Guide to a post

Created by Mayterial Droz on Friday July 6th, 2018 @ 18:55 hours

To give the most creative freedom and liberties to personal writing style I'll try to keep this brief.

Information

Authors - Always select all characters (including NPCs) that are present in the post, even if it's just for one sentence. Every character on the Fawkes is accounted for (since we only have a max of 16 crew this is easy to do). By selecting all of the character we'll be able to track character's their whereabouts and actions throughout the day.
Mission - Only one mission will be active at a time. There is no need for you to select a mission to post in.
Title - The title should be a teaser of what is to come. It should cover the subject matter without spoiling anything.
Location - For the location please be as specific as you can. When on the Fawkes, always list the deck number.
Timeline - While it is strongly encouraged to stick to a progressive timeline you are allowed to 'backpost'. It is not allowed to roll over the mission day (which last from 00:00 to 23:59) without the express permission of the command crew. Please list the timeline in the following format:
MD01 - 0830 hours

Narrative

Any post should be offered in a third person novella format. In the third-person narrative mode, each and every character is referred to by the narrator as "he", "she", "it", or "they", but never as "I" or "we" (first-person), or "you" (second-person). This makes it clear that the narrator is an unspecified entity or uninvolved person who conveys the story and is not a character of any kind within the story, or at least is not referred to as such.

Dialogue

There are a couple of things that set Star Trek fiction apart from regular fiction. Primarily in the way that we communicate.

• Thoughts and Actions: Can be described without additional markings (i.e. May muttered to herself as she thought about all the possible causes of this power failure.)
• - Spoken words: Should be placed in between "..." (i.e. "Damnit, why are the lights off?")
• - Communicators: Yay 24th Century, we have combadges... after you have hit your combadge your phrase should be in between =A=...=A= until the link is closed again. (i.e. =A= May to Engineering, what is going on down there? =A=)
• - Telepathy: Since we are in the Star Trek Universe there will be instances of Telepathy (since some races can do that...) This should be in between ~...~ (i.e. ~can you hear me mother?!~)

In character dialogue, no matter by which method it is conveyed, should always be the start of a new paragraph. This makes following a conversation easier.
Example
"Damnit, why are the lights off?" May muttered to herself, thinking about all the possible reasons the power was failing this time, before pressing the communications device on her chest.
=A= May to Engineering, what is going on down there? =A= There was a static sputter and then nothing. A few seconds later another sputter. She seemed to recognise the voice of her Engineer but couldn't understand a word of what he was saying. She concentrated on her connection with him.
~Oi, Bill. Can you get the lights back on?~ Her voice came into the back of his mind, as if a thought of his own.

Sign off

Once the in character narrative is done please close the proceedings by writing OFF in capital letters. Please list all the characters involved in the post in order of appearance. The signature should list the name, position and vessel of the character. This allows for a quick overview of the credits. You are allowed some creative flourishes at the end of the signatures (like a flash card at the end of episodes). This can contain a quote or other OOC musings.
Example
OFF

Mayterial Droz
Captain
S.S. Fawkes

&

Bill
Engineer
S.S. Fawkes

"Hello Darkness My Old Friend..."