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It's a collective fiction journal. It's maintained by a short list of authors (the Epigramophonics, unless somebody thinks up a cooler name) who have full posting and editing access, but anyone who wants can submit a story for review and possibly publication.

Because writing is often like solving a problem or a puzzle, and the best and most interesting solutions to problems or puzzles that I've come up with have been the result of collaboration. Also, having this site available and running is a good way to pressure my friends who don't write fiction, but should, to do so more often.

All stories must be two hundred words in length or less, not including the title. It doesn't matter whether the words are counted by a software tool, or the built-in counter in Microsoft Word, or by hand, as long as you're consistent with the chosen method. There are no constraints on person or tense.

Once a character or event is used in Epigramophone, it's open: anyone else can write that character into a new story, or write a sequence that includes the same event. If you're going to make a major change to a character, however, it's only common courtesy to email that character's creator to ask for permission (and then abide by his or her wishes).

Note that this does not mean the stories in Epigramophone are public domain; the original creators retain all rights to them, and the "open" provisions of the above paragraph apply only to other people writing for Epigramophone.

Authors are free to impose extra constraints on their own writing, of course ("only two-syllable words," for example, or "always second person, future perfect"). Such constraints often make writing more interesting, and always more challenging. For a different kind of constrained-writing community, check out constrained.org.

Follow the rules: write two hundred words or fewer, and ask permission for major changes to established characters. Capitalize words that should be capitalized, and don't use emoticons or chat-room abbreviations. Make an effort to spell and punctuate correctly (this may mean both using a spell-checker and having another human read your story). Break your story into paragraphs where appropriate, and separate them with linebreak tags (<br /><br />) or paragraph tags (<p> </p>). None of us are in this to be copy editors; if your story isn't ready to go, it will be dumped.

Also, no fanfic, and it goes without saying that you can't submit anyone else's work as your own. Use the handy submit story link to do that for which it's there, as stories sent by email will be ignored. And save a copy of your own, since it's possible we'll choose not to publish your story, and it will be discarded.

Common-sense checklist: Did you follow all the guidelines from the previous quesion? Have you given us a couple of days to check the submissions folder? Do you honestly believe your story is an example of your best work? If none of those questions brings you up short, well, there's a good chance we didn't think it fit our site. There's also a good chance we just didn't like it. If you disagree with us, remember that we're hardly the only option; publishing your writing online is the easiest thing in the world. Livejournal and Blogger are two good places to start.

Not exactly. Anyway, it probably won't always look like this.

Who knows? Not to scramble for fame or the "legitimacy" of print publication, certainly. To write some good stories and enjoy the writing of talented friends, maybe. To work in a collaborative environment of our own choice and learn from the results.

An installation of NewsBruiser, the best blogging software in the world, hosted by the guy who's writing this, Brendan Adkins.