Submitting a Story

blackraptor Submission Guidelines

I. Your story should be about one or more Magnificent Seven canon characters. They should not have roles that are secondary to that of an original character.

II. Finish your story. Blackraptor does not accept stories that are still in progress. If it's a story that you wrote a long time ago, PLEASE make sure it's not already posted at blackraptor. You may have forgotten that you submitted it, and discover it's already been archived.

III. If possible, have the story checked by a beta reader. If you do not have a beta reader and can't find one, then read the story aloud to yourself, and be sure to use a spellchecker.

IV. Put the following information at the top of the text, in the story file.

TITLE
AUTHOR
E-MAIL
Main Character(s)
Type of story (Gen Fic, Adult, Het, Slash, Xover)
Universe (OW, ATF, Little Britches, etc.)
If the story is adult due to sexual content, indicate the pairing (Chris / Mary, Buck / Inez, Chris / Vin, etc.)
If your story is based on one of the two The Magnificent Seven feature films, please be sure to include this information, as well as which version (1960 or 2016) you are using.

Clearly indicate the end of your story (so that we can be sure we have the entire story before we post it).

NOTE: If you omit your name and addy, we'll probably post your story, anyway, but you will likely miss any initial feeedback. If you omit a title for your fic, it won't be posted until it has one.

V. Send your story to M7fanfiction@gmail.com (Do not add this screen name to your "friends list." IMs/DMs will not be acknowleged. Do not send anything but fic, or questions pertaining to fic. "Send to everyone you know" type messages are particularly not welcome, and if more than one is received, your account will be blocked). You may send it in almost any format, but be aware that uneditable .pdf files cannot be converted to a web page, and will looke exactly as submitted. If sent as a file attachment, the accompanying message must briefly state what the file contains and who is sending it. The subject line of your message should clearly indicate that it is a fan fic submission or a question about fan fic. Messages with non-specific subject lines like "Hi" or "Greetings" or no subject at all will probably be deleted unread. A file attachment accompanied by a blank message will not be opened.

SOME THINGS TO THINK ABOUT BEFORE YOU POST YOUR FIC

E-mail - Avoid using a work or school e-mail addy for feedback for your fic. This can cause you problems down the road, either because you leave the school, or you get in trouble for reading fic at work, or whatever, and then all of your links have to be changed.

Author Name - If you don't want people to know that you write fan fic, don't use your real name. This especially goes for writers of adult fiction who hold jobs (teachers, nurses, law enforcement, etc.) where the folks you come into contact with may not understand your passion. If you wish to avoid either personal or professional hassles, it's relatively simple to create an e-mail account just for your fan fiction feedback. Please do not ask us to collect and forward feedback if you choose to omit an email link from your stories. We will not do that.

Titles - Titles cannot be claimed as "original." If you want to call your story "Star Wars" or "Gone With the Wind" you are free to do so. If you use a foreign phrase for a title, translate it somewhere, either in parenthesis under the title, or somewhere in the text. Not everyone understands Spanish, French, Latin, etc. and some readers will find it pretentious and avoid the story. Also, don't rely on Google, babelfish or some other translation program to create your title. If you don't speak the language you are attempting to use, find someone who does, or you may end up making yourself look foolish.

Universe - Alternate universes are enormous fun, but if an existing universe will suit your story, you might want to reconsider creating a "new" one. (For example, making the boys DEA agents is not especially creative, since the ATF universe would probably work just as well.) If you don't want other folks writing in your original AU, please submit your fic elsewhere. Blackraptor does not recognize the concept of "closed" A/Us.

PLEASE BE SURE TO SEND THE CORRECT VERSION OF YOUR FIC
because yes, it is a problem to replace it after the wrong version has already been formatted and uploaded.

Stories submitted to blackraptor, it should meet the following criteria:

It must prominently feature Magnificent Seven characters. The main character(s) must be characters who appeared on The Magnificent Seven TV series or in either the 1960 or 2016 feature film (please clearly state which version you are writing). Original characters are fine, but the story should not be about them, with the M7 characters relegated to supporting roles.
In crossover stories, M7 characters should have equal or greater prominence with respect to characters from other shows/films. NOTE: if you use only the universe of another series, but none of its characters, it is NOT a "crossover." This type of story should be labeled "Alternate Universe - <name of series>". For example, if you relocate the Seven to Star Fleet, but no canon characters from any Star Trek series appear in the story, then it is "Alternate Universe: Star Trek." On the other hand, if you imagine the Seven as students/faculty at Hogwarts, and canon characters from the Harry Potter films appear, then the story is a Harry Potter Crossover. Exception to the "equal or greater" rule will be made for multifandom works.
If your story is already on a website and you wish to link it to the Character pages at blackraptor, please provide the following information:
Title
Author
URL
Main Character(s)
Universe (if other than Old West)
Genre (gen, adult, slash) (if slash, provide the "pairing")

