These guidelines are amended from the guidelines for TheMasque.net to exclude irrelevant content and conform to the structure of this section of TheMasque.net

All sections of the website must be registered for separately.

For additional information, please consult the site FAQ.

"Please read", "Untitled", etc. are not acceptable titles or summaries.

By submitting a creative work to The Masque and The Garden, you agree to the following:

1. You are over 18 years of age.
2. You are the sole creator and owner of your submitted work or have labeled and cited anything used from other sources in quotes or as a parody/fanfiction/fanart.
3. You give The Masque the right to publish your work as received.

The Limits of Good Taste

The Masque and The Garden are now and always has been a place for tasteful, beautiful artwork celebrating love, sexuality and acceptance for the human body and different lifestyles. With those guidelines in mind, please feel free to post your work. We try to have "art" rather than blatant, tasteless "porn". The site owner has few limits and is open minded but will remove anything deemed inappropriate or "yucky". While BDSM and certain fetishes and scenes may be distasteful to some, please feel free to speak of them in a mature, objective manner.

To submit a written work, log in to your account on the front page of the website. You will be directed to your Member Account control panel. Click "Add a New Story".

Adding a photo to the Story Archive

For User Profiles:

• Log in to your account.
  On the User control panel, click Manage Images
  Upload a new image. Please do not use someone else's copyrighted image or a "public domain" image.
  Copy (Ctrl-C) the text under "HTML code to use image in story" and between the Quotation marks. (Example: stories/5/images/filename.jpg )
  Go back to your user control panel and click Edit Bio
  Confirm that the information is still correct as sometimes the information defaults when revisited.
  Near the bottom of the page, in the box next to Image, paste (Ctrl-V) in the file path that you copied on the other page.
  Click Submit.
  
  

For illustrated articles:

• Log in to your account.
  On the User control panel, click Manage Images
  Upload a new image. Please do not use someone else's copyrighted image or a "public domain" image.
  Copy the text under "HTML code to use image in story" and copy (Ctrl-C) something that looks like this: < img src="stories/5/images/filenamet.jpg" >
  Paste (ctrl V) that into the body of your story, wherever you want the picture to go.
  Label the story as "illustrated" in the summary.

Written Work

Editing/Beta Reading

Please have your article edited/beta read before submitting it. Proper spelling and punctuation make it easier for everyone to read and most computers come with spell checkers. If your computer does not have one, spell checkers are available online for free at http://www.spellcheck.net/. The Masque ad The Garden will no longer be editing stories for authors. I don't have that much time anymore. I'm sorry. There are many people who do enjoy the editing process if editing your own work is difficult.

Correct grammar and spelling are expected of all stories submitted to this site. The site administrator is not a "grammar Nazi". However, the site owner reserves the right to request corrections in submissions with a multitude of grammar and/or spelling errors. If such a request is ignored, the article will be deleted.

Language

Visitors to The Masque are adults; therefore, the language of all submissions must be suitable for adults to read. Stories using Netspeak, or (except in dialogue) colloquial language will be rejected.

Multiple Chapters and Chapter Length

There is a chapter size limit on submissions of 20,000 words to allow the system to work more efficiently.

The minimum chapter length is 100 words for a drabble/microfiction. There is no limit or minimum for poetry. Please archive all drabbles and microfiction as chapters of a single story, even if they are unrelated.

Articles with multiple chapters or sections should be archived as such and NEVER as separate stories. Upload the first chapter of your story, then go to Manage Stories in your account to add additional chapters. If you have trouble with this, please contact the site administrator or ask a friend to help you.

Content Advisories/Warnings

Content advisories assist other users searching for specific topics. It's always helpful to use them. You may choose more than one by holding the CNTRL key down.

Non-Consensual Situations

Non-consensual sex, rape or violence must be properly labeled as such. The editor reserves the right to refuse any work. This is for the protection of the readers of The Masque who may be traumatized by such a story.

Categories

Articles must be submitted to the proper category. There are several categories for written work on The Garden. Only one sub-category should be selected per story. No main categories should be selected. Any misplaced work will be quietly moved.

Author's Notes

Notes belong before or after the story. Author's notes are not to be placed in the story content area.

Links and URLs

Active links are not allowed within a submitted work unless it provided reference material directly related to the story, and then, they should be targeted to  separate window. Links used as footnotes should only be placed in the End Notes of a story. Any other URLs should be listed on the Author Information page.

 

Writing Help

For help and tips with story writing ideas, styles and grammar, the editor has provided several sources:

Hints for Writing and Proofreading By C. Editor
Poison Pen's Guide for Amateur Writers of Erotica (v 1.0) by Andrew Nellis
How to Write Sex Stories Good by Michael K. Smith
Online Writing Lab, by Purdue University

For poetry help, you may wish to visit:
Rhyming Dictionary and Thesaurus
Poetic Metamorphosis: Revising Your Work by Kathy Hoek

The Forum

The Masque provides a Bulletin Board System, called The Forum. Please feel free to join in or start a new thread on the BBS. Flames or insults are not allowed on the Forum BBS and will be removed.

The thread entitled "Three Chicks and a Dude Tell You What to Do: Common sense advice from three bloody-minded, practical, loving women" is an advice column maintained by The Masque. To submit a question on any topic, send an email to advice@themasque.net. Your name and email address will be kept confidential. Questions will be posted on the thread with the advice given by the Three Chicks, then the thread will be opened for public comment. As with any informal advice, the responses are only the opinions of Three Chicks and not the opinions of professional counselors, psychiatrists, sex workers, home decorators, gardeners or contractors, etc. Should the opinions given, not work to the writers satisfaction or even to his detriment, The Masque, owner of The Masque.net, the Three Chicks, and anyone who knows or remotely knows each or any of the Three Chicks shall not be held legally, morally, or financially responsible.

Copyrights

Everything at The Masque is copyrighted. Creative works are copyrighted in the name of the author or artist automatically under this protection clause, unless otherwise requested. For more information on copyright, please visit:

Copyright Information from Library of Congress's Copyright Office
What is Copyright?
10 Big Myths about Copyright