The 2011 How-to-Post Post: "I've had my eyes opened to some pretty weird things lately..."
Two weeks to the stories! It's time to discuss how to post and how to pinch-hit. (If you are having trouble with your story, please speak up! We want to help.)
Hint. If you've never played in a ficathon like this before, take a peek at last year's FKFicFest game. That's about how your story should look.
Timeline.
All deadlines are 11:59 PM Pacific Time.
Tagging. The mods will create tags by author, type, genre, main character(s) and pairing(s); once created, these will be available to any writer to attach to his/her own story. If you're new to the game, the moderators will tag by author-name for you when your story is released (past authors already have their own tags). It will be up to you to choose whether to add other tags, and which other tags to add. (Please be accurate and reasonable. Only major elements need tags.)
If you need a tag in one of the predetermined categories and do not see it, please ask. If for some reason you find that you can't add tags yourself, please ask us to add them for you (please be specific). If a tag is brought to our attention as inaccurate on a specific story, we will notify that author and delete it from that story if needed.
If you've never tagged before, please notice that there is a field for tags with the other meta-data at the bottom of the posting fields, and that if you begin typing an existing tag, the first alphabetical match will appear by default. If you type a non-existent tag, it will not be accepted on the community as it would on your personal journal; the community is limited to the tags created by the mods.
Rating. This community defaults to "Adult Concepts" filter for ages 14-and-up. (That's FK's canonical rating on TV and DVD in Region 1.) When posting, please select the correct "Adult Content" filter for your story instead of relying on the default, in case we change the default, or LJ or DW change their systems. If you are posting an R or NC-17 story (that is, "adult content" of sex, violence or vulgarity) please be sure to select the "Explicit Adult Content" filter from the drop-down menu at the bottom of the posting fields. As a general standard, consider how your story would be rated by the conventional agencies if it were filmed; then tweak that as needed to match FK traditions.
Posting. This part mainly re-runs what is already in the original rules post, including the header template and examples, but also offers some tips.
So! Selected Reminders/Tips
Okay! On to the "How to Post" re-run:
The community is set to moderated posting; this means that posts will not appear until a mod releases them. When you finish your story, please post it to the community. (This ficathon is not anonymous, like some. Posting as yourself lets you retain editing control of your own story post, in case of last-minute typos or future concerns that we can't imagine today.)
Stories will be released from the moderation queue at a rate of two shorter stories or one longer story per day, in an order to be determined by the mods to maximize reading convenience and enjoyment for everyone. (This may or may not match the order in which stories are submitted.) Multi-part stories will be targeted for weekend days. Many ficathons release all stories at once in a great waterfall of fiction, from which readers pick and choose. As we're all-FK here, we're instead going with a steady stream of stories, in hopes that everyone finds time to read and comment on many entries!
LJ and DW both have character-count limits for posts. If your story is too big for one post, you may submit multiple posts. (LJ Maximum: 5 posts. DW Maximum: 3 posts. These yield approximately the same character counts, and come from the maximum number of posts a single poster may queue in a community.)
We prefer to have your story actually on the community, rather than only a link to it elsewhere, in case of that "elsewhere" somehow being lost in the future. If, after the ficathon, you'd like to add a link in your story post on the community to your story in an archive elsewhere, that's just fine.
Posting Steps:
Example Headers
If Natalie were playing in this ficathon, her story post's subject line and header might look like this:If Janette were playing in this ficathon, her story post's subject line and header might look like this:"Cause of Life" by Natlamb (PG, Gen)
Title: "Cause of Life"
Author:
natlamb
Beta-Reader:
raven2u
Recipient:
plantsrtheanswer
Prompt: Nick & Natalie. "It ain't no sin to be glad you're alive" -- Springsteen, "Badlands"
Length: 1,235 words
Rating: PG
Summary: The case of a murdered baseball player gives Nick hope, Natalie an idea, and Schanke indigestion.
"A High-Walled Garden" by Raven2U (NC-17, M/F)
Title: "A High-Walled Garden"
Author:
raven2u
Beta-Reader:
littlebear
Recipient:
darkbutton
Prompt: Tracy/Vachon. Tracy's interest in past lives surprises Vachon.
