Mentee Checklist

[PastMember]

I thought I'd post this here to hopefully get some posts approved faster! Please note that it's certainly not aimed at anyone in particular, but is a list of common mistakes I've noticed over a long period of time as a mentor. None of these have anything to do with Pern Canon, so I feel really anal when I have to send a post back because of one of them...but they ARE important and I can't approve posts without them!

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1) Have you included a "title section" at the beginning of the post?
At the beginning of each post, you need to put the following information:

Who: (the names of the characters taking part in this post)
What: (a short, one-sentence description of what happens in the post)
When: (the Pern Date of the post, e.g. m12 d14)
Where: (the location or locations where the post takes place)

Once you have the post approved, you can add to this:

Notes: Mentor approved

The notes section can also be used for short comments on the post. For example, you might like to note that this is your first post and you'd like coposters! Or you might give a link to a website you used to research the post.

Another optional section is to list the NPCs in a post - if you have large numbers of minor characters taking part, you may want to list them, although not everyone does this.

When choosing a Pern date for your post to take place on, it's a good habit to go to the Calendars (http://www.triadweyrs.org/calendars/cal_index.php) and check the weather at your location, so you don't set a post in the sunshine when it's supposed to be raining, or have your characters wandering around in Threadfall.

Every seventh day (i.e. day 7, 14, 21, 28 ) is a restday, so your persona is unlikely to be in class if they're an apprentice or a weyrling. Check with whoever's in charge of them to be sure. Conversely, on the other days, they may not have time to wander around and do whatever they like unless they're small children.

Don't leave blanks in this section when you send the post to your mentor, or it won't be approved! If you don't want to reveal what happens in the post in the "What" section before people read it, you can put the "What"; after the post (before the signatures) and a note to that effect in the title section.


2) Have you used the correct subject line in your e-mail?
This is the #1 thing I have to correct and it's such a small thing, I hate doing it!

Subject lines should consist of an abbreviation for the post's location, followed by the post's title.

• If your post is set at Emerald Falls, or somewhere in Emerald Falls territory, and called "My Story" your subject line should be "EFH: My Story".
• If your post is set both at Emerald Falls and Dolphin Cove Weyr, your subject line should be "EFH/DCW: My Story"
• If your post is set at an unnamed location (for example, a beach in the middle of nowhere) use "SWE: My Story". SWE stands for SomeWhere Else. You might want to elaborate on the location of your post in the "Where" section of your title block - for example, "Where: A beach in the middle of nowhere".
• If your post is set at a large number of locations, my advice would be to just choose one appropriate location. For example, if you're a group of weyrlings from River Bluff Weyr practicing going /between/ to different locations, you might want to give River Bluff (RBW) as your location.
• Some people use specific abbreviations for minor holds where PCs live - for example, Green Valley Hold in Emerald Falls territory uses EFH-GV. If you want to know what the correct abbreviation is for one of those locations, ask someone (for Green Valley, that would be Nici for Holder Kohler, or me for Lord Holder Enrizial) or look at previous posts at that location.

You do not have to include [Triad Roleplay] in your subject line. The list puts it in automatically!

Your subject line should not include Fw: and Re:, which get put in automatically by some email programs when you forward something or reply to it.

If possible, choose a creative title which will attract people to read your post. For example, "Mysterious Meetings" sounds a lot more fun than "X and Y meet up". Don't worry if you're not inspired, though. A good trick is to look through your post for quotable phrases to use as a title!


3) Have you spellchecked your post?
No mentor will reject a post for a typo or two. However, it is VERY GOOD PRACTICE to spellcheck every post before you send it to your mentor. Not only does it make it much more pleasant for the mentor to read, it avoids any possible confusion.

If we can't figure out what you're trying to say because of bad spelling and grammar, we can't approve the post.

You should spellcheck your posts, whether you think your spelling is good or not! :P If your email program doesn't have one, here's a link to a free online spellchecker: http://www.spellcheck.net/


4)Have you included your signature and those of your coposters?
Each person involved in writing the post should add a short "signature" at the end, including your name, email address, and the name of the character. For example, if I'm writing a post involving Enrizial, I'll put:

Estelle (mailto:estelle@triadweyrs.org">estelle@triadweyrs.org)
Enrizial, Lord Holder, EFH

Style varies a bit. Some people put the character's name first, some people add pets to the list, etc. It doesn't really matter as long as it's short and gets the information across. Look at posts sent to the list for examples of what's acceptable.

The signatures identify exactly which writers were involved in the post, and when you add your sig to a completed copost, it means you're happy with it as it is.


5)Are your spacing and layout correct?
To make posts easy to read, we put a blank line space between each paragraph - look at the posts you receive from the list for examples of how to do this.

I know that people use different numbers of characters per line in their emails and that posts can get into quite a state, with >> marks and broken up lines all over the place, by the time they're done. If this is the case, you need to go through the post and clean it up, deleting all the excess >> and returns.

Once your mentor has replied with approval, DON'T just forward that email to the list! Copy the email that you sent to your mentor, and send that to the list in a new email with the correct subject line.

Be proud of how your post looks when it's sent to the list. :-) Don't just send it off in a hurry.

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This may seem like a lot to remember and don't worry if you accidentally forget something - your mentor won't hate you for it! You will quickly get used to it, and the best way to do so is to look at other people's posts and see how they do it.

The main thing to remember is to send a post to your mentor exactly as you would send it to the list. Imagine that their email address is the list mail.

