SVS Writer Guidelines

Inquiries to:
FiveSenses-owner@egroups.com


Basic Premise:

The season picks up where The Sentinel by Blair Sandburg left off. All events in the televised episodes up to that point must be considered canon, and accounted for. If you want to add a novel "spin" to the events of the televised episodes, you must convince the executive committee of its credibleness.

Episode writers should be prepared to work within the context of the virtual season "canon" as established by previous episodes, and the overall "story arc" for the season as established by the executive committee.


General Rules Regarding Content:

Since this is a slash virtual season, the content should ideally include both action/adventure a la the TV series, and issues related to the relationship between Jim and Blair. If you want to lean your focus one way or other, that's fine, but please make sure there is at least some elements of both in your episode.

There are no particular guidelines on the format, but please check with the executive committee first if you are planning to use anything other than third person point of view or script format.

The length of an episode should "feel" like a TV episode. If the executive committee feels that your episode is too long or too short, you should be willing to work with us to achieve a solution.

Original characters are welcome. If you create an interesting enough original character, we may ask you to allow other writers to use the character in subsequent episodes.

Any minor characters or villains that appeared in the TV series may recur. Although if you want to use Kincaid (any other villains that have recurred in the TV series -- and survived?) you'll have to convince the executive committee that you are doing something very novel and interesting with the character.

Crossovers with other shows will be accepted, also. As with everything else, please get approval first from the executive committee.

No major changes may be made in the basic set-up of the characters and their careers without express permission from the executive committee. That means, no killing or maiming of any character, except for your own original characters; no change of careers for any major, minor, or recurring characters; no blowing up the loft or the PD or Rainier University buildings; etc. If you have a really good reason for doing such things, please discuss this with the executive committee.

If you want to write a backstory for any major or minor recurring characters, please check with the executive committee first.


Production Procedure and Schedule:

Writers will be assigned "slots" on a first-come, first-serve basis. Exactly which slot will be assigned to a writer will depend on several considerations, like where a particular story proposal fits into the course of the season, and when a writer feels their episode will be ready.

We are hoping to do several "story arcs" spanning several episodes. Writers assigned to a story arc will be expected to work closely with other writers working on the same arc. Please let the executive committee know whether you will be interested in being assigned to an arc.

We believe that everyone has their own style of working, so we are not going to set a tightly structured format or timeline for everyone to follow. Story ideas will be hashed out through conversations between executive committee members and individual writes. Most writers will have a chance to read the first few episodes of the season in full or in part before having to sit down and start planning their episode. If a writer has trouble finishing their episode in a reasonable amount of time, we'll shuffle things around and put them later in the season.

We will be keeping a list of people who have offered to beta, and will match them up with writes who request a beta. If a writer has a beta they feel comfortable working with, that's fine, too. All episodes must be beta'd for continuity, and as stated earlier, writers should be willing to work with their continuity betas and the executive committee to work out any problems with continuity and canon agreement.


Style Guide:

Format should be in plain text.

All paragraphs must be separated by a blank line. This means an extra return character, not special formatting in a word processor.

If there are sections, section changes should be indicated by a plain horizontal line, like this:
------------

Writers may use US or UK spellings, just let us know in advance.

Italics should be indicated by * Bolds should be indicated by ^

Any other use of special marks or indicators should be explained.


Posting Episodes:

Episodes of the virtual season will be posted to the FiveSenses website at Squidge at intervals determined by the executive committee. We ask that writers not post or publish any parts of their episodes anywhere else before it is posted to the FiveSenses website. Once the episode is posted at the FiveSenses website, it will be announced on Senad, SXF, and SAFicDic. The writer may announce it on any other email lists or websites they wish.

The executive committee has yet to determine how long a period, if any, we will ask that the episodes remain exclusive to the FiveSenses website. When writers do post their episodes to other mailing lists, archives, or their own websites, we ask that you include a link to the FiveSenses website.


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