Quasispace Portal Theater 3000: A Style Guide
or,
Suddenly, this just got a lot more complicated
Expanded from the Mystery Octagon Theater Style Guide
by Thomas "Wanderer" Wilde
=========
The Guide
=========
1) Spellcheck yourself.
Basically, given how many bad 'fics on the 'net are poorly spelled, punctuated,
and/or formatted, it's important to make our episodes look as good as they
possibly can, especially since we aren't above making jokes about someone's
typographical errors.
In short, before you submit a post, go back through it and correct your spelling
or add punctuation as necessary.
Please note that the spell check feature of Network 54 has been removed, so you
may want to use word processing software that allows spell checking (see "Smart
Quotes" section below for some recommendations).
2) Merge when necessary.
If two of us accidentally post at the same time, whoever posted later merges the
thread. Of course, you can merge the threads even if you didn't post the
trailing end and many thanks to those who make a habit of merging for others.
3) ...trailing off...
Here it is, people; when you're trailing off, like this:
GAVOK: My face hurts...
...you only use three periods in a row. Anything else is excessive and improper;
using more than three periods doesn't really mean anything, linguistically, so
it'll be zapped in the editing process.
Also, please note how one punctuates in this situation. If you're beginning a
sentence like this, you only capitalize the first word if it's a proper noun,
like so:
TBS: ...I think I'm going to die.
If the sentence begins with an improper noun, it isn't capitalized:
MMK: ...no, you aren't. *I* am.
Also note that you do leave a space before or after the three periods, as
appropriate.
4) Style Issues.
These are our arbitrary conventions. Try to stick to them, as it's annoying to
hunt and peck for them and deviations do tend to stand out in the final copy.
MOOD:
TBS <depressed>: I don't like this 'fic. I want to go home.
IMPERSONATIONS:
MMK <W4>: I am damn unsatisfied to be used as an example.
SOUND EFFECTS:
TIFF <angry>: GAVOK NO BAKA!!
[*WHAM*]
GAVOK <woozy>: ...when... robots steal... waffles...
[*thud*]
SINGING:
MMK <singing>: Whether you're a mother, or whether you're a
brother, I wanna be your daytime friend...
A SINGING IMPERSONATION IN A CERTAIN MOOD THAT LEADS
INEXORABLY TO VIOLENCE AND HENCE A SOUND EFFECT:
GAVOK <Diablos, happily, singing>: Yummy down on this, yummy
down on this...
NERE <Tiffany, angrily>: *DIE*!
[*WHAM*]
GAVOK <Diablos, woozily>: ...owwie...
[*whump*]
PLEASE NOTE:
...the location of the colon in all above examples. If someone is impersonating,
singing, emotional, or what-have-you, the colon is always *after* the
parenthetical indication, *not before*.
WRONG:
TBS: <angry> Why am I still here?!
RIGHT:
TBS <angry>: Why am I still here?!
TYPES OF BRACKETS:
The < > brackets are used strictly *before* the colon. The [ ] brackets are used
afterwards, thus:
T.OGRE <angrily, cracking his knuckles>: I'm going to pound you six ways from
Sunday, hentai. [slips in spilled Mountain Dew] ...as soon as my spine knits.
Please also note the tense used in each bracket. Past participial is used for <singing>, present tense for [sings].
INTERRUPTIONS:
Interruptions are represented by the use of a single hyphen (-) at the
end of a line, although some writers have used the ellipsis (...).
Please note that the ellipsis is used for trailing off, and, as such,
would not be appropriate for an interruption.
WRONG:
KRINN: I only shave my...
COSMOS: That's quite enough, thank you.
RIGHT:
KRINN: I only shave my-
COSMOS: That's quite enough, thank you.
5) Actions
Depending upon the complexity of the action, it is either enclosed in
brackets in a line of spoken dialogue, or gets its own line. I shall
give an example of
both. Note, the same rules apply to descriptions.
SIMPLE ACTIONS:
TBS: Oh, yeah. I can see how that would... [pauses] Huh?
GAVOK: [facepalms] I don't know why we're still reading this...
COMPLEX ACTIONS:
MMK: *That's* not a taunt! *This* is a taunt!
[MMK gets up, presents both forearms, rolls forward, does the Safety Dance,
rolls backward, sticks out both his forearms, waves the MMK Doll at the screen,
kicks TBS in the stomach, bounces off of the wall of the theater and floors TBS
with a Lionsault, performs the Jericholic Arrogant Cover, and struts back to his
seat.]
WAND: ...I hate this theater.
SOUND EFFECTS WITH COMPLEX ACTIONS:
T.OGRE <lying on the floor, twitching>: Ow... I am damn unsatisfied to be used
as an example.
[T.OGRE attempts to right himself and finds that the Dew has congealed to a
concrete-like consistency. T.OGRE grasps a nearby chair for leverage and hauls
himself to his feet.]
[*RIP*]
T.OGRE <examining the hole in his shirt>: Awww, my favorite candy apple green
with red pinstripes!
When descriptions go over a line, like above, they're set off separately from
the text, they're also given capitalization and punctuation where appropriate.
Sound effects that occur in these extended descriptions are given separate
conclusions.
6) Script Format
When writing in script format, all actions are enclosed in [brackets], while all
speakers' names are in ALL CAPS. The only place where speakers' names appear
lowercase is spoken dialogue and possibly sketches, depending on the format
used.
7) Smart Quotes
Microsoft Word uses smart quotes which doesn't translate into plain text. It
doesn't necessarily show up when you post it on the board, but when it's copied
down for editing, it does fun things like change ellipses to little boxes and
other things that have to be fixed by hand. Please consider using WordPad or
EditPad. However, we recommend a shareware program called TextPad for PC.
Alternatively, if you're on a Mac, try BBEdit or TexEdit Plus, instead of Word.
If you absolutely have to use Word, please turn off all autoformatting options.
8) Capitalization
Proper nouns should be capitalized. Improper nouns should not be.
Examples:
Proper nouns:
Jill, Lara, Nessa, Ranma, James, Gryphon
Improper nouns:
soldier, monster, janitor, teacher, thug, ninja
As it stands, there are some names that are exceptions. In particular, eonsinger
and t.ogre are all lower-case except when using script format, even if they are
at the beginning of a sentence.
9) For the Love of God...
...the term is "All right." *Not* "alright". The latter term is a linguistic
abomination, and it will not be allowed.
In a similar vein, the word is "okay" in this format, not "OK".
Bitch.
Furthermore, "never mind" is *two* words. TWO.
While the contraction of "Damn it" isn't necessarily grammatically correct, it
is in common usage in several different spellings. We have arbitrarily chosen
"Damnit". The important thing here is consistency, so spell it "Damnit", damnit.
As well, "Goddamnit" is just that. And preferably, it will be used rather
seldom, if at all.
10) Mad Referencin'
In the event that you wish to write a joke that involves dialogue
from one or more of the Evil Villains (tm), please remember: they
are speaking over the intercom. Thus, it is always wise to include that in a parenthetical statement. An example:
AoD <over intercom>: Die.
11) Intro, Outro, Break Skits
Although we perform our MiSTings in script format, all of our
introductory sketches and closing sketches will be written in narrative
format. Break skits and commercials can be written in either format.
================
Questions, Comments, Concerns?
Quasispace Portal Theater 3000 Boards
http://www.quasispace.org/boards/index.php
Quasispace Portal Theater 3000
http://www.quasispace.org