MobileRead Short Story Anthology - [GUIDELINES]

[Katsunami]

Very good I think we have all of it organized. I'll recap below, and if everybody agrees, I'll update the first post

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SNIP

The guidelines that were here, are now in the first post of this thread.

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Comments?

If so, I'll adjust the above post before updating the first one.

[Graham]

Nice consolidation, Katsunami.

Originally Posted by Katsunami

- Starting April 1, no drastic (structural) changes in the stories are allowed.

The review process could well suggest major structural changes, so I don't think this clause can be included.

I think as long as we're heading for a target date to get a satisfactory final version, we should be fine.

Originally Posted by Katsunami

Execution
- I will set up a shared Dropbox folder.

I think you need to add a line (so that you can share the folder in a way that we can post to it):

- Please PM me with your email address if you want to participate

Originally Posted by Katsunami

- The names of all the contributors will be put onto the cover if not too many; if there are many, the names will be put directly after the title page.

I think the cover is going to be one of the things that we'll find an interesting education as we go through this process, so I wouldn't nail this down too much at this point.

We might ask to be allowed to use the tagline 'MobileRead Authors' or some such.

Graham

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by Graham

I think the cover is going to be one of the things that we'll find an interesting education as we go through this process, so I wouldn't nail this down too much at this point.

We might ask to be allowed to use the tagline 'MobileRead Authors' or some such.

I've updated the post using your suggestions.

With regard to the cover: I think we shoulnd't make it too complex. I've seen a lot of anthologies with fairly simple covers. Often just a background pattern, a large title, and a list of the authors, such as this one:



I've updated that line as well

[Dr. Drib]

I'll report back here later today.


Don
(Moderator)

[Dr. Drib]

Thread now stickied.



Don
(Moderator)

[Katsunami]

Thanks Should I create the discussion thread, and update the first post, or does anyone have any other comments?

[gmw]

Looks good to me. Should be interesting to see how this comes out.

[Graham]

First story of mine up on the Dropbox folder.

I think I can count this one as new - though what I've done so far was completed in late February - and is up there as v0.1. I've also added a critique guideline document as per Katsunami's and a version history document. I'd enjoy seeing a version history for everyone's stories as they progress, letting us know the writer's thoughts to that point.

Graham

[mrmarlowe]

Originally Posted by Graham

First story of mine up on the Dropbox folder.

I am also not far behind. We need more contributors tho.

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by Graham

First story of mine up on the Dropbox folder.

I think I can count this one as new - though what I've done so far was completed in late February - and is up there as v0.1. I've also added a critique guideline document as per Katsunami's and a version history document. I'd enjoy seeing a version history for everyone's stories as they progress, letting us know the writer's thoughts to that point.

Graham

Good idea about the version history. You beat me to it, as I don't yet have a version 0.1 That will only be after I finish the actual story

A few comments with regard to using Dropbox (which I will also include in the first post):

- Dropbox has no security as far as I know. Any person invited into the Dropbox folder can see and change any subfolders. Make sure you have a backup of your own folder at least, outside of Dropbox. Mistakes happen. Someone could accidentally delete or change files.
- The above point, and especially the word "accidentally" implies that some care needs to be taken. My suggestion is as follows: if you are going to read other people's documents that can be changed by the software you're using (for example, reading a DOC-file in Microsoft Word), then make a copy of those documents first. Copy the participant's folder to your desktop, for example.
- Don't write the story directly inside the Dropbox folder. Many people have notifications enabled, and each time you save, all other participants will be notified because of the update. Write the story outside of Dropbox, and copy the latest version in there after you're done with your session. Also, someone might open your document just before you intend to edit it, locking it in the process.
- If you are one of the people who will post work in progress versions, you can post them in any format you like, as long as you're reasonably certain that this format can be opened by the other participants.
- The final version that is going to end up in the anthology has to be posted in a format that LibreOffice can open. Preferred formats are ODT/ODF, DOC, DOCX, RTF, TXT. Please don't post your final work as a PDF.

[Graham]

I'm posting as pdf as we go along, mainly because I'm working in Google Docs, and I can be reasonably confident of retaining the layout when saved as pdf. If anyone wants me to post an editable version so that they can put comments inline, just PM me and I will - though I'm just as happy for you to copy the whole thing into another document and save that in my folder if that's easier for you.

I'll save the final version as docx.

Graham

[gmw]

I uploaded both a PDF and a DOC version of the story, thinking ath reviewers could use whichever they prefer - or might that be too confusing for some?

[arjaybe]

Originally Posted by gmw

I uploaded both a PDF and a DOC version of the story, thinking ath reviewers could use whichever they prefer - or might that be too confusing for some?

Me too. PDF and ODT. I guess we'll find out if it's going to be confusing.-)

@gmw Vera's Itch is a good story. It makes the reader want to solve the puzzle. The pacing is good. The voice is consistent. I could see the settings, even though you didn't over-describe them.

I'll sleep on it. Maybe I'll have more tomorrow.

PS Is this the thread for comments, or was there another one being created for that?

rjb

[Katsunami]

This thread is for organizing. I'll create the other one in a moment.

[mrmarlowe]

I uploaded a RTF version.