SUBMISSION RULES

These are the standards by which all stories must abide in order to be posted to The Petulant Poetess. By posting a story here, you are stating that you have read and reviewed these rules and will abide by them.

Please read them carefully. These guidelines are in place in order to provide a quality archive. We reserve the right to reject any story and/or chapter that does not follow these rules.

CATEGORIES

Please categorize your story in its proper place. We accept Harry Potter fanfiction, original fiction, and original poetry. Each category has subcategories. Please familiarize yourself with our categories by clicking here.

SUMMARIES

Summaries should be grammatically correct with the use of proper punctuation. Please, no net speak or odd capitalizations are allowed. Banners and pictures are forbidden within story and chapter summaries. You may use them within the text of your story.

While we love that people post to many archives, we do not allow links in story summaries (or within the story itself) informing readers where they may find your story. We provide a field on your user page where you can list what other archives you post to.

PUNCTUATION AND GRAMMAR

Before submitting a story, it must be free of spelling, grammatical, and punctuational errors. The administrators cannot and will not beta stories. It is required that you acquire the service of a beta before submitting your story.

THE THREE LETTERS:

#1 Acceptance:

A story that has fewer than five (5) typographical and/or five (5) punctuational errors, in which the author agrees to have the admin correct these mistakes, will be posted to the public immediately upon review. An acceptance letter will be sent stating what corrections were made so that the author may update his/her master copy and/or update any other archives the story is posted with. If the author has any questions or concerns about any requested change(s), we urge the author to reply to the admin's e-mail and open a dialogue.

#2 Pending:

A story that exceeds five (5) typographical and five (5) punctuational errors (or less, if the author prefers to correct his/her own errors) will remain on the administrator's board with a status of pending. An e-mail will be sent with a list of the errors that need to be fixed. If the author has any questions or concerns about any requested change(s), we urge the author to reply to the admin's e-mail and open a dialogue. We are open to discussion, and if an author has a specific reason behind a certain phrasing or interpretation, we definitely want to hear it. Please note, however, that while we will allow the occasional artistic license, consistently going against standardized rules will not be tolerated.

Once your errors have been corrected on the site, you must notify the administrator via e-mail, so the story may be reread for validation.

#3 Rejection:

A story that exceeds ten (10) errors in a 1000-word or less submission; twenty (20) errors in a 1001-2500 word submission; or thirty (30) errors in a submission that exceeds 2500 words, will be automatically rejected. A recurring spelling or capitalization error will be counted as a single error; however, each error in punctuation will count as one. This means that once the admin reaches the maximum number of errors, he/she will stop reading and send a rejection letter along with a sample of errors found up to that point. It will not be a full list of errors found in the document.

As always, the author is invited to resubmit once he/she works with a beta to weed out and correct all errors in the story/chapter. If the story is resubmitted without further revision and help from a beta, it will be rejected a second time. A copy of the original submission will be saved by the admins for comparison purposes. We place these rules because we simply do not have time to beta stories for every author who submits.

Beta Resources: If you need to know where to find a beta, a good place to begin is the forum boards, the Potter Place Yahoo group or Perfect Imagination. Betas offer their services for free. They are an impartial eye to your story and are more apt to catch errors than if you were to ask a friend to proofread.

GROUNDS FOR IMMEDIATE REJECTION:

The chronic misspelling of canon words (not including improper capitalization); Improper punctuation with dialogue; Improper formatting of the text; Any story that does not follow the Submission Rules implicitly (see "What is Allowed and Not Allowed" below), all are cause for immediate rejection.

Any story that is outright plagiarized or paraphrased from another author's story will be deleted immediately from the site. Please note: An offense such as this will result in the deletion of all submitted and posted stories by the offending author. We do not condone or encourage plagiarism in any form.

RESUBMITTING:

If your story is rejected, we invite you to resubmit it once it has been betaed and the errors have been corrected. Again, correcting only the errors found by the admin on the first partial reading will not be accepted. Rejected stories will be deleted from the database, so once it has been revised, you must upload it again. Stories that have been rejected because the subject matter is not allowed per the Submission Rules will be deleted and will not be invited to resubmit. The author is more than welcome, however, to offer another story if he/she so wishes.

