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FAQ
What is MSM?
The Mulder/Scully Married Archive supports a mailing list of members who contribute to or read this type of fanfic. This type of fanifc, in case I got any lost Rifters in here, is fanfic in which Mulder and Scully are married to each other! (The Rifters run screaming in horror.)
How Do I Join the MSM?
Simple. Just click the join link and you're on your way.
How Do I Submit Stories?
Follow the guidelines set forth on the Gossamer Site. Then just e-mail me your formatted tale and it will be posted and mailed to the List members.
Here are the submittal guidelines that I'd like you to follow.
We don't judge the quality of your work, but we do ask you to work
with us to ensure that your formatting is readable. As we try to pick
up information about your story from the header, please include the
following items at the TOP of the story itself in the following
format:
Title -
Author -
E-Mail address -
Rating -
Category -
Spoilers -
Keywords -
Summary -
Download statistics show that for most stories, the maximum
number of people will read and respond to your story the first
day or so it is archived. In order to maximize readers and any
feedback you may receive, it is important that your story be
rated, classified and formatted properly. In order to
facilitate the maximum number of readers and responses
for you, and if the sumbissions volunteer cannot easily affect
a solution, we will direct your story to the Help Desk should it
come through badly formatted, and that volunteer will try to
contact you in order to see if we can help you to correct whatever may
be amiss.
Why is classification information added to stories?
Classification information is added to make it easier for a reader to
find -your- story. There is now a search engine available on one of
the Gossamer sites. Using that, anyone who's looking for a
"Mulder/Scully romance" or an "XF/Quantum Leap crossover" or a story
centred around the episode "Tooms" can find it if, of course, you've
provided it.
Where does this classification information -come- from?
>From you, the author. Classifications will be drawn from the
information you provide, either in the listing format suggested
elsewhere in the FAQ, or from your introduction/author's notes.
How?
Here's an example. ;-) If your intro says "If you're not a shipper,
bail now! Flames will NOT be accepted.", your story will be keyworded
MSR, for Mulder/Scully romance.
If you make reference to Scully's return from her abduction, your
story will have an ep spoiler of One Breath.
If you refer to blue and purple polka-dotted oranguatans..., well, you
won't be keyworded. But we -will- think you're strange.
Our database admin moonlights as a "Dial-A-Psychic" -- could
you guess? :-)
What are spoilers, and who are those people with torches?
Ah, spoilers. The people with the torches are our beloved
X-Philes who don't live in the United States. Or, who do live in the
US and are behind on episodes. They tell us they don't REALLY burn
people. Not sure we believe them, though.
If a reader would not understand the gist of your story without
having viewed an episode or if your story gives away any
episode events (in any season), PLEASE put the episode
title in the "spoilers" section. This is a consideration that
is much appreciated by your readers and fans. If you list more
than one episode, only the most recent will be listed.
What if I don't want some/any classification information
added to my story?
These stories are *yours*. Should you decide for whatever
reason that you do not wish to provide some or all of the
classification information, all you have to do is tell us
somewhere at or near the beginning of your story. We
may cry , and readers might possibly
miss out when using the search engine tool, but it's your choice.
There is now a single person who collects the posts and submissions
and forwards them to the correct archive. Please make her job easier
by labeling your posts and submissions like this:
COMPLETED STORIES - If you are posting your story over a
long period of time and wish to have the parts of it archived while it
is being posted, we ask that you label it as an unfinished story or
serial. Finished stories are archived on the completed stories sites
as per the list above.
a) If it's a finished story which can stand alone, please
label it this way:
Trust Me (1/1)
or if this post were the first of four:
Trust Me (1/4)
b) If the story is a sequel to another story, please give the
series
a name, use Roman numerals to designate the order in which they
should be read and label it this way:
Trust Me II (1/1)
or if it were the first of five parts:
Trust Me II (1/5)
UNFINISHED STORIES AND SERIALS - If it is necessary to have read
another story in order for your current story to be understood, OR if
reading this story will be necessary to understand subsequent stories,
OR if your story is not completely written yet, it will be archived on
the Unfinished Stories and Serial Archive. When it is done, it will
automatically be compiled and archived on the Completed Stories sites.
Some folks have told us that they have a hard time distinguishing
between unfinished stories and serials and we do too, to be honest.
Pick whichever one you feel is the best choice for your particular
story. ;-)
c) If it's an UNFINISHED work, then label it this way:
Trust Me (1/?)
or if it's a sequel
Trust Me II (1/?)
d) A serial is a long story which is posted as a number of
smaller
stories or installments, where each small story makes little or no
sense unless one has read the previous stories. If it's a SERIAL,
label the individual stories as chapters, like this:
Trust Me Ch 3 (1/1)
or, if you have to post it in say three parts:
Trust Me Ch 3 (1/3)
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How are the stories rated?
We use the American movie rating system. Choose from one of
these four ratings:
PG - Some curse words, some violence, some sex, but nothing
graphic.
R - A lot of bad profanity, graphic sex, graphic gore and/or
explicit violence. Not suitable reading for anyone under
legal age.
NC-17 - EXTREMELY graphic violence, gore, and/or sex. Not
suitable reading for anyone under legal age and
some adults! This replaced the old 'X' rating.
------------------------------------------------------
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How are the stories categorized?