Characters: Tracy, Vachon, Nick, Urs, Reese, Natalie, Others
Length: ~3,500 words
Rating: NC-17
Warnings: Highlight to view: * explicit sex, explicit violence, character death *
Beta-reading. Please check out the beta-reading threads ( LJ and/or DW).
Crossposted on DW
Hint. If you've never played in a ficathon like this before, take a peek at last year's FKFicFest game. That's about how your story should look.
Timeline.
All deadlines are 11:59 PM Pacific Time.
- 04/20: Sign-ups open.
- 05/20: Sign-ups close.
- 05/22: Prompt assignments sent.
- 06/20: Deadline to drop out in good grace.
- 07/16: Stories due.
- 07/17: Pinch-hitter assignments sent.
- 07/18: Stories begin releasing.
- 07/25: Pinch-hitter stories due. (This date may shift.)
Tagging. The mods will create tags by author, type, genre, main character(s) and pairing(s); once created, these will be available to any writer to attach to his/her own story. If you're new to the game, the moderators will tag by author-name for you when your story is released (past authors already have their own tags). It will be up to you to choose whether to add other tags, and which other tags to add. (Please be accurate and reasonable. Only major elements need tags.)
If you need a tag in one of the predetermined categories and do not see it, please ask. If for some reason you find that you can't add tags yourself, please ask us to add them for you (please be specific). If a tag is brought to our attention as inaccurate on a specific story, we will notify that author and delete it from that story if needed.
If you've never tagged before, please notice that there is a field for tags with the other meta-data at the bottom of the posting fields, and that if you begin typing an existing tag, the first alphabetical match will appear by default. If you type a non-existent tag, it will not be accepted on the community as it would on your personal journal; the community is limited to the tags created by the mods.
Rating. This community defaults to "Adult Concepts" filter for ages 14-and-up. (That's FK's canonical rating on TV and DVD in Region 1.) When posting, please select the correct "Adult Content" filter for your story instead of relying on the default, in case we change the default, or LJ or DW change their systems. If you are posting an R or NC-17 story (that is, "adult content" of sex, violence or vulgarity) please be sure to select the "Explicit Adult Content" filter from the drop-down menu at the bottom of the posting fields. As a general standard, consider how your story would be rated by the conventional agencies if it were filmed; then tweak that as needed to match FK traditions.
Posting. This part mainly re-runs what is already in the original rules post, including the header template and examples, but also offers some tips.
So! Selected Reminders/Tips
- Do post to LiveJournal or Dreamwidth (not both). Your mods will post in the sister community with a link to your story post, to funnel feedback/discussion to your single post. (As a reader, you may reply on both communities whether or not you have accounts there; just use the "OpenID" function. If you dislike OpenID, you may also comment anonymously; in that case, please consider including your name/ID for friendly community interaction.)
- Do post your story to the community itself, not as a comment on another post, or in your own journal. If you've never done this, please notice that there's a drop-down "Post To" menu on the posting page that defaults to your own journal, but also shows any communities of which you're a member. Check this menu and see that fkficfest is there. If it's not, you may not be fully subscribed as a "member;" that's easy for you to change! When posting to this community, just select us from that menu and then post as usual.
- Understand that the community is set to moderated posting, such that your story post will go into the queue, and will stay there, invisible and unreachable, until released by the mods. The mods can also delete posts from the queue when needed.
- Be sure to have a visual identifier of paragraphs. Most commonly, that's a blank line between paragraphs, as in this post. You're also welcome to do the coding to insert tabs at the beginning of each paragraph, if you prefer. But please check that your paragraphs don't run together; that will make it difficult for your audience to read. (If you're having issues, please look at the "auto-formatting" checkbox on the top right of the posting fields for the most likely culprit.)
