Writers, please submit your baby/kidfics to The Nursery Files

http://www.mulderscreek.com/nurseryfiles.html

In a month or so I plan to begin the update process again at The
Nursery Files, which as you probably know is the X-Files babyfic/kidfic
archive. If you don't know it, poke around a bit using the link above.
We've recently changed the rules a bit, so acceptable fics now
include characters ages 19 and under (and pregnancy fics), because
there were requests for late teens/college fics too.

Usually I spent a month or two tracking down writers to ask for their
permission to link or archive their fics, but this time I wanted to try
something new: pleading with authors to help me out by volunteering
their fics, too. Some writers, and I love these gals and guys, will
send me their fics which takes a lot of the work out of the process for
me. Would you consider doing that too?

Don't think of it as self-promotion, think of it as helping me out =)
Besides, there are lots of fics I'll never run across on my own,
especially those just posted on Live Journal because I find it just
about impossible to find things there. You shouldn't be left out just
because I don't know about your fic. If you know about the site and
wonder why I've never asked for your perfectly-appropriate-for-the-site
fic, it's probably because I haven't read it.


To help you decide if you'd like to submit your work, let me tell
potential new authors to the site what the process is:

1. You send me your fic, or I badger you to ask for it if I find you
first. All writers are welcome, from those who have written just one
fic to those who have written 500.

2. Over the next few weeks as I've collected new stories, I do a quick
spelling/grammar/punctuation check of your fic(s) if I'm archiving it
and then format it to 70 characters per line if you didn't. Your
headers (title, author name etc) remain the same except for spacing and
possibly moving any "thank you" type author notes to the end.

3. I upload it to the site, or if you have a website add links instead
(I don't link to fanfic.net or LJs, those stories are uploaded) and
then:
- list the fic(s) on the appropriate page for Authors, which is listed
by the first word in your pen name
- list the fic(s) on the appropriate page for Titles which are listed 
by the first word in your fic title or under a series you've written
- list the fic(s) on all the appropriate Genre pages that fit your 
story, which helps readers locate stories by many different themes
http://www.mulderscreek.com/genres/genrelist.html

4. Readers get to enjoy your story/stories! Hopefully you soon hear
from some who liked the story.

5. If you wanted to have your story linked but your website dies like
so many did last year when geocities shut down, I will upload your
story so it's not lost from the archive.

If this sounds good to you, and the following all apply to you:

- you've written a story that involves a baby or child under the age
of 20, or a pregnant character. The character can be William, Emily, a
child character from any episode/book/FTF, any of the X-Files
characters as children, or your own character. Said character must play
a role in the story rather than just gets a mention.

- you've finished the story, or are posting it as a wip to your own
website. If you're writing a series of fics which is on-going, you can
submit the completed stories but please remember to send the others as
you finish them. Oh, number them too, so I list them in the proper
order.

- you've added the appropriate headings to the story - either in the
document you're sending me, or list them in the body of the e-mail if I'm 
linking to your story - which at minimum consist of a title, an author name, 
and a summary (feel free to add more such as disclaimers, categories,
keywords, timeline/spoilers, and feedback addresses etc. I'm just not
going to do the work of summarizing or titling a story for you)
AND in the stories you want archived you have skipped lines between
each paragraph and every time you begin a new character's dialogue so
readers can read the story without getting a headache. If you don't
know what I mean, go here for a brief do/don't example
http://www.mulderscreek.com/tnf/tips.html  I recommend doing the same 
to stories on your webpages, but obviously I have no control over that.

- you're willing to e-mail the fic as a plain text or word document
attachment, or to send a link to the story on your website. *if you're
e-mailing me your story, you don't need to do anything to format the
line breaks to 70 characters. I have a word macro that does that
automatically which saves us both the effort.* Please don't just send
me a fanfic.net or LJ link to your story - I need a document to upload.

- you're willing to wait patiently until I get the time to work on the
site to add your work. I try to get submissions added as soon as
possible, but that's sometimes 2-3 weeks depending on my work schedule.

then send your story to nurseryfiles@mulderscreek.com . Please include
the title of your story in the subject line (ideally "[story title] by
[your pen name]") so it doesn't get put in my spam folder.

If you're reading this and thinking, "this sounds great, but I haven't
written a baby or kidfic yet" check out the many challenge fics on the
site. With 45 challenges, you'll probably find something that sparks
your interest - even if you're a angst/horror writer...hint: Project
Midnight.
Challenges --> http://www.mulderscreek.com/tnf/challengeshub.html 


Thanks for helping me speed up the updating process,
NeoX