Submission Guidelines

Please be aware that this site is for stories that focus on the crew of the starship Voyager. The Voyager crew is made up of four main groups:

• Starfleet
• Maquis
• USS Equinox refugees
• Borg children

The archive is currently looking for fiction centering on or about canonical supporting characters such as:

• Meghan and Jenny Delaney
  
• Joe Carey
  
• Samantha and Naomi Wildman
  
• Vorik
  
• Susan Nicoletti
  
• Gerron
  
• Noah Lessing
  
• Marla Gilmore
  
• Lyndsay Ballard
  
• Icheb, Mezoti, Azan and Rebi
  

As well as fiction that centers on original characters serving aboard Voyager.

To submit a story, use the Submission Form to make sure you are sending all the necessary information that goes with your submission!

Your submission must be saved as Text format with Line Breaks (Text With Line breaks, ASCII, ie. MS-DOS text) with no tabs or special characters (smart quotes, etc.) or as an HTML document to be eligible to be archived. All submissions must be web-archivable files (.txt and .html or .htm). No word processing documents, please.

If there is a problem with the formatting of a submission, please resubmit your story to the archive in the a readable format. Click HERE if you are using MS Word, for detailed instructions on how to save your document in the proper format.

To ensure that your story has been saved correctly, open it in your browser before you send it to the archivist. If it:

a) appears to be one huge one paragraph
b) has strange symbols where quotes or apostrophes should be
c) scrolls all the way to the right
d) has =20 at the end of each line
e) has strange symbols at the top and bottom of the file
d) does not load at all

you have not:

a) changed the tabs to double returns or spaces
b) replaced the "Smart Quotes" or special characters with plain ASCII text
c) saved it in Courier 12 with Line Breaks
d) saved it as a plain text document (and it has been converted to a MIME type document)
e) saved it as a plain text document (and it has been saved as a word processing document)
d) saved it as a plain text document (and your browser can't figure out what the heck it is)

Any story under 30,000 words should be made as one submission. Novellas and novels over 30,000 should be broken up into sections or by chapter.

Works in progress will not be accepted, unless they are entries in a complete series and each section is whole and complete within each part (ie. trilogies, sequels, etc.). This archive is for completed stories only. No story ending in to be continued... will be accepted!

The Archive cannot accept multiple submissions made simultaneously--please, if you are sending more than one file, send each file in a separate email with the title of the story and your name and email in the subject line.

If (and only if) your browser does not support forms, then you can send your submission to: LowerDecks@hotmail.com. Please make sure each story contains either at the top of the page or as a separate document, the following:

1. Story title
2. Author's name and current email address
3. VERY IMPORTANT A synopsis of 50 words or less, including the story's MPAA-style rating (PG, PG-13, NC-17), when during the series the Set (ie. before "Caretaker", or "a year after they get back to the Alpha Quadrant", etc.) and what story or stories it is a sequel/prequel to, if applicable.

Example of a correct synopsis:

Set after "Someone to Watch Over Me". Jenny and Harry break up, and everyone in Stellar Cartography schemes to get them back together. Meanwhile, Gamma shift begins to wonder if Voyager is haunted. Sequel to "My First Story"

Example of an incorrect synopsis:

I wrote this story after listening to my fave song from my fave movie for the millionth time. It is a seven hankie story! I mean it!

DO NOT include the following in your synopsis:

• Any kind of fanfic "series" name, i.e. "This is part one of the 'Desperado' series." Simply include sequel or prequel information. Any series information you do include will be removed.
  
  
• Any kind of "hanky" rating. It's juvenile, and more importantly, it dictates to the reader what emotions they are meant to be feeling while reading the story. If you have written a good story, you should not have to TELL the reader they will cry. Either they will, or they will not.
  
  
• Please do not note if it is any kind of challenge other than an "Archivist's Challenge" story (so that I know to put the story up on the Archivist's Challenge page if this archive).
  
  
• Any kind of "character death" warning. Try surprising your readers. If you do feel it necessary to contain a warning (for example, if it is an NC-17 story due to rape, incest, gore, or extreme violence that a reader may find disturbing) then put a disclaimer at the top of the story. However, the MPAA rating should be sufficient to warn younger readers away from adult stories.

Please allow 30 days from the date of submission before you start pestering the poor, belaboured archivist... :)

If you have any further questions or comments, please feel free to drop me a line.

submission form