Some clarifications on Literature Submissions

Hey werewolf fans! It's me, CoyoteCaliente, posting for the first time here in the blag blog. You may remember me from the last podcast we had once upon a time ago, discussing the results of a short story contest.

Anyhow, I'm here to reiterate a guideline or two for all the awesome literature submissions you’ve been sending in, as well as some practical advice on how to make your story easily accepted. I'll keep it short! It's just a reminder of a few finer points of the rules.

We only accept the first chapter of any given story series or book.*

This is an effort to keep the story section in fair order. If everyone is submitting different chapters a different times, things can get pretty hectic. Consider the story galleries here in the group as a library or bookstore. You take a peek of the first chapter or so, and then you take it home to read the rest.  This also earns you more watchers who may be interested in your work. Also, if your story is serialized or is part of a short story anthology, we will only accept the FIRST entry. In other words, if you number the deviations, send us number 1 and only number 1.

Advice: In the commercial world of literature, a LOT of emphasis is put on the first few pages. With that said, try giving your first chapter a nice hook. The beginning sets the tone, the setting, and characters. Makes sure there’s something that makes your story stand out and makes people want to wait for more. ^_^

(*The only exception to this rule is if each separate chapter is being submitted to a weekly theme or contest. )

Properly format your story.

Proper grammar and spelling is a given. Re-read your story and take your time to polish your work. Microsoft can’t catch everything. But we're begging that you properly format all of you text. Spaces between paragraphs or at least indentions. Separate your dialogue from the body text.  And make sure that the fonts and all are standard size.

This not only makes it easier for me to read, but everyone else. No one likes a giant block of text or a piece that has stuttered indentions.

Advice: Did you know that you can submit your story as a PDF here on DeviantArt? It’s true! This automatically saves ALL of your formatting and you get to skip all the html business. Plus, you can have a MUCH larger word count than usually allowed. The only catch is that you have to have a preview image for you work. But trust me. Three minutes in MS paint beats the heck out of missing a single tag on a story and having the rest of your work in bold face.

Word Count

To be clear, there’s no set word count on submissions here. No minimum or maximum. Quality is considered over quantity. However, we need to see well thought out plot, character, and setting, as far as fiction is concerned. So if you have a page long work that doesn't really say anything, it will be denied. But if you have a page long work that shows obvious heart, skill, and polish, it will be accepted.

Also, remember the rule about only accepting the first chapter. If your first submission in the series is awful short, consider combining it with another chapter to make that post worthwhile.

Make Sure Your Work is in the Proper Category

Starting 7/15/14, we will expect to see all literature pieces submitted to the proper category before we consider accepting them. This includes mis-categorizations such as fan fiction submitted in other literature folders, chapter stories submitted outside of Introductions and Chapters, and any kind of story being submitted as a journal.

And that's it!

Of course, there are plenty of other rules that you should look at here werewolvesatheart.deviantart.c… , just to be sure. These are just a few things that I've particularly noticed lately... Of course, not to mention... *cough* that I may have mistakenly accepted works that violated the rules *cough*. but I make mistakes, as does everyone else. So help us out here and try your best to follow all the guidelines, and we'll try our best to be helpful. We're here for you.

That said, feel free to contact me at ANY time if you'd like a critique or a preemptive confirmation that your work is ready to be accepted into the gallery. I enjoy reading and teaching others the finer points of writing. While I can't read EVERY story you have, I can certainly do a chapter or two and offer advice.

So I'll see y'all around! If you have any questions on Literature rules, feel free to comment or note me.

Cheers!

-CC