WHAT IS ALLOWED AND NOT ALLOWED

» You may post Harry Potter fanfiction involving any pairing - or no pairing at all (no romantic liaisons); simply place it in its proper category. Categories are defined on the Categories page.

» Original fiction and poetry are also accepted. It is a wonderful way to see what your favorite authors can do outside of the Harry Potter universe. The Petulant Poetess wants to encourage writers to broaden their horizons.

(Sorry, I do not accept fanfiction from any other movies, books or television programs. There are plenty of other sites that do; since it is not my forte, I do not want to step on anyone's toes.)

a. Canon: With the release of HBP, this needs to be addressed. There are several wonderful stories out there that follow their own path and do not follow canon. Heck, I've written a couple (okay, quite a few) myself. I accept all stories, whether or not they adhere to canon. Please be sure, however, to designate stories with odd situations, settings, or out-of-character characters as "Alternate Universe." Anything, however, that goes beyond reason (in other words, is too crazy, unbelievable, or fangurlish - if you're doing it, you know what I mean), we reserve the right to reject.

b. Mary Sues (or Stus, as I believe the male version is called) are not acceptable. The definition of a Mary Sue according to subreality.com: "'Mary Sue' is an unkind term used to describe a certain kind of character, a style of writing. She (or he) is created to serve one purpose: wish fulfilment. When a writer invents someone through whom he/she can have fantastic adventures and meet famous people (fictional or real), this character is a Mary Sue." This does NOT mean that you cannot create an original character. Simply be very careful not to allow the OC to become a reflection of your desires.

c. I also cannot tolerate canon characters who are taken so far out of character that he/she is no longer recognizable. (Severus Snape prancing joyously through a field of pansies on his way to join his lover with nothing but sweet words and endearments falling from his lips ... sorry, no.) You may as well create an original character.

d. Absolutely NO crossovers allowed. This means stories in which you involve characters from other television shows, books or movies, magical or otherwise, as characters in your story. Stories in which Harry Potter characters mention characters from other books, movies or television are NOT considered crossovers as long as they remain fictional characters. (i.e. Hermione saying she went to see The Lord of the Rings over the summer and has a bit of a crush on Aragorn.) Also, stories that involve Harry Potter characters performing a play in which they take on the personas of fictional characters are NOT considered crossovers and are perfectly acceptable.

e. No rape fics in which the act of rape is glorified. Rape is NOT a form of entertainment. It is not sex; it is violence and writing explicit rape scenes as a PWP glorifies the crime. This does not mean that you cannot address rape in your story. It is perfectly acceptable to write about it as long as you remember there is a victim, and that person is being victimized. Rape victims do not suddenly accept their attackers and fall in love... that is glorifying the crime. In other words, if someone being raped and dealing with all the emotions it incurs is part of a plot, then it is fine. Remember: If you feel your story needs a warning due to high emotional content, please place it in the summary and at the beginning of a story where readers will notice it. Important: A situation where a character has sex with someone as a means to an end, even though they would rather not, is NOT rape or non-consensual. It is a choice.

f. Incest is a touchy thing. I have even written a story that involves mild incestual relations. I will accept incest as long as there is no explicit sexual intercourse (if you are unsure of what I mean, e-mail the Headmistress); that squicks me and since it is my site (and since I inevitably have to read it), well, I make the rules. Anything short of intercourse I will accept. Mention of intercourse I will accept as well--just no graphical stuff, please.

g. Graphical sexual acts involving minors under the age of consent (anyone under the age of 16 in either the US or the UK) is forbidden. It may be implied that they are indulging in a sexual act, or you may tactfully mention it with no graphic description. Unfortunately, this is a touchy situation, and we do not condone pedophilia, statutory rape or underage sex. The admins will have the final word on whether a story is too graphic and unsuitable for posting.

VALIDATION

There are so many great authors out there that I cannot possibly be familiar with everyone's stories and/or reputation. An author who has proven to the Headmistress that he/she can follow the submission rules and submit error-free stories on a consistent basis (an occasional typo or two is understandable and forgiven), will be validated after he/she submits three error-free stories (not chapters). I feel that is sufficient to determine a writer's skill. The admins are keeping notes as to who is on the road to being validated. If you feel that we have overlooked you, please e-mail the Headmistress. And please be kind; I harbor no ill will against any author and any oversights are not intentional. Unfortunately, poetry falls under a different category. Since one can be freer in language and puctuation when writing poetry, I cannot use submissions of poetry as a basis to determine validation. (On the bright side, those get posted to the board faster.)

