This is the 'long version' of how to get your book published in the Relms, as posted in the DR Archives with some postscript by myself.
All instances of 'Send book submissions or questions to dr-czarra@play.net' should be replaced with 'Send book submissions or questions to DR-CADAYA@play.net, DR-KASPIEN@play.net and DR-PORLOCK@play.net.'
Sorry for any formating problems.
Regards,
Jareha de'Lei.
((-- Postscript by Jareha -- Post by DR-CZARRA (Nov 24, 1999) on how to get your book published.))
Mechanical requirements:
1) Each line should be no more than 65 characters in width. (That's ASCII characters. If you need to know what that is, check out a DOS screen, and count characters from the left. If you need to know what DOS is, ask your grandparents.)
2) Don't bother with end-of-page breaks. I'll put 'em in.
3) Put in a blank line between paragraphs. Don't bother with indentation.
4) Avoid so-called high ASCII characters, like * and ~. The library system is a little wonky, and will crash the game if these are used. Only I am allowed to crash the game in this way.
5) Send me a textfile, not a file with graphically embedded characters (as Word does).
Stylistic Guidelines:
1) Keep it at least 1,000 words in length.
((-- Postscript by Jareha -- That is to say over 1,000 words, no maximum limit as per DR-CZARRA Mar 16, 2000.))
2) Avoid dialect. Dialect is fine in discussion, but when written at length it creates a sensation in some people leading to an expressed desire to maim or otherwise incapacitate said writer.
3) Don't write history. Pretty much anything else is generally acceptable.
4) Don't do crossovers. We aren't DragonRealms Meets Dune, or X-Factor.
5) Keep it in-character. Don't write from the outside, about the game, but as your character, from within the game.
6) Use reasonably good grammar and spelling. We will check for mistakes, but you stand a much better chance of being published if we don't need to correct every third word. ;)
Czarra
((-- Postscript by Jareha -- A post by accountholder JPEDIGO (Mar 20, 2000) regarding a conglomerate of posts by Czarra.))
You can't write a biography of an historical character, unless you want to make it a non-historical, historical character. <g> In other words, it has to be a character in the past who never changed the course of history, and was relatively "unimportant" by the famous Reagan Standard ("I'd just like to thank all the little people out there.") These are the folks like you and me who only exist to get wealthy people in positions of power.
You can write about such a person-- but don't try to slip in a chapter about how they palled about with Lanival or had a slumber party with Morganae.
"a book or two" about Human society is truly needed in the game; and we are slowly progressing to that point. However, at the moment we are working on Dwarven materials for P5, so it will be some time before we can look at the other races.
You're welcome to create non-historical books about a given race, though. You could even make a book center around a character who took part in one of the acknowledged major historical events of Elanthia.
Q: "What about books that express a different opinion about some of our Great Heroes fo the Past? Not that he had any affect of is know well but my own Garndaddy past on some journals where he mentions the "Great Lanival" as nothing but another murdering warlord seeking power and control."
A: If it expresses a view of Lanival *is passing* [in passing? - editor] that is negative, that's not a history, so it's okay. If it gives an alternate history or a story about Lanival, that's still history, and not okay.
Q: "If I submit a book on Gnomish customs (i.e. marriage, adoption, and funeral) would that be considered creating history? It doesn't have anything to do with history but does, obviously, pertain to Gnome culture."
A: It might be borderline, but if you've already written them, what have you got to lose by submitting them?
Q: "I've been writing a bunch of short stories about how the different bardic enchantes came around. The history of them. I was just wondering if I could submit these as a book, or would it be a no go because I can't write history."
A: Give it a shot and submit them, Wrister. Use the guidelines I've already posted for formatting...
All materials published in DR have to be non-copyrighted. They would also tend to be duplicated everywhere after that; so that if they were under copyright, you'd have one very stressed out copyright holder wondering whom to sue first.
Q: "Is there a style you care to have or not have? (Other than no accents.) You probably don't want us to write OLDSTYLEWITHNOSPACES nor really old without vowels <chuckles> since you want it spell checked. What about proper olde english pronouns: thee, thy, thou, and thine?"
A: We frown on 'em, because they are really bastardizations of 18th century Englishisms which had very strict applications. Their use as medieval reads as rather hokey. There's no problem with an occasional colloquialism or use of a race-specific term; just don't make a habit of it.
Q: "Should the books be wriutten as a scholar's discourse on a subject or like a journal that mentions various things?"
A: Either both. Your choice.
We're forging ahead as fast as we can with additional timelines and library books. By all means, send us whatever books you wish to write; provided they do not "create history," they will be seriously evaluated for inclusion in our world.