Categories tell us on which category page on the archive you would
like to see your story featured. If you choose not to pick a category
designation, the story will show up only on the title/author/date
pages and, therefore, will get less exposure. There is an interactive
question-and-answer tool at:
http://gossamer.simplenet.com/classifications/instructions.htm
which can help you fill in this information, and Randi at
help@x-philes.com who is ready and waiting to answer questions
and lead you through all of this if you find the following
instructions confusing.
STEP 1 - it must fit into *JUST ONE*
of these 5 main categories.
C - Crossover - Features MAJOR CHARACTERS from other
shows, movies or books, regardless of what type of story it is.
Please be sure to tell us *which* show, book or movie is featured.
X - X-File - Plot-driven fiction centered around an investigation
and/or conspiracy. Plenty of action/adventure/plot. Typical of
something you might see on the X-Files television series itself.
T - Adventure - Plot-driven fiction *not* centered around
an investigation and/or conspiracy. Plenty of action/adventure/plot.
Unlikely to be something you would expect to see on the X-Files
television series itself.
S - Story - Character-driven fiction that focuses on character
interaction rather than on plot; any kind of interaction, not just
romance! Friendship, family and most romance stories fit into this
category, as well pure erotica. Not a great deal of
action/adventure/plot.
V - Vignette - Mood piece, or a character thinking about
something. There can be conversation, but there is *no*
action/adventure/plot and usually only one scene. Most vignettes
are very short, but there is no size limit imposed.
STEP 2 - In addition, the story
*might fit into one or more* of
these subcategories
R - Romance - One or more main characters is romantically
involved with anyone. If it's just an implied romance, don't classify
it as a romance, use the UST keywords to alert readers to possible
future romance. Erotica doesn't have to be classified as romance
though it can be, depending on the relationship. This is the author's call.
H - Humor - Overall, the story is clearly meant to be funny.
A - Angst - For most or all of the story, main character(s) are in
great emotional or physical pain.
What keywords should I use?
This is the 'official' list of keywords. Anything you would like to
mention about your story that is not included here would have to be
added to the story summary. Please choose as many of these as are
applicable to your story, or put 'none' in the Keywords section:
Slash. (Same-sex characters romantically or sexually
involved. Please include this warning even if there is no explicit sex
in the story!)
Character dies. (If a main character from the show dies.)
Rape. (Even if it only contains a non-graphic rape scene,
the story should carry this warning.)
Pre-XF. (Most or all of the story is set before the "Pilot" XF
episode.)
Alternate universe. (Main XF characters traveling in time
and/or developing extraordinary 'powers', fantasy stories, sword
and sorcery stories, stories that place the characters in totally
different 'worlds' other than the standard XF universe. Mulder and
Scully in the Highlander 'universe' would be an alternate universe
story. However, if the Highlander CHARACTERS were being used also,
that would make it a crossover instead.)
Skinner/Scully romance. (Be sure to use the Romance subcategory!)(AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!NOT FOR MSMer's!!!!!>
Mulder/other romance. Mulder/Skinner romance. Scully/other romance.
(You get the idea.)
Scully/other. (Sex, no romance.)
Skinner/Scully.
Scully/Krycek.
(You get the idea.)
This is the biggest 'sub-genre' on the archive and we're looking
towards breaking out the Mulder/Scully stories a bit more by adding
different keywords to show the different varieties of relationships
they may have in different stories.
You don't have to add any of the following; they are intended mainly
for the romance stories and the stories which authors specifically
wish to note are NOT romances. Please choose ONLY ONE of the
following:
* Mulder/Scully friendship. (Bonding, no romance.)
* Mulder/Scully. (Sex, no romance.)
* Mulder/Scully UST. (Implied romance, Shippers and Non-shippers
alike would enjoy it.)
* Mulder/Scully married. (Probably a romance.)
* Mulder/Scully romance. (*Must* be categorized as a romance
story.)
What about spoiler warnings?
Please don't forget to list episodes where major plot details may be
'spoiled' in the story, even if it's a very old episode. Should you
list more than one episode name as a spoiler, please note that we will
use *only* the most recent episode on the assumption that if readers
have seen it, then they have probably either seen or know about any of
the previous episodes you may have listed.
How do I write the summary?
Vague summaries are fine, but there are a *lot* of stories on
the archive and it might help readers to find yours (with or without a
search engine) if you could tell them a little about the story. Don't
give away the ending, of course! ;-)
How do I format my story?
This is a general "how-to" list. For a more complete look at how to
properly format your story, SUe maintains a fabulous FAQ at her site
at: http://www.loop.com/~sue/
Or you can request a text copy from SUe at the.sue@pobox.com
Please keep your line lengths to 70 characters or less. Longer than
this, and the formatting becomes hard to read, with alternating long
and short lines.
Please don't use *smart quotes* (quotation marks that curve). Used in
ASCII, they do *not* appear as quotes, and make reading difficult.
Please watch for quotes turned into garbage if you choose to cut and
paste your story from a word processor. The *safest* thing to do is to
save as Text with Line Breaks from your word processor, then place
your story in your e-mail message.
Please don't use "high ASCII characters," which are those characters
made by using various key combinations, such as [ALT]/Number for PCs,
or [Option]/Letter for Macs. They, too, turn up as gibberish,
sometimes mutilating nearby text as well.
Please *name* your stories. It is difficult for the archivists to
keep track of multi-part stories when the subject line is "Untitled".
What if my story is listed incorrectly?
Send a message to the archivist and please
mention which archive your story is on. We will do our best to work
with you and make sure you are happy with your listings. ;-)
*Property of the Gossamer Archive*
Any more questions? E-mail mackillian and she'll be happy to help.
MSM Archive