to turn off spell check because there were too many errors. That's lots of red squigglies when all words are spelled with varying numbers of a's.

I have no fantasies that anyone would get any good from grabbing my novel at this stage, but I still feel better keeping control over my stuff. It's very fresh and raw and right out of my brain so it just feels better to me this way.

Would I have bothered if this were a long and complicated process? Probably not. But, since I only did it once and it took less than a minute, I'll take the good feelings.

read thge maryland douche's novel excerpt for drek! anyways, my novel has been done for the past few days and it sucks. dont even worry about scrambling, its a waste of time.