Call for Submissions

I'm hoping to fill the void left by Jenni's archive with some new archives, so I'm opening things up to submissions. Read on for descriptions of the new archives, what types of fic I'll be looking for, and submission guidelines.

Seasonal Archives // Individual Archives

The Seasonal Archives

I'm feeling a bit nostalgic for first and second season Buffy, so I thought...why not open 2 new themed archives...one for first season fic and one for second season fic. These archives would be devoted to fic set during specific seasons. Depending on how it goes with first and second season, I may also open a third season archive, but I need to know what the response will be first.

If you're interested in submitting, please follow these guidelines because I'm warning you now, I'm going to be a little bit picky.

Rules for Submission

There is no limit on rating, pairing, plot, etc. The only requirement is that they story be firmly set within a given season. The stories can be old or new. They don't have to have been written while the specific season was airing, they just have be *set* within the specific season. If you need to remind yourself of what happened during a season, or which episodes are included in each season, check out the transcripts at Psyche's page or detailed episode summaries at the Buffy & Angel Resource Center.

MY DEFINITON OF SEASON 1 AND SEASON 2

First season means anything from a few months before Welcome to the Hellmouth up to (and not including) When She Was Bad. That means, you can write about the summer after Prophecy Girl, or you can write about the period RIGHT before Buffy came to Sunnydale, and I will count it as first season even though we didn't get to see it on screen. (That does not mean everything before Welcome to the Hellmouth. No Willow and Xander as kids, etc. We're talking a maximum of several months before Buffy ends up in Sunnydale.)

Second season means When She Was Bad up until (and not including) Anne. That means, you can write about post-Becoming stuff, but nothing set during or after Anne.

FORMATTING

Do NOT send me stories in html. I will have to reformat them and it will be a pain in the butt.

When you're indicating a paragraph break, leave a space instead of indenting because a lot of times the indentation doesn't show and I have a hard time figuring out where the breaks are.

Ex: Angel walked to the sofa and sat down. He threw a glance at Buffy who was standing in the kitchen. She drummed her hands against the countertop.

"What are you doing here?" he asked.

Also...many people use symbols to indicate thoughts (like *, _, or <). If you're using the carrot < > to indicate thoughts leave a space between the symbol and the beginning and end of your thought. Ex: < Why did I say that? > he asked himself. If you don't the thought will disappear when I format the story.

YOU MUST: Proofread your stories. Or at a minimum, spell check them. You don't have to be perfect, I'm certainly not. But your story must have some sort of point, and it must be legible. If you don't take the time to at least try to get the grammar right, I'm not going to take the time to put it up.

TO SUBMIT:

Send your story to me either:
pasted into an e-mail with 1st Season Story Submission or 2nd Season Story Submission in the title --
OR
attached to the e-mail as a TXT or a DOC file.  -- (Send only ONE attachment at a time. If you send more than one at once, AOL will not let me get any of them and you will have to resend it or I will simply discard it.)

Make sure you include:
the name you want used as author (real or pen name I don't care)

the e-mail address you want any feedback sent to


and a heading that includes
RATING (G,PG, etc.)
CONTENT (why it has that rating)
SPOILER WARNINGS (which Buffy episodes does the story give away details from)
SUMMARY (a short summary of the story)
and a DISCLAIMER (something along the lines of...I don't own these characters. Joss Whedon, the WB and Fox do. )

READY TO SUBMIT? SEND YOUR STORY HERE

TOP

Individual Author Archives

I'm thinking of opening one or two new author archives. Check out the Individual Authors section of the Archives if you want to know what I've done with these in the past. I've never taken submissions for these archives, all the previous authors have been chosen and approached by me, so I'm not exactly sure of the best way to do this...but I'm going to go ahead and see what kind of response I get. The requirements are sort of long, but please do read them because I think it'll help me if you give me the information I'm asking for. Just a warning...I am going to be even *more* picky about these, and I am not going to compromise on quality with these at all, so don't apply unless you're okay with possibly getting turned down. Being turned down doesn't necessarily mean your fic isn't of good quality, it can also mean I didn't feel your story type fits in with the rest of the archive, or it could mean that since I'm limiting this to one or two archives, your stuff was good, but there was one person who was better.

