SUBMITTING YOUR WORK

So, you have just written a fantastic new Xena based story, and would like to submit it to Tom's Xena Page. I can't blame you. To help you out (well, actually, to help me out), here are some steps to take to ensure that your piece is posted quickly and accurately.

While all pieces of Xena: Warrior Princess fan fiction are welcome to be submitted for inclusion at this site, the editor reserves the right to reject to post any piece which is deemed unsuitable. Receipt of any piece of fan fiction is no guarantee that it will be posted to the site and inclusion will be at the editor's discretion. If you are writing poetry please be aware that your poetry needs to be XWP related.

Step 1: Proofread your work.

I believe in posting new stories as quickly as I can; therefore, I pretty much post stories as-is. Before you send the story in for posting, have someone whose English skills you trust to proofread the story for you, highlighting trouble areas for you to look at. If no one is around to help you with this, check out Lunacy's beta readers, for a listing of fans who will proofread your story for you.

After your story has been proofread, use the spell checker program in whatever word processor you are using to clean up any spelling errors there may be. To help you with this, here is a listing of character's names and their spellings.

Step 2: Add appropriate disclaimers.

All pieces of fan fiction submitted MUST carry appropriate disclaimers. These are to include violence, sexual violence, sex and legal disclaimers.

Step 3: Format the story.

I would like to say that the stories are posted first come, first serve, but in truth, stories and poems that are easier for me to format usually get on the page faster than stories that are difficult to put into html. If you keep these ideas in mind when you format your story, it will make me very happy.

• Please send files in text (.txt), rich text (.rtf), html (.htm, .html), Microsoft Word, or Word Perfect format. Please do not send Microsoft Works files. If your story does not contain any special formatting (bold, italics, underline) or special characters, then the text format is preferable.

  Keep in mind that there are two versions of text format: text only and text with hard returns. The text only format contains only those characters that were actually typed. Text only with hard returns adds a return character (the same character that is created when you hit the return key) to the end of each word wrapped line. If you are going to use the text format, please choose the text only option (also called delimited text, or text - soft return to soft return) and avoid the text with hard returns option (also called DOS text, or text - soft return to hard return).
   

• The works should be single spaced paragraphs with blank lines between the paragraphs. Do not indent the paragraphs with tabs or spaces.
   
• Include the name under which you would like the name to be indexed, and an email address for reader response, after the title. Please put this information in the file itself, and not only in the email message.
   
• PLEASE, put "The End" or "To Be Continued" or another appropriate phrase at the end of the file, or name the file "Such and Such Story - Part 1 (2, 3, etc.)"

Step 4: Send the story.

PLEASE, include in the subject header the following: FF: Your Story Name (a subject header of FF: Story Submission, or FF: A Story, doesn't count!) If you don't do this you run the risk of me not seeing the fanfic piece for a few days - I get quite a bit of email so it's a good idea to follow that guideline.

Some No-No's

While not all of the criteria above must be met for me to post your work, the further your formatting is from what I described, the longer it will take for your story to be posted. While considering sending your story, here are a few things to avoid.

• Do not be afraid to send a submission due to its content. The worst that can happen is that it is not posted on this site. However, this does not happen often, as long as your story contains appropriate disclaimers. A story is far more likely not to get posted because of grammar and spelling errors (see Step 1) than because of objectionable content.
   
• Do not use tabs or spaces to indent paragraphs or center text. Use block paragraphs for stories. If you wish sections to be centered, use the center function of your word processor.
   
• Do not write letters asking me to make changes to your submission. I will not go through and change names, or change one paragraph for another, etc. If you want the file changed, send me a new file with the changes already made. The only exception to this is that I will change your email address if you need me to.

 
• Do not send me "beta" versions of stories. Though I will replace a file with a new one if corrections must be made, I do not want a submission sent to me if it is not your intention for it to be the final version. If you send me a submission, and a week later, thank me and send me the "final version" of the story, you stand a chance of the story being removed from the page.
   
• Do not give me the URL of a story and expect me to go get it. If you want a story posted, you have to go through the trouble of sending it to me.
   
• If your submission follows the events of another fanfic story, feel free to mention this fact in the disclaimers. Otherwise, do not place ads for other stories at the beginning or end of the file. I'll remove them before posting.

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