Hello authors, and those who would like to be authors. As your moderator, I have been privileged to approve many new posts. I have also, sadly, had to reject some.

When I took over as moderator of this forum, one of you suggested I'm at least as much mentor as moderator. At the risk of sounding like a braggart, I will tell you that I intend to be very proactive in that area. When, I have to reject a story, I will send you a pm explaining why.
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The first and biggest tip I have for you is one I've already stated in numerous other posts: READ THE RULES! If you actually read them, and stay within them we will both have a much happier experience. You can find the rules in this post; this post; and this post.

The second big tip is also one I've stated over and over again: Write your stories in a word processor. This is true whether you post whole stories at once (which I prefer) or post in segments. There are many good reasons for this:
1. You have a permanent copy of your story.
2. If for some reason I can't approve a post, you have a copy you can edit, and resubmit.
3. Most word processors contain both a spell check and a rudimentary grammar check engine. Proper spelling and grammar will improve the audiences' appreciation of your work.

On the topic of spelling and grammar, I can't say enough. I'm not an English teacher, but there are some, who are members of the forum. I'm sure many of them would be delighted, or at least willing, to help you improve your writing style. Spelling is not one of my strong points, but thank goodness my word processor does a marvelous job of catching my mistakes.

Grammar is a touchier subject. The best tip I can give you on that, is one I got many years ago in a class on creative writing. The teacher suggested we read our work out loud. If it sounds funny when you're saying it, it will likely look funny when you're reading it. In other words: Write as if you are talking to someone.

There is an excellent web site run by Purdue University called the OWL (online writing lab). I use it on a regular basis. I have also referred others to it. I recently emailed them and got permission to post their link on this site. It is: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/ I suggest you at least take a look around there to see if it can help you as well.

Yes, I realize many of you are quite young, so it may be a bit advanced for you. If you're still in school, you may have an English study book at home or school. If not, you can likely find one at your local library, or you may be able to purchase one.

Punctuation: Again, not one of my strong points, but I know the basics and try to follow them. Another piece of advice from that old creative writing class: While reading out loud to yourself, if you need to pause briefly, you need a comma. If you need to take a breath, or are ready to change to a new subject, you need a period. Remember to put a space between each word, and a space after each punctuation mark.

Other punctuation marks, such as quote marks; semicolons; colons etc. will improve your writing, but I don't have any good guides for using them. If any of you know of a tool (especially an online tool) for better punctuation, please feel free to share it with the rest of us.

A few of your stories are well written, but deal with subjects that are intended for a more mature audience. Though subjects, like these, deal with real life situations, they aren't true to the games and are too mature for the youngest members.

There really aren't any good alternatives, other than to leave them out of the story. If you like to write for a more mature audience, you may choose to post your stories on another web site. I know KittenAngel has one that she maintains a T for Teen rating on. If your story is good, but too mature, I'll delete it (see why I said use a word processor?) and send you a pm explaining why.

I have made up several examples of comments that are inappropriate, and then shown examples of how they can be edited to be suitable. I will send copies of them to anyone who sends me a pm requesting them.

In the interest of keeping this at least short enough to read, I'll close with one final tip: Before submitting ask yourself if you would want your 6 year old (pick a noun) child; sibling; bff to read this? Is there anything in the story that makes you blush? Would you be comfortable showing this story to your (again pick a noun) Parent; Preacher; Teacher? If the answer to any of those questions is no then you should look at your story again, before you submit it.

Have a SWELL day, and I'll see you soon in:
FAN FICTION! THE BEST FORUM ON THIS SITE!

Rockmower, I am a little unsure; is it okay to post stories not completely related to ldw?

We vastly prefer that the stories be based entirely on LDW games. We may allow a story to temporarily leave the boundaries of Isola (the games) as long as A) The main story is grounded in the games and B) The variance is essential to, or significantly enhances the story. These three stories are excellent examples of this:

A Twist Of Fate by SaxyT

The Legend of The Great Sea Monster by Happy Player

Virtual World by Annethewhofan

I may still be in high school, but I love grammar class and always get an "A" in it. If help is needed, I'd be glad to edit for anybody.

Just remember, YOU volunteered! So, When I start flooding your pm folder with stories where the author needs a little "help" with his/her grammar, well...:)

DD is here!!!

I decided to start writing a story. Don't expect it to come for a while; I don't know the title yet! My question is, how do I post it? Do I just hit "New Topic" and put it in? Or is it more complicated than that?

Moderators reply:
Thanks to all of you who are interested in posting new stories. I highly encourage each of you to first read the opening post in this thread. It contains a lot of information that will make your posting experience happier for all of us.

Once you are comfortable with the rules, and guidelines, all you have to do is type up your story on any word processor that is compatible to the forums. Then come to the forum, click New Topic; type in your title; and then copy-paste your story and click the Submit button. Finally, sit back, relax and wait for me to approve your story (or send you a pm giving advice on it).

I would appreciate it greatly, if anyone who is submitting a new story, makes sure they are accepting pm's AND have enough room for me to send them one. It is very frustrating to me, to have to reject a story outright, simply because I'm unable to contact the author with suggestions for making their story acceptable.

Which word processors are compatible with the forums?

I would be very happy if you could tell me because ,I too, would like to write some Fan Fiction stories. I found your advice very helpful Especially that last bit. I was about name the main character after me and name a co-star in my story after my Best friend. Had I read it to her both of our faces would would be as red as Heinz
Ketchup. And writing a copy of the story I'm about to make would help if you rejected it for some reason. Peace out!

You would be very welcome as a new Fan Fiction author! I think most of the word processors out there are compatible. I know MS Word (that's what I use) works very well. Most of the time I can simply copy/paste back and forth between it and the forum. If you're using a Mac, you should check with LadyCFII to see which processor to use.

The built-in text editors in most operating systems will work well, too. For Windows, you could use Notepad or WordPad. For Mac you would use TextEdit.