FAQ FOR SMUTSCAPE
This mailing list is for the posting and discussion of slash and erotica inspired by Farscape. This list is for adults 18 and over. Slash is the pairing of same sex characters in adult fan fiction. If this is not your idea of a good time, then this list is not for you. Heterosexual relationships are also acceptable, but please realize that this is primarily a slash list. An age statement is no longer required. Stories posted to this list are archived at the SmutScape web site.
http://www.fangrrl.net/smutscape/
Please review these submission guidelines before posting fiction to the list.
Submission guidelines
In the subject line please use this format:
- FIC: "story title" (part #, total # of parts. For example: FIC: "Fingercuffs" part !/2)
If your not sure how many parts it will have, use "?" for the total number of parts.This format helps the archivist find the fiction when updating the website, and helps members separate fiction from general discussion.
Template:
Please post the following information in the header of your email, before the text of the story begins:
- Title: story title
- Author: your name or pen name
- Archive: yes or no
- Category: please list any or all of the following categories that apply to your story. This helps readers find the type of stories they want to read.
- Humor/Parody
- Alternate-Universe
- Hurt/Comfort
- Angst
- Plot-What-Plot
- Pre-Slash
- Action/Adventure
- First-Time
- Fetish/Kink
- S/M
- Point of View
- Romance
- Poetry
- Drama
- Rating: G to NC-17 using movie ratings. Use your best judgement.
- Warnings: Please note any story content that may offend some readers, like rape, violence, BDSM, character death, or episode spoilers.
- Summary: Just a one or two line short summary of your story. This must be included if your story is to be archived at SmutScape. Even if it just says PWP.
- Feedback: Yes or no, on list or off list. Whatever you desire.
The story format
Note: much of this is from the Master_Apprentice archive.The following information is very important! Proper story formatting will make your text easier to read for everyone on-list, and it will also save the archivist a LOT of work in converting text postings to html files.
DON'T use smart-quotes or other special formatting some word processors substitue for hyphens, ellipses, etc. Smart-quotes screw up a lot of people's email readers, and many folks trash such stories unread as soon as they see the tell-tale subscripts and superscripts and/or little black rectangles and/or just plain garbled up screens. It also gives the archivist more work to do to strip all these characters out. The easiest way to deal with this problem is to save your stories in TEXT ONLY format in your word processing file. Then CLOSE the file. Re-open it, THEN cut-and-paste the text into your email message.
DON'T post your stories in HTML code. The vast majority of email readers can't translate the codes properly, and many people don't want to bother saving the file and firing up a web browser so they can read it.
DON'T post stories as attachments or in Word, Wordperfect or other word- processing file formats. Some people's email servers refuse attached files. Not everyone uses the same word processors. Some people just won't open attachments out of fear of viruses. The rest of us are just too lazy to be bothered :-) So don't do it.
DO post your stories in plain old ASCII text. In your wordprocessor this may also be known as MS-DOS text, or Simple Text or Generic Text or such. If you want to indicate such things as italicized or bold text, please use text symbols such as *this* or _this_. I will convert them into html code for the website.
DO double-space between paragraphs. Simply indenting the paragraphs often isn't enough--tabs can get swallowed, it's easier to read with a space between paragraphs, and it makes the archivist's life easier (see a trend with that last reason here? :-)
DO split your story into digestible chunks -- approximately 25K per part seems to be good -- to accommodate email programs that can't handle larger articles without choking or cutting off the end of the article.
DO use a line-length of 70-75 characters. Not everyone's email reader
will do an
auto-word-wrap. Also long lines can sometimes get wrapped in strange ways
that make
reading text difficult, as I am illustrating here. Annoying to read, isn't
it? So keep lines short.The archivist does not correct spelling or grammar, so be sure to have your stories beta read before posting to the list. If you need help finding a beta reader, let me know.
Thank you! If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to email me. That’s what I’m here for :)