FORMATTING SUBMISSIONS

The fiction software recognizes line breaks (hard returns) and does not recognize tabs. Because of this, all stories must have a single space between each paragraph. Create this by entering/returning two times after each paragraph, taking you down two lines to begin the next paragraph. There should be absolutely no hard or soft returns used within a paragraph.

Paragraph html tags < p > and line break html tags < br > are not needed and sometimes create problems in spacing. Please do not submit a story with paragraph or line break tags. If you do, the admin will put your submission in hold until they are removed.

When pasting text in the Story Text Box or uploading a text file, you will notice that formatting features such as italics, boldface, and centering text will not carry over. These you must assign the respective html codes. (See the Help Page for help with these html tags).

NUMBER OF SUBMISSIONS

Please note that while the Headmistress is in possession of formidable powers, even she has limitations. Even though she has hired a deputy headmistress to help supervise all the new submissions (thank you, SouthernWitch), there is also a greater influx of stories. The limit of number of stories/chapters you have "on the board"--or that have not been validated yet, in other words--is two (2). When one is validated and sent through to the "Recent Stories" area, you are more than welcome to upload another to take its place. We did not want to have to do this, but our submissions have significantly grown and it became necessary.

As of February 2006, the system will no longer allow you to upload more than two submissions at a time. Once one is validated or deleted, you will be able to upload another. Thank you for your understanding.

Note: If you upload two chapters of the same story at the same time, there will be a three-day waiting period after the first submission is validated before we will validate the second submission. This is beneficial to you, as your story will be at the top of the 'Recently Added' list again after a few days.

SIZE OF SUBMISSIONS

This is really for unvalidated authors since it affects stories that go into our queue. There is a size limit on submissions of 15,000 words. This is because large submissions are very difficult for our admins to go through. Also, larger sumbissions usually have a longer list of corrections. Therefore, if you submit something that is larger than 15,000 words, you will be hearing from an admin to please split your submission into two (or add a bit into the following chapter).

Please keep in mind that the average book is around 70- to 100,000 words. Many books have around 15-20 chapters. So asking for chapters to remain under 15,000 words is quite generous. We hope you think so as well.

ANSWERING THE CALL OF THE ADMIN

Please do not upload your stories and then disappear. If we send an e-mail requesting that you make changes to a chapter and receive no response, we will send out a follow-up letter in one (1) week. If that e-mail is not answered within three (3) days, we will delete the unvalidated chapter(s) off the admin board. (If you uploaded two submissions, both will be deleted.) Simply put, it is not fair to others who are waiting in the queue to keep these stories hanging around when we have no way of ever knowing you will reply. If you choose to upload a story, use an e-mail address that you check often, and don't upload right before you leave on holiday. If you return from your hiatus weeks later and notice that your chapters are gone, don't be offended; we are trying to keep our house organized so that we may more efficiently serve you.

UN-VALIDATING A CHAPTER

The administrators receive an e-mail every time a story is edited. If an administrator notices an author reverses changes that have been requested and made, the chapter will be unvalidated and returned to the admin 'holding area' until the matter has been rectified. If an author doesn't agree with the changes, the author is expected to open a discussion with the admin via e-mail. We are all human and mistakes can be made and misunderstandings can occur. Admins will do their best to explain why a change was requested (backed up by SPAG rules, if necessary) and authors will do similarly. If the author can successfully back up his/her choice of punctuation, spelling or grammar by quoting a reputable reference (see my list of references for examples of reputable references), a requested change will be reversed.

If an author does not want to follow the rules of this moderated website and make the discussed changes, the author reserves the right not to post with The Petulant Poetess. While two people may not agree on certain things, please know that we harbor no ill feelings toward authors if there is a disagreement.

Disclaimer: This site puts all submitted stories (by unvalidated authors) through the same process, and each story will be treated equally regardless of a writer's ability.