Whether you are submitting your story for linking or for hosting, you need to fill in the submission form.
1. Your name/Pen name
Enter either your name or the name you want to be listed as in the directory. If you are submitting multiple stories, please keep the same name/pen name, so I know to list all your stories together on the 'By Author' listing, and so people who want to read more stories by you can find them easily.
2. Email Address
Please enter your email, so I can contact you with any questions/problems, and so I can let you know when your story has been listed. If you DO NOT want your email to be listed on the directory, select 'No' for feedback, further down the form.
3. Link To Story
Pretty self-explanatory, but you would be surprised how many people send forms without links! If you don't give me the link to your story, I cannot list it in the directory. The 'link' is the address of the page on the internet where your story starts, has it's introduction or is displayed. If you are submitting a story for hosting, just put 'Hosting' in this box.
4. Title Of The Story
Enter the name you want your story to be listed under.
5. Are You The Author
99% of the time, the answer to this is Yes. If your story is soley your own work (not including any beta readers, etc, you may have had), select the top answer, 'Yes - Sole'.
If you have written the story with one or more people, select the second option, 'Yes - joint'. Please include the names or pen names of the other writers in #1.
If you did not write the story, please select the last option, 'No', and give the name(s) and email(s) (if known) of the author.
6. Genre?
What genre is your story? Select from the catagories. Often, your story may fit in more than one. If this is the case, select which one you feel it most fits into, or if you wish, select 'Other' and specify which genres.
7. Is it Crossover?
A Crossover story is one that uses two or more fandoms. One of these MUST be The Beatles, but the others can be anything from film, TV, books, other bands, anime or anything else you're a fan of!
8. Who Is The Main Character? Indicate who is the central or lead character. If all four Beatles are equal protagonists, select 'All Four'. Occasionally there are stories that are about, for example, Paul and John more than George and Ringo. If this is the case with your story, select 'More Than One' and specify which Beatles.
9. Does It Need Any Warnings?
You do not have to rate or place any warning on your story, unless you want to. However, bear in mind it may and will be visited by Beatle fans of all ages and backgrounds and some readers may be offended by some types of content. It is up to you whether you want to warn your readers of any sexual or violent content, or any profanity, but I would ask that you DO include a warning if your story contains any subject matter sensitive to Beatle fans, ie. the death of a beatle, referances to MDC or MA, etc, and also if your story contains graphic slash.
10. Completed or In Progress
If the story up on the internet, or which you are submitting for hosting, is at least an entire draft, with beginning, middle and ending, select 'complete.' Anything else, select 'in progress'.
11. Images
Some authors have designed banners, idents or avatars for thier stories. If you have one and wish it to be displayed on your authors page please send me the link to it here, or email it to me separately.
12. Synopsis It is often difficult to summise your story in a few words or a couple of sentances, but this is perhaps the most important part of your submission, as this is what will whet the appitite of your reader and urge them to click through to read your story.
Example of a bad synopsis #1:
A story about John in 1964.
This is a bad synopsis as it does not tell the reader anything about the feel or tone of your story, or hint at anything exciting happening in the plot.
Example of a bad synopsis #2:
Laura travels back in time and meets the Beatles. She falls in love with Paul, but thier romance is cut short when she has to return to the future, in order to save the universe.
This is a bad synopsis as it gives away all the plot points and twists, and even worse, the ending! There is nothing left for your reader to discover or be surprised by.
Example of a good synopsis:
Laura accidently stumbles upon a path back in time and meets the Beatles. She quickly falls for Paul, but will their romance survive, or will they have to sacrifice it for something more important?
This is a better synopsis, since it uses more interesting and exciting language and gives the reader a question they may want to find the answer to, revealing enough of the plot to intrigue a reader, but not too much of the narrative to spoil the story.
Then click submit and you're done!
If your story is not currently on the internet, you don't have your own site or is in a place not easily accessible for readers (ie. On a livejournal, in a yahoo group, etc), you can submit to me to be hosted here.
To do this you need to first fill in the submission form and then email me your story to: beatlesfanfics@tiscali.co.uk
Please email your story as an attachment, either a .doc, .rtf or in HTML (Webpage). You can copy and paste it into an email, although this can cause punctuation problems (such as " appearing as ,, etc).
However you send me your story, it will usually end up looking like that online, so take some time to think about presentation.
In the case of incomplete stories, you may email me updates and/or more chapters as you go along, which I will add. When you first submit for hosting your story will be listed on the directory according to the info you send me, and in new stories on the site and newsletter. When you send me more chapters (etc) your story will be listed in Updates on the site and in the following newsletter.
