• Spell check
• Sentence Spacing
• Line length
• Message Length
• Attachments
• Copy and Paste
• Beta-readers / Editors
• More Hints

If you type your story or poem in a word processor, then spell checking is a snap. Please don't neglect this simple suggestion! Your readers and I will thank you. I should talk - I had grammar spelled grammer for the longest time on this page. *sigh* No one is immune!

Okay, spacing within sentences will take too long to explain, so I'll just provide some examples. It is no big deal, but sometimes it is an eyesore when done poorly. The main thing to remember is to hit the space bar after a . or a , so your words don't smash together! Your current archiver, Luna, has pretty bad obsessive-compulsive disorder, and it kills me not to be able to take the time to fix improper spacing, commas, apostropies, and quotes. Below are some examples of proper format:

        Jareth turned to Hoggle and snickered, "Heggle, you have put yourself at great risk."

        "What have I done this time?" the cowardly dwarf replied.

        "You've ruined my plans for Sarah, and you will pay for that," the king threatened.

In sentence 2, Hoggle asks a question, represented by ? obviously. However, I myself am not done with the sentence, thus it later ends with a period when I'm darn well good and ready. In sentence 3, Jareth makes a statement, but I'm still not done with the sentence. Jareth's comment gets a comma instead of a period as it normally would (see sentence 1). See the sentence I just wrote? Periods go outside ) but inside " and commas follow the same rule and also go inside ) but I think ? and ! go inside (are you confused yet?) Stay with me, I'm nearly done! (However, if you're writing an entire sentence in parentheses, then you do include the final punctuation within, just as you'll see here.) I hope that makes sense (not that it really matters), even though no one really pays attention to such things anyway! There are no spaces between ( and the first letter of the next word or the last letter and ).

"Ahhh, this is stupid!" my visitors undoubtedly say as they read this section. "Get off this subject, please!"

"All right! But," I reply, "it's not something I can stop. It just makes me feel good about the universe to bring a little order to it. I know no one is as demented as I am regarding this, but I'd love to see the stories 'cleaned up' a bit!"

It has been suggested that there should be between 60-70 characters per line. See if your word processor will let you set line length. If not, please try to estimate manually. I start documents off with an entire row of 123456789 with the "0" being omitted so I can easily count the 7 groups of those numbers. Some mail programs, such as mine, tend to split line length funny, so I have to take the extra time to make other people's stories the right line length. I think most of my time is spent doing this.

I have read that the maximum number of lines per message is roughly 200, but this could be an old, outdated standard. I don't think we've ever had problems on the Major Domo lists with long messages. Generally, people send one chapter or part at a time. Not everyone can receive large segments and entire stories (America Online loves to chop in half large files) so it is better to send pieces to the list. However, if your story is rather short, you may prefer to send it all at once. You can use your own judgment here!

Do not send attachments through the list. Bad things happen on other people's computers! To avoid re-typing your story, use one of the copy and paste procedures described below. I, however, can easily receive attachments at labyarchive@oocities.com. I prefer .txt files but I can open Word and Works word processor files if you can't figure out how to convert to .txt files. If you have your story saved as one big file, I will bless you with a profound number of magical peaches if you would send me your story this way. I usually have to put all the pieces posted to the list together into one document anyway, so that's terrific if you can send me the whole thing at once.

Because many people can't receive attachments, it is a very bad idea to SAVE your story from a word processor and ATTACH it to your E-mail message when sending it to the mailing list. Instead, you can copy and paste it from the word process to your E-mail in a few different ways.

Using the left button on the mouse, click and highlight your story, chapter, or as much of whatever it is that you are ready to send, and click EDIT on the command bar at the top of your screen. Select COPY and minimize your word processor program. Open your E-mail program and do what you would normally do to begin a new message. Put your cursor in the MESSAGE area of the E-mail and click EDIT on the command bar again. Slide down to PASTE and that should do the trick! I don't know if that will work on a MAC, but I think this quicker method will work for both MAC and IBM. Highlight the text as explained above. Press CTRL and C simultaneously to COPY and CTRL and V to PASTE.

I prefer the drop-down menu Windows 95. When you click the right button on the mouse, a menu appears with CUT COPY PASTE and other options. I find it the fastest!

A beta-reader is someone who reads and proofreads your story after you write it and before you post it to the list. If you can get together with a friend and work out any corrections you need to make before you post your story, this will save you a lot of effort later explaining what you meant to say! Also, there is less chance I'll miss your correction and archive the error :(

Clara Gerl has set up a page where the Labyrinth editors are organized. All discussions between author and editor are private and confidential, so you won't be embarrassed or anything! Please take advantage of their service. You can read more about it at The "Labyrinth" Fan-fiction Editors' Page and contact an editor there. A big thank you to Clara Gerl for organizing this service and to the volunteers who edit!

I recommend that you check out another fanfic page created by Kelly Newcomb. Kielle's written an apology - the kind of thing I should have started out with - regarding the need for such a page:) But seriously, she brings up a lot of points I'd love to see followed here. It would make archiving easier, faster, more reliable, and provide readers with an easier time reading fanfic. More importantly than Kielle's introduction and apology is her brief grammar lesson every author should brush up on (you can skip over the comic book info as it does not apply to Labyrinth.) And of course, we echo every archivist's plea to spell check!