Got a great idea for a story?  Ready to go and
write that grand epic?  Folks, here's a few questions
you should really ask yourself before you embark
on that grand endeavor.

1) Has this idea been done before?

   If you're the millionth person to give
   the idea a whirl, do you really think
   the readership'll be that enthusiastic?

   Originality is generally a good thing, okay?
   Give it a try.

   1a) Is my take on the idea really that
       different than the others?

       Think on this one.  Really.
       Be honest with yourself.

2) Is that snazzy title taken?

   Every now and then we do get a couple of
   writers who end up sharing the same title.
   Be polite, now, kids.  If you really insist
   on keeping your title, at least acknowledge
   the others.

3) Are your ideas really yours?

   Again, be honest.  Nobody likes a plagarist.
   And if you are borrowing ideas from other
   people, have the DECENCY to either give
   credit to or ask permission from the
   source of your ideas.  And sooner or later
   someone will find out anyway.

4) Text format?  What's that?

   It'd be nice to be read by everyone, wouldn't it?
   So make sure you can, okay?  Please do try to
   NOT send it via attachments, although it's
   understandable that larger stories might require
   it.  DON'T send it in HTML format or MSword format.
   Saving in plain text isn't rocket science.  Give
   it a whirl.

   And it sometimes isn't enough to just save in text mode.  Lots 
    of you lazy bums rely on auto-wrap too much, re
sulting in text that's skewered
          badly
   and generally annoying to read.

   The occasional' goofy mark^ w*ill also appear if you didn*^t
   do it right.

   Don't expect the readership to read your stuff no
   matter what junk gets tangled in it.

   4a)   Got Space?  (or: Tabs - your friend.)

If the story is in a packed
format, and paragraph after
paragraph is piled on, then
you MIGHT want to seperate
the paragraphs with a blank
line.
Otherwise, as you can see,
it still looks ugly, and
it's a pain to read too.

     If not the line between paragraphs, then 
try something else.
     Like indenting at every paragraph.  See?

5) Got web?

   If you've got a website where you archive your
   stuff, hey, more power to ya.  Be sure to
   list it at the start or the end of your post.


In case you're wondering where this little rant came from,
let's just say the state of the FFML for the last two
months has kinda bugged me.


-'Groucho' Rod