Selina Skies
April 10, 2020 5:04 AM
24 Hour Posting Party - A Guide for Visitors by Selina Skies
Hello!Welcome to Sonora Academy, a site for living out your dreams of going to magic school. We are an AU Harry Potter role play. Presumably you’ve arrived here for our 24 hour posting party, where we'll be giving you a new prompt every two hours. If you’re looking for a little help in getting the basics, this is where to start.
Do I need to register?
No. This event will take place on our sandbox page, which does not require an account. Additionally, if you want to browse our regular writing around the school, that is also accessible. If you join us long term, you will need to register by filling out a student application.
When making a post, you have the option to put in your email address. This will mean you get notifications when replied to. It will not be visible to other users or moderators, but will be available to the site administrator (Nathan). We may use it to contact you after the event, though you can opt out from this at any time.
What do I do?
Prompt posts will be shared on the sandbox. These might be an opening line, an object to include in your post, or a suggested setting/event. You write something as your character. It can be as long or short as you like, but remember the goal is to write with others, not sit crafting something perfect by yourself. Other posters can either reply to you and talk to your character, or start a separate thread from the same prompt. An example thread to show the layout and who is talking to who can be seen here.
Which prompts can I post to?
Any. We are posting prompts every two hours, but new prompts do not supersede old prompts. All prompts will remain open. Equally, you don’t have to start with number one or do everything. They’re opportunities - pick the ones that interest you.
The more recent something is, the more likely it is to get replies, but we have writers on hand keeping an eye on all the threads to try to make sure everyone gets posted back to.
What rules/guidelines do I need to follow?
Only write for your own character (don’t say how others reacted or what they did)
Use third person past tense (‘Jake rolled out of bed’)
Keep it PG
Who am I playing?
That is up to you. You write as a first year magical student (11-12 years old). They are attending a magical school in Arizona. We play all original characters, so no names from the Harry Potter series. We also ignore the events of the books to give ourselves more freedom - magic works the same way, but it's up to us what happens.
If you’re not sure how to start out/who to be you can base it on yourself, a friend, or even your favourite Potter character with just a changed name and any tell-tale scars removed. This event is meant to be fun and easy. No one’s going to judge you if you need to use something familiar as a jumping off point.
You can also change character part way through the event, or post to the same prompt with a different character.
I’m worried I’ll suck?
Many of us sucked once. You probably don’t. We want people to come have fun with us, and we’re aiming to help. At the end of the event, we hope you can say you’ve had fun. None of our community members will be mean about your writing, and if any other visitor is, tell a moderator.
Is the site always like this?
Not entirely. Normally, we don’t specify times for users to be online. Therefore, writing can fit in around everyone’s schedule. We also normally have a 200 word minimum, whereas we’re waiving this for short, fast paced fun (we hope) this weekend.
I need some help
Our authors will be on hand throughout the event via our chatzy. You will need to register with your email to sign in. This is to reduce spambot visits. If you have ‘how to’ questions, need live help or your post has gone unnoticed, stop in there. Additionally, you can post questions in response to this thread, but chatzy is likely to be faster.
If there is anything that concerns you, that you are not comfortable raising in a chatroom, please email us via sonorachairs@gmail.com. However, please note that the admins with access to this may be asleep at certain points.
As our sandbox board is public, spam is also a risk there. Again, we will be moderating this, but if you notice anything that does not seem like a legitimate wizard post, please draw it to our attention.
Useful Pages
All prompts will be on the sandbox (also accessible under the ‘Info For New Authors’ tab). If you like playing with us, you can also find the application form to be a full site member under the same tab.
You can make your way back to this post by looking for ‘OOC’ (under resources).
You will be welcome in our chatzy, and on our public boards even after the event is finished, and we hope we’ll get to know some of you long-term.
Happy wizarding!
The Chairs
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Selina Skies
24 Hour Posting Party - A Guide for Visitors
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Selina Skies
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