- Including word counts is standard on LJ and DW (though it's rare on fkfic-l). It is a friendly gesture to include your word count in your header to give your audience an idea of how much time they'll be investing in your story - for example, will it fit in their lunch break, or should they save it for after supper, or perhaps the weekend? (On the email list, file size gives that clue.) Most word-processing programs will give you the word count automatically; in MS Word, select your story text and choose "Word Count" from the "Tools" menu.
- Hot Tips! (1) Using the "Private" lock setting, you can post your story to your own journal in advance - for your own eyes only - to test the formatting and the cut tag. (2) If needed, you can edit your own post after it is released from the queue. There's no need to angst if you happen to find a small error or think of a better key sentence while your story is in the queue; instead, be ready to pounce and edit as soon as it releases from the queue.
- Please wait until after the last story posts and the ficathon is declared closed for the year to archive your story elsewhere. As soon as the ficathon officially closes, please do take your story to fkfic-l, the AO3, and all other appropriate FK venues!
- Finally, if your personal journal default is to post friends-locked, please be sure to manually set your story for public viewing when you post. Otherwise, only community members will be able to see and comment on your story.
Okay! On to the "How to Post" re-run:
The community is set to moderated posting; this means that posts will not appear until a mod releases them. When you finish your story, please post it to the community. (This ficathon is not anonymous, like some. Posting as yourself lets you retain editing control of your own story post, in case of last-minute typos or future concerns that we can't imagine today.)
Stories will be released from the moderation queue at a rate of two shorter stories or one longer story per day, in an order to be determined by the mods to maximize reading convenience and enjoyment for everyone. (This may or may not match the order in which stories are submitted.) Multi-part stories will be targeted for weekend days. Many ficathons release all stories at once in a great waterfall of fiction, from which readers pick and choose. As we're all-FK here, we're instead going with a steady stream of stories, in hopes that everyone finds time to read and comment on many entries!
LJ and DW both have character-count limits for posts. If your story is too big for one post, you may submit multiple posts. (LJ Maximum: 5 posts. DW Maximum: 3 posts. These yield approximately the same character counts, and come from the maximum number of posts a single poster may queue in a community.)
We prefer to have your story actually on the community, rather than only a link to it elsewhere, in case of that "elsewhere" somehow being lost in the future. If, after the ficathon, you'd like to add a link in your story post on the community to your story in an archive elsewhere, that's just fine.
Posting Steps:
- Enter a subject line with at least the title, rating and type (gen or pairing). It's also customary to include your name as author.
- Your header must include, at a minimum, the title, author, recipient, beta-reader, prompt, rating, and any warnings. (Anything more - such as length/word count - is up to you.) The template is below, so you can copy-and-paste, and fill it in. Please note that we use the "white on white" warnings format, so that people can choose to avoid spoilers.
- Put everything except your header behind a cut-tag. If you don't know how to make a cut tag, please ask.
Title:
Author:
Beta-Reader:
Recipient:
Prompt:
Length:
Rating:
Warnings: Highlight to view: * InsertWarningHere *
Example Headers
If Natalie were playing in this ficathon, her story post's subject line and header might look like this:If Janette were playing in this ficathon, her story post's subject line and header might look like this:"Cause of Life" by Natlamb (PG, Gen)
Title: "Cause of Life"
Author:
natlamb
Beta-Reader:
raven2u
Recipient:
plantsrtheanswer
Prompt: Nick & Natalie. "It ain't no sin to be glad you're alive" -- Springsteen, "Badlands"
Length: 1,235 words
Rating: PG
Summary: The case of a murdered baseball player gives Nick hope, Natalie an idea, and Schanke indigestion.
"A High-Walled Garden" by Raven2U (NC-17, M/F)
Title: "A High-Walled Garden"
Author:
raven2u
Beta-Reader:
littlebear
Recipient:
darkbutton
Prompt: Tracy/Vachon. Tracy's interest in past lives surprises Vachon.
Characters: Tracy, Vachon, Nick, Urs, Reese, Natalie, Others
Length: ~3,500 words
Rating: NC-17
Warnings: Highlight to view: * explicit sex, explicit violence, character death *
Beta-reading. Please check out the beta-reading threads ( LJ and/or DW).
Crossposted on DW