Let's talk about:

Design

Let's get this clear: Design is everything. 

Design sets up the mood of the reader and gives you the second chance of someone reading your first chapter. 

Basically, the design attracts the eyes and the text attracts the soul.

There are some key points in which you would have to accent on in order to get that good design:

1. Background and poster=mood

Does this sound terrifying?

Yes? You have issues then.

The poster and background should always fit the mood. You can't have an adorable poster when you have to describe a detailed murder. Well, you can... but don't do it.

The background is more important as we go further into the story, because it goes along and we see it no matter if we are at the top or at the bottom of the page. The poster is only at the top, while the background is everywhere. 

Also, if you have a too bright background, the reader's eyes will hurt and every chance for your story to be appreciated vanishes.

2. Fonts

I remember for my first serious story on AFF, I used Courier New, since I had this weird idea that if I had to write a story involving murders and police, I should use a strict font which I related to newspapers. I don't know why, don't ask me. You can use whatever font you want for the foreword, but for the chapters themselves, try to use fonts which are easily read and don't gain a lot of attention. You can have your chapter's name in Impact, but nothing else. If you have a title or something, you can always use something like this.

You can also add a new font, which is not in the menu, by clicking on "Source" and replacing every... "Georgia" with "Eras Light ITC" for example. (Although, Eras Light is smaller and you will need at least 16 for a normal vision.)

3. Layouts

Ah, the eternal question: Do we need a layout for our story?

No.

You don't need to have your story with a layout in which you would spend hours in trying to make, or find a shop to your liking. 

I have only one story with a layout (I think?) in which I poured HOURS of learning to code and fit lines. Layouts are fun, but not when you have a story to be stressing about. Layouts are perfect for shops.

4. Colors

You know that a simple automatic (not even black) colored font can be really annoying, since there is nothing different about it.

That was annoying, wasn't it? Yup. The automatic font and color are usually...lame. That's why we have so many colors to chose from.

5. Size

Don't try and make my eyes hurt.

Lol, just kidding. 

But don't do that either!

Just stick to 14-16 or the automatic one. It will make your life easier.

6. Inter-chapter design.

I don't even know if this is a word in the dictionary... But I would STRONGLY advise you not to insert pictures pr gifs in between the paragraphs. The least thing I would want to see, for example is a sparkling swan flying over the chapter.

Dividers are something nice, but just keep them clean and don't use them too often.

7. Keep it tidy.

Don't use capital lettered words, describe if someone is yelling. Format your text and separate your paragraphs. I would rather see three sentences in a paragraph than a whole thousand words fitted into one, extremely long and heavy paragraph. Don't use ellipsis (dot dot dot) a lot and just keep it clean.

ALRIGHTY

Sorry guys, I am really slow since I started school... AGAIN. I will also be in Bulgaria for twenty days until the fifth of August and have no idea if I will have a laptop.

I am leaving everything to Jenday and Katakatica until then... so have fun with designing ^^

*Comment about everything you want to know :3