Welcome to our community! Once your application has been accepted, a moderator will be in touch with you, and will review the majority of this information. However, we know it's a lot to remember at once, so please refer here if you have questions and we're not online to assist you.

• You'll need an InsaneJournal account for your character (must be different from your personal journal). As soon as you have one set up, please let us know the username and we'll give you access to our in-character and out-of-character communities. To accept access, you must log into InsaneJournal and go to 'Asylum Invitations'.

• Every writer should sign up for access to the City Limits home page on Wetpaint.

• Once you have posting and viewing access to the OOC community, please log in and post a brief introduction to yourself and your character, as well as an AIM screen name that members can use to contact you.

• If you'd like, we'll also give you access to the OOC community for your personal InsaneJournal, so that you can more easily follow it (it is friends locked).

• Using the roster, add the AIM screen names of our members to your buddy list, so that you'll know when people are online. That cast list specifies which characters each writer controls, and the 'PBs' (celebrity likenesses) for each.

• You may begin posting for your character as soon as you feel familiar with our guidelines. If you'd like to request a scene with another writer, you can do so in several ways. Many writers feel comfortable sending IMs to request scenes. Others prefer email. The most common method is by posting a 'scene request list' in the OOC community, to let people know which pair of characters you'd like to write together. Hint: Be specific! Blanket invitations are easier to overlook.


• Ways of collaborating on scenes: AOL Instant Messenger (preferred), InsaneJournal threads, GoogleDocs, and Yahoo! Messenger.
  

• It is critical to keep up with the OOC community. A lot of information (including scene requests is posted there, and it's a great link for building our community atmosphere!

• At some point, you may receive a Chat Room request over AIM for a 'social chat'. We like to get together and talk about things other than writing, whenever a bunch of us are online and bored. :) There is absolutely no pressure to participate in those! Some people are more comfortable with it than others, and you might be very busy when the invite arrives.

• Our home page is a very valuable resource for game information.

• How do you keep up with the plot? Most of our writers 'friend' the IC and OOC communities rather than friending all the character journals. Please feel free to do the same, and remember to post your own material in the IC community. Whether or not you choose to also keep it in your character's personal journal is up to you!

• Please put your character's profile (from your application) on their InsaneJournal user info page! It helps other writers recall your character's background information.

• The most important tip of all is to never be afraid to ask questions, and to remember that we're here to have a great time. :) The most successful writers are those who aren't afraid to take initiative, in writing and in asking for help!