I've long since stopped using the student library to post any new books. It was a policy change, once I took over library guru'ing: I didn't see why a good player-written book had to somehow labeled "inferior" and placed in a "student" section. All books, player- and GM-written, are in the same places, and accorded equal honors.
((-- Postscript by Jareha -- Post by DR-CADAYA (Jul 5, 2000) A hello after taking over from Czarra as library/book system person.))
Greetings all,
I am Gamemaster Cadaya. As I'm sure you are all aware by now, I've taken over the library/book system from GM Czarra. GM Czarra has been the guru of this aspect of the game for a long time now, and he has done an absolutely splendid job in making advancements to it and in filling the libraries with books. And on that note, he'll be a hard act to follow, but I intend to do my best. I feel that the libraries contribute a great deal to the roleplaying environment of the game, and I feel player-written books are an important part of that.
All this said, I will be doing some things differently than GM Czarra, simply because no two GMs can have the exact same styles.
I'm interested in seeing more player books implemented into the game. What kinds of books am I looking for? I'd like to see more books about current events. History as it's happening, the things you, as characters in Elanthia, witness in your lifetimes. A book of history is often created when a scholarly individual observes the events surround him or her, researches them, and records what they observe. This isn't history at the time, but it does become history at some point in the future. What kind of major events am I talking about? The Mirror Wraith Prophecy, the reopening of the Bard Guild, the Gorbesh War... to name a few. Who remembers Beren, or Twando? I'd like for newer players to the game to be able to come in and know about things that happened in Elanthia a few years ago.
I would like to stress that "current events" books does not equal history books. History, as GM Czarra has stated quite frequently on these boards, is an arena open only to Gamemasters, and that will remain. A book which tells "history" will be rejected.
There are a few other types of books I'd like to see players writing, which I will post about in time.
The stylistic guidelines which have been posted before will remain in effect now: No ASCII characters (Dashes are allowed), hard returns, (65) character per line limit -- if you'd like the exact guidelines, please look them up. :) I will be enforcing these guidelines. I have many duties, and I don't have the time to redo a submitted book to match the guidelines provided -- that's what you guys need to do.
I will be adding one additional rule. Please, when submitting a book, mark the subject line as: "Book Submission: <book title>". The quotes aren't needed, but labeling your mail in that manner will help me keep things more organized, and the more organized my email is, the less likely it is that a good book will be misplaced. For those of you that don't know, I also work as a part of the Dragonrealms Hiring team. The Hiring mail, GM mail, and library mail equals lots of mail. <g> Being able to easily identify and sort submissions will benefit you all.
I hope that covers everything on an introductory basis. If you have any questions of a general nature, please feel free to post them in this folder and I'll try to give a good reply.
Regards,
Gamemaster Cadaya
((-- Postscript by Jareha -- Post by DR-CADAYA (Aug 4, 2000) on 'Writing a series' of books.))
A series of books is most certainly acceptable. In regards to the content matter, though... A word of warning. While it'd be great to put together books of poetry, fictional stories, songs, dances, plays, etc., one can't say that these are the Traditional Elven poems or songs, or something that would give them an official place as ingame culture. Like history, that's something GMs need to write. And I hope that was clear enough to be understood.
I'd say there aren't any specific requirements for a book series, save that there is some common thread holding each of the books together. As to length, each book should follow the normal guidelines and be the standard book length.
Hope this clears up your questions.
Gamemaster Cadaya
((-- Postscript by Jareha -- Post by DR-CADAYA (Sep 27, 2000) on rewards for submiting a book.))
Book writers of Elanthia,
It's with great pleasure that I announce new rewards for player submitted books. Now those players that submit a book and have it accepted and published in the game will receive a copy of their book. This item will be a roleplaying prop only -- in other words, though it'll have some commands, you won't actually be able to read the book. I hope this will serve as a better reward for all the hard work you guys put into writing books. :)
A few notes, though. Firstly, this is not a retroactive award. If your book has been submitted and accepted by me or a previous library GM, you won't be getting this. I cannot go through all the player-submitted books in the game prior to my taking over as guru, track down the players who wrote them, and reward them under this new system. Further, all those books were rewarded under the old system.
Secondly, you may not get this at all if you're submitting a book as some part of a GM-run contest. Those generally come with prizes of their own -- the GM running the contest can choose to offer the book prop as a prize in addition, or they may choose not to.
Regards, Gamemaster Cadaya
((-- Postscript by Jareha -- Post by DR-CADAYA (Mar 18, 2001) on posting about writing on 'new' history.))