If you are planning to write more than one story with the same theme and will want them grouped as a series or collection, please do not wait until you have posted 2 or 3 of them to tell us. Changing the listing after the fact involves recoding several pages. We will accommodate you, but, it is extra work. ;-)

Please do not submit the following:

Erotica involving children. This includes supernatural beings (vampires, werewolves, immortals, aliens, d.a.r.y.l.s, cyborgs, replicators, cylons, etc.) who have the physical appearance of a child, regardless of their age and regardless of whether or not they are biological life forms. "Child" in this case is defined as a person under 17 years of age. (Fic may refer to teen-age sexual encounters involving the M7 characters, but it must not depict them in explicit detail.) (NOTE: Childhood sexual abuse and rape is considered a separate category from erotica. Authors are expected to present such acts as the horrifying and traumatic experiences that they are and not as something enjoyable or fondly remembered.)
"Actor fic" or "Real Person Slash" - fic must be about fictional characters portrayed by the Magnificent Seven actors and not about the actors themselves.
"Closed" AUs You may set guidelines for how your orginal "universe" is to be used, however, if you do not wish to allow other writers to participate, you will need to archive your stories elsewhere. (Occasional exceptions will be made for "rescued" stories that would otherwise be lost.)
"Song fics" that have very little action or plot, and are basically an excuse to quote large chunks of lyrics to the author's favorite song(s). Using song lyrics to enhance or introduce a story is fine, but they should not be the story. Not more than 1/4 of the text should be lyrics.
"Drabbles" (100-word fics) or "Double-Drabbles" (200-word fics). (Note: A story that just happens to be short is not necessarily a drabble.) Drabbles are usually a response to a challenge and have a basic theme in common with other "drabbles." The number of words is specific and exact (no more, no less). They can be a lot of fun, but they simply take up too much time to format and list, and more often than not leave the reader unsatisfied.

There will be no "rejection message" or other explanation. Unaccepted fic simply won't be posted. Certain other types of stories also may not be accepted, but we will probably let you know why.
Do not apologize for the typos - fix them! Ideally, your fic should be beta read by someone who is familiar with the rules of English grammar, spelling, and punctuation as well as American word usage, who is also a devoted fan of the show. However it is realized that a beta reader may not always be available (or even necessary). At the very least, though, the story should be re-read by the author, and a spellchecker should be used.
Please don't send stories asking for a 'quick beta' or an opinion of your work, or ask us to suggest plot lines or otherwise help you create a story. You must write your own fic and please send us your stories if you are satisfied with the finished product.
If you are not sure of the rules of grammar and punctuation (and even if you think you are), please check out Notes on Quotes and other Hints, or obtain a good reference, such as Writers Inc by Patrick Sebranek (available at most bookstores and from Amazon.com). Never assume that what you see in other works of fan fiction is correct. Some extremely creative and prolific writers do not know (or choose to ignore) the basic rules of written English, and may not necessarily be good spellers.
If you want your story to look a certain way, please provide the appropriate information, such as background and text color, font types, images, etc. If you want pictures, screen captures, etc., please provide them with the story rather than just describing them. If you create your own graphics, do not make them wider than 800 pixels. They should be .GIF or .JPG, files 24-bit RGB or less. All images at blackraptor are available for your use except for a few that are clearly marked. If you borrow images from a non-blackraptor website, it is your responsibility to obtain permission from the owner of the site to use them. Please be aware that text and background colors, font commands, and other enhancments such as text shading and highlighting may be lost when a story is converted to HTML. Do not use "Word Art" to create title graphics. It will not convert to HTML.
Bold and Italic commands occasionally disappear when a word processor file is converted to HTML. Please be sure to check your work after it is posted to ensure everything looks the way you meant for it to.
Do not use extra spaces to divide your action. Put a row of asterisks (*******), crosses (+++++++), dashes or other charcters that will stand out to indicate there should be more than a normal one-line break in the text.
If you quote other sources, such as song lyrics, poetry, or literary works, please credit the creator. Incorporating chunks of text from other works into the text of your story so that it is not distinguishable from your original writing is plagiarism. Don't do it, because someone, somewhere, will eventually notice it.
After your story is posted, check it to make sure that your name and e-mail address appears as you want them to appear.
If you are new to fanfic writing, and none of the above makes a bit of sense to you, don't hesitate to ask for help, and don't let that stop you from submitting your story. Everyone has to start somewhere!

A Final Note: We hope that writers will extend their fellow authors the courtesy of requesting permission before "borrowing" their material; however, there are only so many basic plots and coincidences are bound to occur. It would be virtually impossible for blackraptor to keep track of everyone's original characters, dialog, scenes, etc. so we therefor cannot monitor their use by other authors. Unless there is indisputable evidence of a blatant act of plagiarism, no one's fic will be removed from the blackraptor site because of similarities to another author's work. Under no circumstance will we become involved in a dispute between authors.

If you have other questions, please review the blackraptor FAQ page. If the answer is not there, please feel free to ask.

Webmaster
m7fanfiction@gmail.com