User blog comment:Elerico13/Question on story posting/@comment-5306249-20191211042156

Visual tab is for straight Copypasting (cntrl+V) your written story to avoid formatting issues for the site. Source is using ASCII and templates to really fine tune the formatting.

As for gaining popularity, obviously making interesting stories is a prerequisite, but bettering your style, trying out ideas or new spins people havent thought of helps. I recommend opening up gdocs and spitballing whatever ideas you come up with and seeing where the story goes, how it sounds when read outloud. And most importantly read a LOT