Submission Guidelines
We strongly encourage you to submit your story to The Library of Moria archive. Just as you've taken the time to craft a story, please take the care to read and follow the guidelines below, else it may be returned/rejected (which we take no pleasure in). Of course, if you have any questions, we welcome them at the FPS/RPS email addresses found at the bottom of this page.
Types of stories that belong in The Library of Moria archive:
- All slash fanfiction must be based on the characters and premises of The Lord of the Rings. This can mean the movie universe, book universe, or anything in between. Fiction from The Silmarillion and other Rings-related works by Tolkien are also welcome.
- All RPS fanfiction must be centered on the actors from The Lord of the Rings movies directed by Peter Jackson. Fiction based on crew members is also acceptable.
- This is a slash and FPS/RPS archive, so all stories archived here should feature either male/male or female/female relationships. Any and all pairings are accepted, no matter how weird. Pairing pages will be added if they don't already exist, so don't hesitate to submit if you've written something not already featured. Stories may contain heterosexual relationships as long as they are not the main focus.
Not Accepted:
- Stories fewer than 500 words (not including the header information). This also goes for individual chapters of works in progress. Each part must meet the length requirements.
- A main pairing of two Original Characters (OC's). We will archive stories that feature original characters as long as the main pairing features at least one canon character. No main pairings of two original characters will be accepted. Random orcs, ents, and unspecified Nazgūl are exempt from this ruling.
- Songfic and poetry. A story containing a song or song lyrics does not automatically constitute songfic, which is a story mainly made up of those lyrics. Fanfiction which contains references to a song, or which uses lyrics as a method of dividing chapters, is acceptable for submission.
- Crossovers. Middle-earth is complicated enough without having even more characters show up!
- Purely heterosexual fanfiction. We've got nothing against het; but it simply doesn't fit here.
RPS Requirements:
There are just a few extra notes about Real Person Slash (RPS) submissions that we needed to mention.- Original Characters are not accepted. They're sort of creepy, really.
- Alternate Universe fics are accepted. These are stories in which the actors aren't actors anymore. You could have Elijah as a vampire and Viggo as a vampire hunter - whatever.
Formatting Requirements:
1. Correct formatting. Fanfiction must be sent as a Word Document (.doc) or Plain Text (.txt) attachment to the Library of Moria FPS or RPS email address, as appropriate. All other forms of submission will be rejected, including sending your story in the body of an email. If you absolutely cannot submit a story as a .doc or .txt, contact us and we'll work with you.
2. Proofread. Make sure you proofread the entire story several times and at different intervals so you can catch grammatical and spelling errors. If you have obviously not made the effort to edit your story - such as having the main character's names spelled wrong or having grammatical errors throughout - we reserve the right to simply delete your submission. We will not edit your story. This is your art; take the time and care to show your best work. If you need a beta reader, you can use the Beta Reader's Index to locate one. A beta reader will go through your fic to help you find errors you may have missed.
3. Proper Use of Paragraphs and Spacing. Text in one great big lump is difficult to read. Create a blank line between paragraphs by pressing the "Enter" key twice. Remember that speech is considered its own paragraph (for the most part), and a new paragraph should be used for each speaker.
4. Complete Heading. At a minimum, you must include these 5 elements in your story header:- Title
- Author
- Pairing(s)
- Rating
- Summary
An Author's Note and/or warnings may be included if desired.
The Author's email is optional, but remember that if you don't include it, you won't receive feedback.
The archive does not require warnings for any subject matter nor do we require a disclaimer.
Because the archive uses the American ratings system, these guidelines may be helpful in determining the rating of your story:- G. Very clean, no strong language, no violence, and nothing beyond an innocent kiss.
- PG. Still pretty clean, with nothing past kissing and implied ('fade to black') sex. Can contain mild violence or the occasional swear word.
- PG13. Sexual thoughts and making out is okay, but no actual sex scenes. Can also contain strong language and non-sexual violence.
- R. This is a good rating for fic in which there are full sex scenes, but they're not explicitly detailed. Almost all levels of violence and language can be covered by an R rating.
- NC17. The equivalent of the old 'X' rating. Use for graphic/explicit sex scenes.
There are certain elements in some stories that readers might (or might not) find offensive or disturbing. It doesn't mean you should limit what you write; it just means that in some cases, you may want to provide warnings. Here are a few things that could usually use a warning:- Rape: Consummated sex that is fully against one character's will.
- Non-Consensual Sexual Situations: If it's not rape but it is not clear that both characters want it, this is the warning to use. It also applies to rape situations cut short/uncompleted.
- Incest: Use if the characters are closely related, such as father/son or brother/brother. If they're cousins or less, it's up to you.
- BDSM: Covers bondage/discipline, dominance/submission, sadism/masochism and generally implies that sex is consensual, unless you add a non-consensual warning.
- Graphic Violence: For very intense, explicit, and/or disturbing.
- Character Death: If it is non-canon. For example, you don't need to warn people that Boromir dies, but if you're going to snuff young Pippin, you could use this warning.
- MPreg: Yes, it means "male pregnancy." Such stories are acceptable, but it is best to warn readers ahead of time so they don't get too confused.
5. Using Special Text Characters. All fanfiction is archived in text only. This means that italics, bold face, underlined text, centered text, right aligned text, specific fonts or font sizes will not show up once posted. While your fanfiction may look stunning in HTML or as a .doc file, it may look altered once converted to a .txt file. If you need ways to mark thoughts/other languages/ flashbacks/emphasized words/etc. use other characters, such as asterisks (*) or underscores (_).
Other General Information for Submissions
- Multiple or changing pairings. If your series begins with one pairing then switches to or includes other pairings, tell us with the first submission.
- Multiple or changing ratings. If your series begins with one rating but will change in future chapters - such as if you know it's going to be NC17 later in the story - call it NC17 for the series.
- Multi-Chapter (and multiple-part) Stories. When you submit a story, make it clear whether you are submitting a multi-chapter fic (which should be number as 1 of 5, 2 of 5, etc.) or a story related to a series of larger pieces. For this 2nd example, If you write a fic and call it, "Released," then write a sequel called "Embraced," who's to know that the two have anything to do with one another? Even if you include a note in your header, your readers might have difficulty finding the multiple parts (or reading them in the correct order). We suggest you name your fic using a two-part title if you are writing a sequel (or just continuing it) in the future. By calling the series "Flowery Verbs," both stories will be in the alphabetical listing together as "Flowery Verbs: Released" followed by "Flowery Verbs: Embraced." Not alphabetical, but rather logical. Then that simple note in the summary is enough for the readers to understand what's going on.
Parting Remarks:
The archivist retains the right to ban, without warnings or notice, authors who:
1. Plagiarize. Do it once and you're out. Sorry, we don't take this one lightly, but we are very careful before we'll cast blame on anyone. Claims of plagiarism will be investigated fully. Confirmed plagiarizers will have their work immediately removed from the archive.
2. Piss us off. Don't worry, it's *extremely* hard to do. But a few people have managed. They know who they are. If you have honest questions, even if you think they're silly, you are encouraged to ask! Just make sure they aren't already answered either on this page or in the FAQ page. None of us bite, honestly! Well, we don't bite *hard* anyway...
Home