The Writers Guild of MDV is the external shell of the MDV forum: A collection of the greatest writers, deckbuilders, rule-checkers, and artists all in one place. And you want to join?

OK, let’s go though the basics first. Know that joining isn’t easy, and staying in is just as hard. Sure you might get an article or two out to this beautiful main page, but keeping it up and getting out a good number of them year after year can really grind you down.

If you are submitting an article to the Guild you should be aware of the following requirements:

1. Know the basic rules of the English language. If all else fails, download OpenOffice (if you don't happen to have a copy of Microsoft Office) and use the grammar and spellchecker like a fiend. Then double check it with Firefox before you even submit it as an article to the Guild. This will save us a lot of time trying to decipher your text and give you some brownie points on getting in.

2. Keep in constant contact with the person you submitted the article to. They are your lifeline. Make sure you can contact them and they can contact you, as there have been plenty of writers-in-training that have dropped off our radar simply because we could not get in touch with them. Recently, hamsandwich was appointed as the Supervisor of New Writers and thus you can contact him via Private Message in the MDV Forum or via e-mail. An alternate person to contact is Streetz.

hamsandwich

Streetz

3. Prepare to work for it. Each article goes through a vigorous process of Editing and is frequently tossed back and forth. Don’t be surprised if your contact on the inside sends your article back with a whole bunch of Bold or Red comments through it. If we can’t understand it, no one else can.

4. If you plan to get entrance into the Writers Guild of MDV, come with more than just your version of First Impressions. Although it’s a great series, it really just writes itself. And thus it won't truly show us what you are capable of as a writer. Come with some thoughts on what you want to do for the next five articles. Always keep thinking about new articles. They are your lifeblood.

5. If you do not have an idea to write about, don't hesitate to contact hamsandwich or Streetz if you need some assistance with a topic. Just don't expect much more than a few basic ideas from the Guild. The less we have to hold your hand the better.

6. Don't expect your article to make it to the front page without a considerable amount of time and effort on your part.  Unless, of course, you are a writing genius. *grin*

7. Do NOT attack your contact. That person is not doing this for their health. If they come back to you saying you need to fix this, this, this, this, that, the other thing, this, this, this, that, and then this thing... don’t get frustrated and quit. Or worse, scream at us. Know we are trying to work with you and get you into the guild. We are not trying to waste your time or ours.   

The Publishing Process

Articles in the Writer’s Guild currently have 4 stages. Most likely if you are on the outside looking in, then you will not assign these tags, but know them so when your contact says it’s in Concept or Edit then you know where you’re at.

The Concept Stage – This is the “put together the bare bones” part of the article, normally for those who just have an idea, but nothing fully fleshed out quite yet. In addition, this allows other writers to help gather your thoughts and make it smoother. If you have a smooth framework, then the rest will be smooth as well. Outlines are your friend until you have them build into your way of thought while writing.

The Review Stage – This is the part where the editors start to step in. This round is for the editors to quickly scan over everything and do the initial quality controls; they will mark up anything wrong that they see with your article that you might have missed. This stage can vary in length depending on the Editor you are assigned and the current workload. This is where Point Two from above starts to come into play. Once you're past this stage, your first editor will move this to the next stage for the next editor to take hold of it.

The Edit Stage – This is the section of an articles early lifecycle where it will be torn to shreds for even the slightest mistake. If you have ever seen one of your English Essays written with nothing but red all over, this is the Evil English Teacher section of it’s life. Once again, depending on the Editor this is either a quick process or a slow process. From here, if it and you survive, then it’s pushed to Final.

The Final Stage – This is the last time it is looked over by human eyes before it goes online. Streetz himself double-checks everyone else’s work and if it looks good to him, and it’s in the schedule then it goes up. After that, the thread in which all this pain and frustration happened is moved into the Archives.

The Stress Test

This is currently the only way of joining the guild. To begin this process simply talk to any of the writers for MDV. You will most likely be directed to the Supervisor of New Writers, but any writer in the Guild may take you under their wing. So if you are comfortable or familiar with a particular person please let us know.

Whomever is willing to work with you becomes your contact person. At this point you will be sent the guidelines for article submission and, depending on your availability and schedule, a deadline. Part of writing for the Guild is having the ability to work under pressure. We will work with you on this, but lack of dedication is the easiest way to end this process. As it stands now, articles are expected to be between 1600-2500 words. The only exception being the new mini-articles, however, these are reserved for writers who are already members of the Guild.

Once you have something to show us, submit it to your contact. Then make sure you get at least weekly updates. Keep on us so we can keep on those who need to work on the article to make it ready. Some of your contacts will clean up the article before submitting it as a friendly gesture. Some will not. Your best bet is to turn in the highest quality product that you can.

Now that you have your first article done, congrats. Its time to work on another. At this point, we will expect a minimum of three articles before we can start the process of you joining the Guild. After three articles, if enough of our members feel that you are up to snuff, you're in. Else wise it’s a rinse and repeat. Another Article, another vote. At any point in this process, Streetz may grant you temporary access to the Guild forums, however, this is done on a case by case basis.

Now remember, three articles are the shear minimum needed for any writer to gain entry to the Guild. It doesn't stop there, though, as your production is expected to continue once you are a member. We don’t keep too many loose writers without good reasoning. The only way to secure your place in the Writers Guild is to keep writing.

Remember to keep your head and don’t do anything that would cause anyone to think that you might not be fit as a writer. Part of being a writer is being able to deal with, and respond to, criticism. Example: From one of my articles, one of the Editors of the day said this about it:

If comments similar come your way, roll with it. It may sound harsh, even if it wasn't my best work, but the other writers and editors are all trying to do the same thing: Help you out and keep a steady stream of professional quality articles flowing to the main page. Pay attention to all the feedback you get as, like mentioned above, dealing with and responding to criticism are key elements of being a good writer. We can only make each other better at what we do. So if you have an idea, take some time to flesh it out and submit it to the Guild. We look forward to hearing from you.

This is MZ, and it’s back off to the Æther with me.

You can discuss this article in the MDV forums here.
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