The Guide

Open the submission desk to begin. A manuscript needs three things to be considered: a title, a brief summary, and a body. Tags and content warnings are optional but strongly encouraged — they help readers find your work and approach it informed.

Save as a draft as often as you like. Nothing is shared until you submit.

When the piece is ready, submit it for review. Manuscripts follow the shared Editorial Lifecycle: Draft, Under Review, Published, Archived. An Archivist will read it and either welcome it into the Manuscripts or return it with notes. Returned work is not a rejection — it is an invitation to refine.

You may withdraw a submission at any time before review concludes, and delete unsent drafts.

Manuscripts preserve creative memory written within The Cellars. The Archive preserves institutional memory, The Library published literature, and The Gallery the wider cultural record. The distinction is described in The Cellars as an Institution.

• Adult characters, written as adults.
• Consent — depicted, negotiated, or examined — is central, not incidental.
• Craft over shock. Specificity over cliché.
• Accurate content warnings for difficult material.

If you belong to a House, you may enter your manuscript into its Library. The piece will appear on the House page once published.

Manuscripts accept the same light formatting as profiles: headers, bold, italics, inline code. Use them to shape, not to decorate.