Formatting:
WordPress likes .doc / .docx files. .rtf files are accepted, but they are a little trickier when it comes to appearing correctly.
Fonts, use any available. These can help identify a change in timeline or point of view, etc. It is not necessary to italicize dialogue, just remember to use quotes before and after.
Oxford Comma or not, just be consistent.
Line Breaks, do not use line breaks at the end of each line, just continue typing. (Thankfully we no longer need to rely on a typewriter.)
Paragraph breaks, do not use Shift+Enter. Just press “Enter”, twice. (White space is an important aide to the reader.)
- Exception to this rule would be identifying stanzas in poetry submissions.
Scene breaks, ***** is recommended using left justification or centered (just be consistent), with “Enter” twice before and after.
Chapters breaks, just be consistent using the Paragraph breaks before and after.
The Stories:
1: Correct spelling, grammar, and punctuation are expected of all stories submitted. Stories with multiple errors will be returned to draft. If requests to correct are ignored, the story will be deleted.
Note: The Brandsters encourage the use of a Beta during the editing process.
2: Titles and summaries must be appropriate for general audiences. No exceptions. “Please read” is not an acceptable summary or title.
- Summaries must include the plot, rating, and word count. And an advisory, if applicable.
3: All stories must be rated.
- K/G – Intended for general audience 5 years and older. Content should be free of any coarse language, violence, and adult themes.
- K+/G – Suitable for more mature children, 9 years and older, with minor action violence without serious injury. May contain mild coarse language. Should not contain any adult themes.
- T/PG-13 – Suitable for teens, 13 years and older, with some violence, minor coarse language, and minor suggestive adult themes.
- MA/R – Content is only suitable for readers 18 years of age and older. May contain explicit language and/or adult themes – including descriptive sex and/or graphic violence.
Note: If your story is MA/R Rated please indicate reason: language, sexual themes, and/or violence AND activate the Age Gate feature.
4: Stories are allowed to be posted in multiple categories. However, from the character-centric choices, select ONLY ONE as the focus for the story or leave blank if the story is written in such a way for it to be a secret or surprise.
5: It is preferred that .jpg (jpeg) images be uploaded to the media library. Acceptable file size is 1MB or less, otherwise the system will use its “Smush” program to minimize the amount of memory used for these images.
Copyright:
- Any image used as a ‘featured image’ must be free of copyright and/or any copyright violations.
- Manipulations of Bonanza screencaps are prohibited by copyright.
- We also request writers refrain from using any AI created images.
6: Any stories in the Library must meet a 500-word minimum, excluding title, summary, rating, word count, author notes, disclaimers, etc.
- Stories with 500 – 999 words should be included in the category: Short Stories.
Note: Submissions in the Poetry category are exempt from meeting the minimum word requirement.
7: All stories posted must be complete. Works in progress (aka WIP) may be posted in The Reading Room sub-forum of the Virginia City Literary Society located in the Bonanza Brand Discussion Forums. Any incomplete work found in the Library will be returned to draft mode until such time that it is completed.
Note: Any story not published within one year of uploading as a Draft in the Library Dashboard will be deleted.
8: Authors are permitted to post one new story per week (7-days), with up to three stories per author permitted on the front page at any time. Older stories by the same author will be backdated off the front page to keep this ratio.
9: Crossover stories are permitted. An author must have a completed Bonanza story in our Library before a crossover story may be posted. The number of cross-over stories by any one author should never exceed the number of Bonanza stories they have posted.
Copyright
Since the characters, concept, and anything else Bonanza is copyrighted by Bonanza Ventures, readers/writers should understand that fanfic cannot be copyrighted. And thus, there is no need to include a disclaimer when submitting stories.
NOTE: Ideas, titles, and character names CANNOT be copyrighted.
As a courtesy, should a writer be inspired by a character created by another author within the Library, the writer should seek out approval from that author before using such character(s) for their own story. It is the characters that are intrinsic to a specific storyline and wishing to use that character in a story that this applies to.
Examples, but not limited to:
Honor Whitaker / Honor Cartwright (Honor series) – Created by The Tahoe Ladies
Old Ned (numerous) – Created by DJK
Jilly Cartwright (Ties That Bind) – Created by JC*
Anna Simmons (The Lady Lawyer series) – Created by PJB
Annalisa Monroe / Annalisa Cartwright (The Dividing Line series) – Created by DBird
Juliet Heatherstone / Juliet Cartwright or Henry Cartwright (The Art of… series) – Created by faust
Robin Walker / Robin Cartwright (The French Piano Player series) – Created by PJB
Should the author no longer be active in this fandom, we respectfully ask that writers not use the character(s).
Artificial Intelligence Programs (A.I. / AI)
The Brandsters strongly encourage the use of Spellcheck or Grammarly when writing or editing a story. Stories submitted using Talk to Text will be accepted from writers in need of such assistance.
However, we draw the line at using any Artificial Intelligence program; where an individual inserts a prompt into a program and the program does the rest of the work, be it creating the dialogue or scene descriptions. The expectation is for stories submitted to the Bonanza Brand Fanfiction Library to be written by fans of the series.