Submission Guidelines

Story Guidelines - A few notes to remember when writing a story:

Check the timeline - Make sure the story doesn't conflict with something previously written. When the story occurs is as important as what occurred. For example, there wouldn't be a gather on a day when the Weyr is flying Threadfall over that territory. Or, if the story concerns a weyrling, make sure the weyrling would be far enough along in training to allow going <between> or flying to the beach.

Timing - If timing is going to be an integral part of your story line, first get the approval of the editor and be prepared for repercussions on your persona. Timing is extremely dangerous and frowned upon by the Weyrleaders. (like you're tush is toast if you're caught - and you will be)

Get permission - If you want to use an active persona, make sure to run the scene or story by the person to whom that persona belongs. Sometimes you'll receive a "yes, that's fine". Often, the creator will have insight to offer about what his or her persona might actually have said or done in that situation. Either way, please make sure to ask first. However, if you don't want to bother with permission, use an NPC. Already this club has a plethora of NPCs hanging about just waiting to be in your story. Why go to the fuss of creating another character when you can use an existing one?

Questions - If you have any questions at all pertaining to the storyline, the character or the situation your persona find it in, please don't hesitate to ask another member of Sable or Pern fandom or the Weyrleader of the Club. You'll be surprised to find out how helpful your fellow members will be in answering questions or knowing where to look to find the answer.

Things to Remember When Creating a Story

Holdbred vs Craftbred vs Weyrbred - Attitude is everything

Depending on where your persona originates, he or she will have a completely different outlook on their culture and environment. Keep in mind where your persona was raised and their experiences when you write their reactions in stories. For example, a holdbred man would have a completely different attitude towards a homosexual relationship than a weyrbred man would have.

Holder and Crafter Personas

Dragonriders proliferate in our club. If you'd like to have a persona with which would stand out and with which you can explore the general life and society of Pern, create a holder or crafter. They are always interesting to write about and can provide some very intriguing storylines.

Transportation

Keep in mind when you are moving your personas from place to place that the Sable Territories are vast.  Dragonriders have a habit of blinking <between> at the drop of a hat but other personas must consider that transportation is limited and dangerous on the roads of Pern. A traveler might find quite an adventure on the high and low roads. There are also many seaports along the coast that can be considered for transport but even in this case, a persona might be faced with pirates, smugglers or Thread on the high seas.

Firelizards

Southern Continent abounds with firelizards and their clutches. Sable has a long stretch of coastline that can provide ample opportunity for personas in those areas. However, if your persona has a firelizard, they must have a reasonable explanation about how they Impressed. Gold firelizards are very rare and usually acquired at a high price, either in marks or otherwise.

One thing that many people forget is that firelizards are a persona's constant companion. They would intrude on every part of the persona's life. Don't forget to include the flitter's reactions to a crisis whenever your persona has a crisis. Because every emotion he or she feels will be reflected through their little companion. And mating flights, while not nearly as strong as a dragon's flight, will effect the bondmate. Especially in a holder or crafter unused to the emotions generated by a dragon's rising.

As with the dragons, firelizards come in only five colors: gold, bronze, brown, blue, and green. Bronzes, browns, and blues are male, golds and greens are female. Gold and Green firelizards will rise to mate after they reach between two and a half to three turns and then they will rise about twice a turn. Unlike their large cousins, green firelizards can lay eggs. Unfortunately, they only lay eggs that hatch more green firelizards. Green firelizards don't have as much instinctive ability as golds when it comes to laying eggs in a safe place and watching over them, so many of their clutches get eaten by tunnelsnakes.

Instead of having a gold hue, a gold flitter egg will be much larger than the rest. Other than those distinctions, the clutches will be about the same proportions as a dragon's. When a flitter hatches, it will immediately look for food and Impress on the first being who feeds them. They fly almost from the moment of hatching.

