How to format your submission for smutty_claus
Before turning in your story or artwork for

smutty_claus, please use these guidelines to make sure it's properly formatted. The right formatting will help readers focus on the gift you worked so hard to create without being distracted by coding errors, and will save your moderator a lot of time and trouble. :)

Header - For All Submissions
The following header should be submitted with all works:

Please edit the 'Warnings' field to accurately reflect the content of your story or artwork, adding any additional warnings you feel are necessary. Note that header information may be edited at the mod's discretion. (I promise I won't do anything crazy -- just try to make the warnings consistent, make sure the author's notes don't reveal your identity, etc.)

Art Submissions
For artwork, please send artwork as a .jpg file attached to your email, and include the above header information in the email. Make sure the artwork does not contain a signature or watermark. Summaries are optional (but encouraged!) for artwork, but all other fields are required -- please, no untitled pieces. I will host the artwork on my own site, so no worries there.

Fic Submissions - Under 12,000 Words
For fic, your story should be submitted in fully post-ready form. That means that the mod should be able to copy and paste from your document right into a livejournal html posting window without making changes. If you do not normally use the html posting interface, read the below posting guidelines carefully. It is a good idea to paste the story into a private-locked post to test your coding.

Please submit your story in a .doc or .rtf file -- please do not submit .docx files. Other acceptable formats are .txt or .pages (for Mac), or as a last resort you can cut & paste the story into the body of the email. Include the required header information, any standard html tags and your lj-cut in the document.

The story itself must be formatted with a blank line between every paragraph. If you want a word to appear in bold or italic print, include html tags as explained here.

Fic Submissions - Over 12,000 Words
If your story is too long for a single post (~12,000 words), please let me know so that I can plan for these long fics. This is especially important if you have an extension.

Long stories will be hosted off-site at the Archive of Our Own with a link back to the post. An example is here. If you have written a long story, formatting should be the same as for shorter stories, as explained above. You do not need to insert any additional paragraph tags. This is a change from past years, due to the closure of Geocities.

Stories that are not properly formatted may be returned to the author for re-formatting. If coding changes have to be made by the mod, you run the risk of mistakes. (sad, but true.)

If you have any questions regarding the coding and formatting of your submissions, please contact me in advance. Thank you for your help!