Rules for Submission

There is no limit on pairing, rating, style or story type. But I do reserve the right to be totally arbitraty and turn you down if I don't like the type of fic you write. This is a matter of taste, not a judgement on quality. For example, Buffy/Riley fic will never have a home at The Buffer because I need to read the submissions to judge them and I refuse to read that pairing. I am open to most things, and I am willing to put up a variety of fic, so if your fic doesn't fit into a category that's already at The Buffer that's not a bad thing, and in fact may work to your advantage. Try me. :)

These archives are only open to authors who do not already have an archive that houses all their fic. You can still apply if you have some of your fic up on the net, if you've sent all of your fic to a mailing list, or if the only place all your fic is housed is fanfiction.net, but if you already have a personal archive or you have all your fic archived in a general archive like The BAFFA or The Slayer's Fanfic Archive you aren't eligible. This is for the simple reason that if your fic is already up in its own archive, there's no reason for me to create a whole new archive for you.

You must have at least 5 stories already written. I don't want to open a whole new archive and design graphics, etc. for just one story. The individual author archives are designed to house a fairly large chunk of fic.

You should send me 2 stories that you think are your best work. (Or you can send one series if there are more than 2 parts to it.) You can either send them to me in an e-mail labelled Author Archive Submission, or send me a link if they are up on another webpage. You can paste them into the e-mail or attach them as TXT or DOC files only. ONE ATTACHMENT PER E-MAIL! I will not be able to read them if you send multiple attachments.

IN YOUR E-MAIL INCLUDE:

your author name (real or pen name I don't care)

the e-mail address you want any feedback sent to

the total number of fics you currently have written that you want included in the archive

your general style (angst, action, romance, humor, etc. You can include more than one style.)

the pairings or character you write most (if you write fic about couples, which couple. You can include more than one if you write several, and you can also include the single character you write most if you like. If you write non-couple fic, just tell me which character you focus on most.)

average length of your stories (you don't have to be very specific here, just tell me if you write mainly shorts, a few shorts and a few mediums, or you can specify mainly one parts, mainly multi-parts, etc.)

are you currently writing (You DON'T have to be currently writing to be considered...if you already meet the minimum number of fics required, then you can be retired from Buffy fic and it doesn't make a difference to me. This is just to give me more information on what would be involved in creating the archive.

whether you're willing to give me blanket archive permission (In the past the way I've done the archives is to ask for blanket permission to archive all fics by a particular author...that just makes it easier for me so I don't have to worry about whether I have permission to archive future fics. You DON'T have to give me permission to be considered, but I want to know whether we'll need to negotiate that.)

OPTIONAL - If you'd like to tell me why you want to be included at The Buffer, or if you have any other information you think I should know feel free to wax poetic

FOR EVERY STORY YOU SEND, INCLUDE THIS HEADER:

TITLE
RATING (G,PG, etc.)
CONTENT (why it has that rating)
SPOILER WARNINGS (which Buffy episodes does the story give away details from)
SUMMARY (a short summary of the story)
and a DISCLAIMER (something along the lines of...I don't own these characters. Joss Whedon, the WB and Fox do. )
URL (where the story is located. Doesn't apply if you are attaching the story to the e-mail.)

If you're confused by all these guidelines, take a look at a sample submission e-mail.

Once I've read your 2 stories, I'll let you know if I want to see more, and we'll make arrangements so I can look at your whole list of fic. If I'm still interested after I've read more, then I'll let you know I'd like to make you an archive, and we can start talking specifics. At that point I will discuss graphics, organization, and other details with you. You will have approval of lay-out and graphics and a chance to give input in terms of what you want for the look and set-up of the archives.

**NOTE** - You can send in the name of someone else. If you know of an author you want considered, then send me their name and tell me where I can find a sample of their fic. I will contact them directly if I'm interested.

READY TO SUBMIT? SEND YOUR STORY HERE

If you have any questions, please ask.