Firelizards, unlike dragons, are not born with names and will not speak to a persona as dragons do. They communicate with emotion and images that are not always clear. It has been noted in the books that firelizards

Please do not give your flitters names that end in '-th' as we reserve that for the dragons. Please don't give them names that might suggest a person (i.e., a dragonrider's honorific). Also, you cannot name your firelizards after Anne's characters, as she had requested those names not be used. Other than that, pretty much anything goes.

Pernese Society

Pernese society is not Terran society. This may seem to be a simple statement but keep in mind, your person is living in a society that has been on this planet for more than two thousand turns. Currently, there is something of a medieval society but humans being humans, develop rapidly when given the chance.

Dragonriders are considered by the Holders to be something special. Imagine the holder's surprise when they find out that riders are human too. It often surprises the dragonriders as well.

Lord and Lady Holders have ultimate power over their holders and anyone who looks to them. Consider them as Kings and Queens and you might understand them better. Running a hold with hundreds or thousands of people looking to them for protection and upkeep can be something of a trial at times but to someone of the Blood, its their right and responsibility. However, remember, there's no such thing as primogeniture. A Holder can choose whoever they want to be their Heir, but it takes a Grand Conclave to Confirm a new Lord Holder -- who might not have been the chosen Heir.

Crafters are the intellectuals of Pern (depending on the craft, of course). If you're not a dragonrider and not born into the Holder aristocracy, then achieving rank within a craft might be a persona's only way out of a bad situation.

No matter what kind of persona you create, they would all look down on the Holdless (until they learned otherwise) and wonder why Caravanners and Traders would choose to live as they do. Thread is a constant threat so why would they prefer the freedom of the roads to the safety of a hold?

Story Format

Because of the number of stories received for each issue, the editors have requested that all manuscripts be sent in a certain format. Please place the title of the story in the upper, left corner of the page. Just beneath the title, please put your name, as you want it to appear in print. Leave two empty lines beneath your name, then the Pernese date and the story location, another space and then the beginning of the story.

Each paragraph should NOT be indented but flush to the left. Also, please leave an empty line between each paragraph. Changes of scene should be indicated by an empty line, three ###s flush to the left, and another empty line. If the date or place (or both) changes in the next scene, place the date or location flush to the left, another empty line and then the next scene.

When you reach the end or your story, please write "END" so that we know the story is complete.

Once your story is ready to be sent, if you are e-mailing it, please send the story as a TXT file to the editors at SableWeyr@weyrfest.com. If you need to snail mail your story, please e-mail Susan for a snail mail address.

Submission of Art

Please do. We will praise your name and list you on the first page of Flights of Fancy under, "superlative artwork submitted by...." Write the Leadership Team for details.

Submission of a Story

In order for us to print your story, you must send it in. That is always the first step (unless you count writing it, which then would be the pre-first step). All deadlines are set in stone unless, of course, we decide to change them.

There are a number of ways to submit your story to the editors.

Electronic submission

If you have access to e-mail through an on-line service, you can send your story directly to the editors. Please remember if you are sending a story this way that you should put at least one space on every blank line. Otherwise the story will run together and we'll have one long paragraph.

IBM compatible Diskettes

You may want to send a disk directly to the editors to allow quicker and easier editing of the story. (note - Editors look favorably upon any method which allow quicker and easier editing) Your disk will be returned after the story is received. For faster return service, please include a self-addressed, stamped envelope and the disk won't sit on the editor's desk until the next Pass.

Paper submission

If you send in your story on paper, please use double-spacing and a good, clean ribbon. Also, please use white paper if possible. These guidelines will make it easier for the story to be retyped. (note - see above note on quicker and easier editing) Also, please include your name and the page number on each page of the manuscript. If the page order isn't clear, there is no telling how the story might turn out.

Hand delivered

If none of the above methods of story submission sounds appealing, you may hand deliver your manuscript or diskette to our editor. However, you might be dragged down to her computer and chained to a desk to help edit. I don't recommend this.