So, you got a story of your own? Want to get it posted here? New stories are always welcome, but check first if your story meets our submission guidelines.

Ratings allowed

We accept stories rated from G to NC-17. Remember that the rating of your story must accurately embody the entire fic; any chapters that may exceed the specified rating are to be identified. If you're unsure about the rating of your story, we'll rate your work for you as we publish it.

Requirements

Your fanfic must be written from second person point of view, in other words, it has to be a You-story. You/Jack is something of a mainstream here, but we also accept other pairings such as You/Will and You/Norrington; heck, You/any character is fine, just as long as the character is indeed from PotC! Since 10/17/04, we also accept You-fics from other Johnny Depp movies, such as Secret Window, Chocolat, From Hell, Once Upon A Time In Mexico, etc.

Before posting your story to us, please:

1. Check the grammar and the general flow of your story.

2. Proofread your works for typos and bad spelling; use spellcheck and/or a beta-reader when possible.

3. Paying attention to punctuation is always makes the story more enjoyable to read. Using apostrophes is good, as is using commas; you don't string together every word and speak without pauses, either. Using capital letters when they're needed (names, first letter after a dot...) is another big plus. Correct punctuation at the end of each sentence is never a bad thing. "Comma or a dot just makes the sentences look finished," adviced the webmaster with a smile, "instead of leaving the end hanging like this" she added.

4. Please post at least two (2) chapters of your story if you are a new writer (possible prologue not included)! This is so we get a general idea on how you write the canon characters, Jack/Elizabeth/Will/Norrington. We cannot really say either yay or nay on a short first chapter that offers us no implication on what kind of a grasp you have on the characters.

We're not requesting these things just to bother you; we wish each story in our archive to be of good quality and pleasant to read, and that does not include awkward wording and bad spelling. Because we want to maintain an archive of high-quality fanfiction, the crew of OM reserves the right to decline submissions if, for any reason, we do not approve of the story: especially because of bad (canon) characterization, bad plotting, pointless, badly-written love scenes, as well as use of modern language that does not fit the style of Pirates of the Caribbean.

Things Not allowed

No slash is accepted here. Parodic fics are accepted, but downright bashing is not. We also wish to steer clear from obvious Mary-Sues, understandably. Also, Opportune Moment will not publish stories that have typin fit 4 IM talkz in it, rly. Y? cuz u dont talk liek that in rl, do u? but even if U do, ppl in the 1600s didnt.

Also, please avoid the typical POTC clichés when it comes to characterization. Simply because they're awful and kill a story quicker than anything. Elizabeth is not bratty or snotty, Will is not stupid, Norrington is not evil, Jack is not unselfish and certainly does not fall in love in one day or talk like a hobo. Savvy?

And as stated before, a story with bad characterization, bad plotting, pointless, badly-written love scenes, as well as use of modern language or appliances that does not fit in Pirates of the Caribbean will likely be declined.

Posting

Your fic meets our requirements? Oh, good! No worries, then. Post your work to; submissions[REMOVETHISBIT]@opportunemoment.net, preferably as attachments in either Microsoft Word, notepad or .html document. You will be contacted once we have received your work, and it will be posted as soon as possible. Note that you have to remove those brackets from the address, they're there just so spam robots wouldn't pick it up from the site and flood our inbox!

Please remember to:

+ Include your author name, title of your story, brief summary about what your story is about, the disclaimer and rating of the story before you post a new story! When you update a new chapter, these are not necessary post again.

+ Make it clear if you're posting a story you will continue! The most straightforward way is to write either "TBC/To be continued" or "The End" at the end of the new submission.

+ Send each new chapter to us in works that are still in progress! The only responsiblity the author has is to keep us posted on the new chapters.

+ If your file is very large, please use WinZip or something alike to pack it before sending.

Please note:

The updates depend on the amount of new works and chapters, although we strive to update weekly. Please keep in mind that we're a rather small staffed site and that we're all doing this voluntarily on our free time; hence work, family and other personal matters are placed before the site.

Don't be afraid to ask any questions you might have, we're only glad to help you out. Happy posting and welcome aboard, mate!