Reference Guide

     Here is the main reason Epic Stories was started! There are a lot of rules in place to ensure that things run smoothly because there are so many people involved. So please bear with us. Knowing the rules with ensure that you follow them. So please read this entire post.

Starting
    When we are planning to start a new group story the theme and the first chapter will be released. The first chapter will typically be written by us (Keona and Somiya). Once the first chapter is released, everyone will have a chance to sign up. You can do that by emailing us at k.s.epicstories@gmail.com. After that you will need to subscribe to Epic Stories. If you don't know how to do that, let us know, and we will do it for you. We will usually give about two weeks for signup. At the end of this time we will compile a list of who is doing which chapters. That list will be posted and whoever has chapter 2 may begin immediately.

Writing Your Part
      In writing your chapter there are requirements as well as some things you need to know.
Things you should know....

1. Depending on how many participants we have, you may or may not be assigned to do a second chapter. If you are assigned to do two chapters so is everyone else. But if we only want another two or three chapters there will be a competition to decide who will do those. (More about competitions later.)
2. You can draw pictures for your or other peoples' chapters. Just ask whoever wrote the chapter first.

There is not much else except for the rules. As we said before, there are A LOT of those.

Rules

1. Try to keep your chapter about 500 to 1000 words. But it is fine if it is a bit longer. 
2. Keep it clean. No swearing. No sensuality. Etc.
3. No sappy romance. Keep it realistic. Like we said before, married people kissing is fine. A hug or kiss on the cheek/hand is acceptable. Please nothing more than that.
4. If you do draw a picture of one of the chapters, please keep it clean and modest.
5. Don't write if you can't. If you don't have any inspiration for your chapter, please tell us. We will just switch you with someone else, and you can write another chapter. 
6. Try to end your chapters in cliff hangers. It makes it much more exciting to read, and for the next person to add to! 
7. Don't take all the fun for your self. For example, Cinderella and the Prince don't get married in chapter two. We are not saying not to have fun with it. Just remember that this story is supposed to be EPIC. To make it that way it has to be put together well.
8. Be realistic. Yes, anything can happen in a story, but don't go over the top unless we are doing a random comedy. In that case, you may completely ignore this rule!
9. Take your time--but not TOO MUCH time. We suggest that you give yourself a time limit of one week, maybe two. Honestly, writing one chapter of a book isn't that hard.
10. GRAMMAR! I (Keona) am a grammar maniac.I promise you will be hard pressed to find a grammatical error in my chapters. You can save me work of editing your chapter by doing it yourself. 
11. Remember that we will edit your chapter before posting it. Nothing too big. Just a word or two here or a fragment or two there. Mostly just grammar. Don't be hurt if something in your story is changed.
12. Stick to the theme. For example: If the story is about pirates and the boy is about to rescue the girl you cannot decide to randomly change it to ninjas and completely drop the story about the boy and girl. 
13. No planning. You may not discuss with anyone else what you plan to do to the story. It is more fun this way and more fair so that it isn't one person dictating the whole story. We (Keona and Somiya) won't even be discussing how we want the story to go.
14. Do whatever you want. Well...Ok, not quite. Following all the previous rules. Make sure you have fun:) Don't do something because you think that is what some one else wants you to do. Use your imagination!

Finishing Up
    When everyone is done their chapters we will have a contest for the last chapter, or we may decide that the story just isn't ready to end yet. In that case, we will need at least three people to write a second chapter to get the story ready to close. There will be a contest to decide who those people will be.

Contest
   WE will choose an extremely random picture and post it. What you have to do is write a short story about that photo.
Rules

1.  Minimum 300 words. Maximum 750 words. 
2. Keep it clean.
3. It must be about the picture.

If one of these rules is broken your chapter will be eliminated.  The three or so winners will write a second chapter each to help close the story.

Last Chapter
    Everyone gets a chance. Everyone will write their own version of the last chapter, and we will choose five or so. Everyone gets to vote on those five and the majority wins. Sometimes the rules about the last chapter may change depending on how many people participate.

Title
    Basically, in this contest just enter what you think our story should be called. Same thing as the last chapter contest, except this time we will choose ten or so titles, and then vote on process of elimination. Last one standing wins!


This post is basically a "Reference Guide". The rules will not be posted again. Please refer back to this post if you have any questions about rules or contests. Have fun!