If you and your coposter are both under mentorship and have different mentors, you will both need to send the post to your own mentor, and both will need to approve it before it gets sent to the list.

So, to summarise:

1) Title Block
2) Subject Line
3) Spellcheck
4) Signatures
5) Spacing

This is what I check on all of my posts when I prepare them for sending to the list. It only takes a few minutes and it greatly increases the chance of your post getting read and people being keen to copost with you!

[PastMember]

These tips don't really come under any particular checklist, but they are common errors made by new members. Again, I'm not singling anyone out, and don't feel bad if you've made these mistakes! We all did when we started out in fanfiction writing. :D

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Posts should be in 3rd person, past tense
Many roleplaying clubs use 1st person or present tense; we don't, and posts written in this way can't be approved.

Some people who are used to writing in the first person or the present tense write their posts in this way first and then go through and edit to change to third person past tense. I would strongly advise against this because inevitably you will forget something!


Who does my persona know?
This is a particularly common problem for weyrlings. After a few weeks of training intensively together, a weyrling class will know one another pretty well! They will certainly know one another by name, and know the names of each other's dragons, and probably a little bit about each others' personalities.

Think about how quickly you got to know your class at school, and remember that Weyrlings spend virtually all day together, 6 days a week.

So, if into your third month of weyrling training, you submit a post to your mentor with your weyrling character walking up to another member of their class and saying "Hi! What's your name?", it will be rejected for not being logical.

No matter who your character is, they're also likely to know by name the leaders of that location. That would be the Weyrleader, Weyrwoman, Wingleaders, Weyrlingmaster and the Headwoman at a Weyr; the Lord and Lady, their family, and the Steward and Headwoman at the Hold; and the Hallmaster, Hallsecond, the Masters, and the Headwoman at a Hall.

Only a person completely new to a location has an excuse for walking up to the Weyrwoman and asking her what her name is!

I can appreciate the problem with this - if you haven't coposted with someone before, you will probably feel a little reticent about assuming your character is best friends with theirs! If that's the case, then you could let them know by email that it wouldn't be logical for your characters not to know one another, and maybe talk over how they might have interacted in the past to establish whether they'd be close friends, acquaintances, or even enemies.


Where is my persona in their training schedule?
Keeping on the subject of Weyrlings...they stick to a strict training schedule which lasts 6 Pern Months (or one Real Life year) and can be found, along with other useful information, at http://www.triadweyrs.org/records/weyrlingfaq.php.

This link is currently not correct due to site movement. A new link will be provided soon!


You can also access a training schedule specifically tailored to your weyrling through the magic of PHP! To find it, you need to go to the listing of dragonriders for your Weyr. There are lots of ways to get to this list! I've given an example for a weyrling at River Bluff Weyr.

• Click on the "Triad Locales" link in the left hand column of the Triad Weyrs website. Then click on the "Dragonriders" link under the "River Bluff Weyr" heading.
• Click on the arrow next to the "Triad Locales" link, then click on the "RBW" link for River Bluff Weyr, and then on the "River Bluff Weyr" link which will take you to the list of dragonriders.
• Click on the arrow next to the "Triad People" link on the left of the main page, then click on the Personas link, then on the River Bluff Weyr link.
• Click on the arrow next to the "Triad People" link, then click on the Members link, then on your name to get to your member profile, and then on the name of your Weyrling. You'll see their profile - click on the location link (River Bluff Weyr).

If you now scroll down that listing of dragonriders, you will find your weyrling listed under a class, with the Hatching Date and the name of the queen who laid the eggs. There should also be a link saying Weyrling Training Plan. If you click on that, you will find your weyrling's training schedule!

Using that schedule, you can match the current Pern Date to which month of Weyrling Training your character is in, and read about what they would be doing at that time.

Some important dates:

Month 3, Sevenday 3 - Halfway through the third month of training, weyrlings will make their first flights, and weyrlings will move into their own weyrs.

• Don't post about your dragonet flying before this date without discussing it with the Weyrlingmaster's writer.
• Don't post about your character living in the weyrling barracks after this date.
• Don't post about your character feeding the dragonet chopped meat, as they will be hunting from the air.

Month 4, Sevenday 2 - First jumps /between/ take place. The weyrlings are now known as "Senior Weyrlings"

• Don't post about your dragonpair going /between/ before this date without checking with the Weyrlingmaster's writer.
• Don't post about your character having a "romantic relationship" (i.e. doing much beyond kissing and hugging) with another character before this date.
• Don't post about your weyrling character bemoaning the "romantic relationship" ban after this date.
• Don't post about your character cleaning up after the dragon after this date, as he/she will excrete /between/.

I would recommend reading the weyrling's schedule carefully when each new month of training starts. Not only will it stop you making mistakes, it might give a few ideas for coposts~[/b][/i]

[Bree]

Even for people who have been posting a while, that was a really good read through! Thanks, Estelle!

[Bree]

*bump*

We've been having a lot of mentors having to send posts back for simple mistakes like the above lately... Since this post has been around forever, I thought I'd give it a reply and catch everyone's attention!

This are good suggestions for ALL members, not just those under Mentorship! Remember... if you want other people to read your posts, the best way to do it is to make them easy to read!

[Bree]

Hey there! Have you read this lately? If not, it's worth a peek... we can never be reminded too often of the basics, since sometimes we get lazy and forget about them.

[Bree]

Everyone should take a peek at this once in a while. ;) I'm bumping it so people might see that it's new and re-read it!