Posting a New Story
Quick Link: My Mibba >> Stories >> New Story
To Start a New Story:
- Go to your My Mibba page.
- Click the Stories tab in the My Mibba menu bar. (Here you'll be able to view and edit all of your stories.)
- Click the teal blue "New story" button on the top-right corner of the page.
The 'New story' Page
On your "New story" page, you'll be able to add all of your story's basic information [2], like upload a cover, fill in / select the title, short and long descriptions, language, type, rating, tags, status, layout, completion status, collections, and genres...
Cover Image: The cover image will serve as a book cover for your story. It will appear next to your story whenever it appears on site: on your profile, on the site’s story overview page, and on your story’s info page.
You can upload your book cover image by clicking the “choose file” button and selecting the saved image from your computer. Ideally your image should be have a 6:5 (LxW) ratio, like the images to the left.
Remember: Cover images cannot contain nudity or excessive gore.
Sequel/Prequel: If your new story is a sequel of one of your existing stories, you can connect the two by picking the story’s title from the provided drop-down list.
Title: Here is where you’ll put the title of your story. Below is a list of title rules that must be followed…
- All titles must be capitalized properly.
-
Both Chicago style and AP style capitalization for stories are acceptable. This means...
- capitalize the first and last words of a title, all nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs, and subordinate conjunctions
- Articles a, an, and the should be lowercase (unless the first or last word of the title), as well as the infinitive to (again, unless the first or last word of the title)
- Prepositions smaller than four or five letters should also be lowercase
- If you're unsure of your title's captialization, you can use TitleCapitalization.com.
- Decorations are NOT allowed in titles. This means no decorations at all. No hearts, stars, symbols… For example: ~~A Knight’s Tale~<3
- Tags are NOT allowed in titles. For example: Dear, Juliet. Count Me Out (Alex Gaskarth/Jack Barakat)
Short Description: The short description should be just a sentence or two that describes your story. It will appear on your profile’s story page as well as on Mibba’s story overview page. Viewers/readers see this, along with your cover image, before clicking your story, so be sure to use something that will lure readers in.
Summary: The summary gives you a chance to let readers learn a bit more about your story before diving in. Most Mibbians treat this section the same way a publisher would use the back of a published paperback novel (or the inside flap of a hardcover book) and include an appealing summary or synopsis of their story. Other Mibbians use this space to provide readers with a short prologue or interlude. This is the reader’s first real glimpse into your story and writing style, so aim to impress.
Language: Since Mibba has users from all over the world, stories (as well as poems) can be submitted in any number of languages. Be sure to choose the language you story is written (and posted) in.
Remember: While members are allowed to post stories in different languages, you are NOT allowed to use an online translator to translate your story into other languages. The story should be posted in the language in which it was written or translated by a human.
If your story is written in a language not listed, you can still post your story to Mibba. Just choose 'English' as the language for the time being.
Type: Before posting any story, you must choose its type: original fiction, fan fiction, or true story. To learn more about the story types, please read Mibba's Story Types, Ratings and Genres.
Content Rating: While Mibba does not limit what you can write about, we do ask that all stories are appropriately rated: G, PG, PG 13, R, or NC 17 . To learn more about the story types, please read Mibba's Story Types, Ratings and Genres.
Tags: Tags are keywords members will use to search for stories. They should include any words or phrases that can be used to describe your story. You can add as many or as little tags as you’d like as long as they are relevant to your story.
Status: Statuses can be used to communicate important information to your readers. Since they appear in a single banner at the top of your story’s page, they should remain brief. Most authors use these statuses to let readers know when story updates will be posted, if a story is being updated or if it’s on hiatus, or if they’re currently editing their story. Mainly, statuses are used to keep readers informed on the progress of a story and should always remain focused on the story.
Layouts: Every story posted to Mibba has its own layout. Whether it be one of Mibba’s pre-made layouts (created and submitted by Mibbians), Mibba’s default layout, or a layout custom made by the author. If you have created a custom layout and you’d like to use it for your story, select the layout title from the drop-down list provided.
If you’d like to use a pre-made layout, you must first post your story and then add a pre-made layout here, by clicking the “use” button next to the layout you’d like applied. If you want to use Mibba’s default layout, leave this section blank.
For more information on layouts, check out the Creating a Custom Layout article.
Mark as completed: If your story is completed, choose “yes” from the drop-down list. This will allow your story to appear on Mibba’s completed stories list. If you have a short story (a story with just one chapter), it will appear on Mibba’s short stories list once you mark it as completed.
Genres: You can select up to three genres for your story. Though your story may be able to fit into more than three genres, we ask that you choose the ones that BEST fit your story. To add a genre, just click the “+” sign next to the genres listed on the right. When you do so, they will be added to the list on the left.
To learn more about genres, please read Mibba's Story Types, Ratings and Genres.
Collections: Collections are a way to group stories with similar themes. You can create a collection here. Once you’ve created a collection, you can add stories to it by choosing the collection title from the drop-down list here.
Characters: If you’ve created characters here, you can add the appropriate characters to your story by selecting it from the drop-down list.
Once you’ve filled out all the information needed, just click the “Submit” button and your story will be created. You’ll be able to find a list of your stories here. This is where you’ll be able to edit your stories information as well as edit/add/delete chapters to your story, add/delete authors, and delete the story completely from the site.
Editing Your Story
Once you’ve created your story, you can access it in by going to your Stories page. There you’ll find a list of all your stories. Under each story title, there’s a number of buttons. Here’s what they each do:
- Chapters: the chapters button will take you to a list of the chapters of that particular story. There you’ll be able to add/edit/delete chapters.
- Authors: the authors button will take you to a list of authors for that story. There you’ll be able to add/edit/delete authors.
- Edit: the edit button will take you to your story’s info page. This is where you can edit all the info for your story (including your cover image, title, short description, summary, language, genre, tags…).
- Delete: the delete button will allow you to permanently delete your story. Once a story is deleted from Mibba it cannot be retrieved so be sure to have it saved elsewhere.