What to do?

[Degorram]

It's my first time here. I learned of the site from a friend at school, fellow writer, and only now am getting around to looking into the mighty pen. So, here I am, and I have not a clue what to do first. Any suggestions? And a question that needs answering: what are the responsibilities of a member?

 

Degorram

Edited March 17, 2006 by Degorram

[Wyvern]

Wyvern jumps up from his desk at the sound of Degorram's voice, breaking his daydream along with his elaborate paperclip construction of a money safe. The overgrown lizard smooths a few tilted scales on his head and shuffles through a pile of scrapped scheme proposals. He sweeps his tail across the floor and extends a claw towards the new visitor, cursing at the feel of the gum wad stuck to his stinger.

 

"Welcome to the Mighty Pen!" Wyvern reaches into a folder labeled "Devil's Advocate" and hands Degorram a blank sheet of paper. "I think you'll find the resssponsibilities of the Pen rather simple. Just read over that list of member rules and feel free to ask me any questions."

 

Degorram frowns and waves the sheet a few times, her ears bending and her dark tail twitching.

 

"I- there isn't anything printed on here."

 

"Oh." Wyvern stares up at the ceiling with the expression of a bull fresh out of the china shop. "Well, that's simply because it's written in invisible think. If you'd like, I could recite the responsibilities to you by heart."

 

"Errrr." Degorram squints once more at the sheet. "Well, I-"

 

"The mossst important responsibility of any member of the Pen is to be on top of your payments. One thousand geld to Wyvern, every month, with a late tax of five hundred geld, an early tax of five hundred geld, and an on-time tax of five hundred geld."

 

Degorram's ears seem to droop a bit as Wyvern continues.

 

"Another esssential responsibility is to join the "I Wyvern" cult, who live by morals of loose geld and Almost Dragonic loyalty. As the 666th honored guest to show interest in the Pen since the last time I miscounted, you are to build an muscular idol of me out of precious metals."

 

Degorram's jaw drops as Wyvern hands her a tiny wooden hammer and chisel.

 

"Build a great enough statue, and you shall have the special privelege of accompanying me here in my Office and obeying my every whim. There are other responsibilities of courssse... the misdirect I. M Clueless law, the Almost Dragonic Brand Dollar Billboard™ dress code, and an entire series of clauses revolving around feather/whipped cream torture. But I think thessse rules should do for now."

 

Wyvern rubs his claws together and strikes a razorsharp grin, winking to Degorram with not-so-subtle gestures.

 

;-p

[Gwaihir]

Hey Degorram,

 

If you are slightly different opinions than Wyvern, you might enjoy seeing the list of a few pieces the pen recommends.

http://www.patrickdurham.net/themightypen/index.php?showtopic=12576

Or, post a hello in the Cabaret room

Or, if you're a poet visit and maybe write in the Banquet hall.

You could be a role player. Around here, you can role play about any where but organized RPs tend to belong in the Conservatory.

Perhaps you're story writer/reader and would prefer the Assembly hall?

 

Regardless,

Welcome!

[Katzaniel]

And as for the responsibilities of a member.. well, not very much. We hope that you can contribute writing every so often, but recognize that RL (real life) always comes first; if you disappear for 5 years and come back, you'll not have lost any respect, and if you made enough friends before you went, you'd probably be welcomed back with open arms and tacklehugs.

 

Your only real responsibility is to treat others with respect. That could mean by providing feedback to other author's pieces, or it could just mean being polite. If you contribute regularly, you'll soon enough find yourself being promoted to Page, and eventually Quillbearer. As a quillbearer, you would be required to complete a quill-quest before being promoted to a full member. As a full member you encounter your next responsibility, which is to vote on promotions when you can (but even this is not required)

 

But, you'll find that many of those who wander the halls here are Honoured Guests (has an account) and Initiates (has applied by writing a piece in the Recruiter's Office) and so forth, and they are just as respected as anyone else. No one expects you to write any more often than you're comfortable doing, or have time for.

 

For more questions: The FAQ. We hope that it's sufficient to explain things to you (if not, tell us, so that we can improve it) but the best way to get to know us is just to start posting. There's not really any way to screw up too badly... if you post in the wrong place or something, we'll tell you, and move the piece.

 

I hope that answered everything?

 

Welcome to the Pen.