The Mirror Wraith Prophecy, one of the longest running events in Dragonrealms history, has ended. Sorrow is dead after a fierce war. Zoluren has gained not one, but two new Princes in a short span of years. Where are all the books? C'mon, guys, you're witnessing Elanthian history unfolding. This is your chance to record it, to preserve knowledge of Today for future generations. You have a chance to be the historians of tomorrow.
Not to mention other events I'm sure so many of you have observed. The L'Karm, the Gorbesh War... You're letting prime opportunities pass you by. Let's see some books!
Regards,
Gamemaster Cadaya
((-- Postscript by Jareha -- Post by DR-CADAYA (Jun 1, 2001) responding to player questions on Bardic scrolls and poetry.))
<<Hello, I was wondering how stories and poetry is taken when used by DragonRealms. Ie, if a player wrote something and it were decided by the GMs to be implemented into the game, in places such as the Libraries, bardic scrolls, newsletters, etc, who gets the credit for the writing? If my character wrote something that was good enough to go into the game, would it be written by the Bard Silvyrfrost, or by my character? >>
Absolutely. I can't speak for Bard scrolls or newsletters, since I don't control them, but when someone submits a book for publication into the libraries (and when it's accepted -- important point there), it is given their name. Player-written books are an absolutely wonderful part of this game, and I'm dedicated to encouraging it to continue, and for more players to write stuff. It'd be all but impossible to do that if players didn't even get their names revealed, yeah? Take a look around some of the libraries in the game, and you'll quite possibly see a few names you recognize on the shelves.
<<Also, mind in answer to this post, telling me how long such writings can be? 500 words I think, but not sure. >>
For stories, the guideline is 1,000 words. It can be fewer if the quality is still up to par, but 1,000 words is still something to shoot for -- it can increase chances of publication. Poetry, by its very nature, is generally going to be shorter than a story, unless you're writing an epic poem. <g> So if poems are under 1,000 words, that's not really a problem.
<<Are any topics that would relate to these lands be acceptable, etc. I'm sure writing about the influence of the stock market in NY wouldnt have its place here, for example... >>
Yes, all books must be entirely and completely IC, and relating to Dragonrealms. There are a few topics I like to see written about most (and therefore have the best shot at publication -- catering to my eclectic whims is A Good Thing). a.) CURRENT EVENTS. Not history, but current events. When you're a journalist writing about the war in Macedonia, you're writing current events, not history -- although, 70 years from now, the people that look back on it and read it will consider it historical. So things like... the Mirror Wraith Prophecy, Twando, the Beren/Darius switchover, Zoluren's recent succession troubles, etc. b.) Guides to cities. Discuss the city of Ratha in a scholarly fashion -- what are some of its interesting features, or some of its history*? Talk about some of its major locations, or the peoples that inhabit it (either Rathas as a whole, or particularly well-known persons). Or do Shard. Or Therenborough.
* - When I say some of its history, I mean things that have only been revealed by GameMasters. Players are not allowed to create DR history, I'm afraid.
c.) Personal biographies. Talk about your character. Where did you go to get where you are today? What placea and people have had an effect on you? Etc.
d.) CREATIVE WORKS. This one, and A, are my favorites. Creative works would include... write an Elanthian play. Create a ballad about some incident in the past. Write a poem about some object, or Elanthian concept, or a god... a particularly good example of this is Kerenhappuch's Skirt, which can be found in the Surlaenis library (I think). You guys get the idea.
There are other acceptable topics, and you can probably find out information about those from some of the past posts, but these four are the kinds I like most.
<<Also, where do people send their stories? Sometimes implementation into the lands would be more treasurable to be first seen by the ones in the Library itself, rather then writing it here on the boards..>>
Send all entries to DR-CADAYA@play.net (that's me!). All successfully accepted (published) book-writers receive a copy of their book -- it can't actually take one into the book system to read the book, but it is a nifty roleplaying prop and contains some pretty cool verbs.
Regards,
Gamemaster Cadaya
((--Postscript by Jareha-- post by DR-CADAYA (Jan 30, 2002) regarding two new members to the libray system.))
GMs Kaspien and Porlock.
These fine GMs will be handling books and libraries with me. Give them your warm congratulations. :)
The system is essentially the same. Same guidelines for writing books, same way to send them (text file attachment, subject of the email reading "BOOK SUBMISSION: <book title>")... just include DR-KASPIEN@play.net and DR-PORLOCK@play.net in the address line.
Congrats to them both. They do good work.
Regards,
GameMaster Cadaya
That's all folks, hope it is of some help to your future writtings.
JD'L
