Hints for Authors

• I use Microsoft Word and it's is the best format for you to submit files. If you don't have that then use an easily convertible format like WordPerfect, Rich Text, Plain Text or Works.

• Keep the entire story in one document rather than splitting it up unless the story is "In progress." I don't care how big the file is. It's easier for me to split it up after I've made the page.

• I'm a firm believer in the KISS principle, which means Keep It Simple, Stupid. Therefore do not use any fancy formatting codes like indents, tabs, different fonts, shadows, small caps, tables, borders, preset styles, etc. The only ones I like are italics and bolds, sometimes block quotes and USE SPARINGLY! Italics should only be used for emphasis and inner thoughts. If you overuse italics, it's extremely annoying to the reader. Bold should be used for chapter headings. Use block quotes for flashbacks.

• Do not announce the POV. This drives me nuts and will most likely earn you an automatic rejection. You should choose a point of view and stick with it. The reader should always be able to tell from whose point of view the author is writing. Show, don’t tell. It’s the biggest thing a writer needs to learn.

• Do not use lines or extra spaces to separate sections or chapter headings. Use only three asterisks ***. That's all, just three.

• Use only two paragraph marks between each paragraph. That's it, just two. I strip out any more automatically so you're just wasting your time by hitting that enter key. Again, if you have a section that needs offsetting, just use three asterisks.

• If you have a part of your story where there should NOT be a space between the line, such as in a poem or song, then use a line break instead of a paragraph break. In Word, you can add a line break by hitting CTRL-ENTER.

• Use only one space between sentences. It used to be that you would need two spaces between sentences, but that was during the ancient days of typewriters. Word processors however are smart enough to add that extra bit of space after the period. So again, stop wasting your time by hitting that space bar twice.

• The Mystic Muse uses 12 pt Bookman Old Style font. Just set your program to use that font and it'll make things much easier.

• All word processors have a spell checker...use it! Use this site for advice on Common Errors in English.

• If your word processor has a feature to use ellipses or en-dashes, use them. Do not put a space before or after the ellipsis and generally if you use one in the middle of a line of dialogue, do not capitalize the continuation after the ellipsis. Don't use em-dashes, I don't like them. Instead use space en-dash space. If you can't or don't want to bother with either of them, that's okay, just use three periods and space dash dash space. But note that some word processors will auto-correct this. In Word, it's three periods for an ellipsis and space dash space for an en-dash.

• If you want to submit your story in HTML, I won't mind, but only do so if you know how to program in HTML or the code used on the forums and other bulletin boards based on ezCode. If you look at the source code for the story pages on Muse, you'll see that the code is clean and spare and very neat. That's to save space on the server. Muse has thousands of pages and every bit counts. So do NOT use Word to save your file in HTML format. Word generated code is a mess! Back when I started the site, I used it to make the pages and it quickly became necessary for me to learn the basics of HTML.

• Post your story on the Forums, where everyone is welcome to post stories. You don't need my approval first and you don't have to wait for an update to get your story online. It's the best place to get instant feedback and if Muse readers enjoy it, then I'll most likely add it to the archive.

• Good luck!

• More questions? Drop me a line at Skeeter451@mysticmuse.net.