We have received a few emails of people dismayed at having been spoiled for upcoming episodes by stories that did not include a warning up front.  So in the spirit of kindness towards your fellow readers, please DO NOT put any spoilers in the summary of your story.  In fact, DO WARN readers about potential spoilers in the summary, indicating the upcoming episode(s) which the story might spoil.  You may want to reiterate that warning in the author's notes as well.

Thanks for your cooperation!

--Morning Angel on December 15, 2006 03:53 pm 0 Comments

I am loving all the drabbles we are getting these days.  Awesome job, everyone! :)  In addition to featuring new stories, I like to pick out older stories I stumbled upon or some of my favourite stories to recommend.  Here are two for tonight: 1) 5 Obscure Times Pam Falls in Love With Jim by Petty, a lovely story using little moments from the show in a delightful way, and 2) Three Minutes by TV Buffy about an overheard conversation.

I'll be back later this week with a new challenge! 

--Morning Angel on November 26, 2006 08:48 pm 0 Comments

I rarely beg, but this is one of those nights!  A comedy shouldn't be making me this sad.  I am sure numerous Jim/Pam fans are feeling a tad bruised tonight, and would love nothing more than a nice twist to the story, so fanfic writers, please work through the angst of tonight's show, why don't you? :)   I can make that a challenge if that will encourage people to write some nice happy fic!

--Morning Angel on November 16, 2006 11:38 pm 9 Comments

In an ongoing effort to improve the quality of MTT, site administrators will now have the right to make changes to a story's tags (categorization, rating, warnings, labels, disclaimer, etc.) without notifying the author. Any changes will be made in accordance with MTT's Terms of Service and Submission Rules, which have been updated to reflect this new policy.

Our goals are to give readers the most accurate data possible for story searches, and to ensure that site admins can do this as efficiently as possible.

Be assured that the body of a story will never be altered without an author's permission - only its tags.

If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to use the Comments feature below or the Contact Us link above.

Thanks!

--nomadshan on November 06, 2006 10:01 am 5 Comments

Like Michael Scott, we like to do our spring cleaning out of season!  The administrators have noticed that a lot of fics are miscategorized, missing labels, missing disclaimers, and so on.  Thus, to make sure that stories are well classified and easily available to readers, we will be doing a bit of cleaning up in the next few days.

Authors, to make our lives even easier, it would be greatly appreciated if you could take the time to verify that your stories meet the criteria outlined in the submission rules.  We will only be modifying tags and other header information on stories which do not meet those standards.

As always, if you have any questions or concerns about this, feel free to email us.

Thank you,

The Cleaning Patrol aka The MTT Administration Team 

--Morning Angel on October 27, 2006 04:38 pm 3 Comments

It is a slow fanfic day, and I am trying to write a story, and it is just going nowhere so I reread a few of my favourite stories and thought I would share... Safety First by veryangrymidget & Camping Trip by unfold.

Safety First was the first multi-chapter Office fanfic I read (and it was one of the first, I believe). If I remember correctly, veryangrymidget took TWoP readers' suggestion about including a shower scene, which made us very happy. I won't say more... ;)

Camping Trip was written for the Confined Spaces challenge, and unfold's writing is brilliant as always. Unfold is so nice; she even wrote a pool story for the TWoP crew because we were clamoring for Wet Jim. That story is not archived here, but you can read it at ff.net. Happy reading!

--Morning Angel on October 21, 2006 03:52 pm 0 Comments

Nomadshan gave suggestions for fics at TWoP, and I decided to use one of them for a challenge prompt: Haunted House.  In the spirit of Halloween, Michael organizes an office outing to a haunted house.  I can't wait to read Halloween stories! :)

--Morning Angel on October 18, 2006 08:18 pm 2 Comments

Our "older" fanfic is still pretty recent, I realize, but since there are many new readers and so many stories out there, I bring to you another classic story... from a few months ago ;) : Faking It by nomadshan (Rating MA). We were discussing on TWoP what would be the most uncomfortable discussion Roy and Jim could ever have, and nomadshan brought it to life. She did an awesome job as always!

I shall be back later this week with a new challenge and other recommendations! :)

--Morning Angel on October 14, 2006 03:31 pm 2 Comments

You may have noticed that I occasionally put up older stories in the featured section. I'm going to try to do it with more regularity, because it is enjoyable to reread good stories that may have slipped our minds otherwise or find new gems we never knew were out there. This week, I have chosen Five Stories Concerning President Halpert by Bright Red Shirt. I love this 5 Things meme. Bright Red Shirt was able to spin 5 great tales from a little sign on Jim's desk! That is just so awesome. Go give her some feedback love. :)

--Morning Angel on October 09, 2006 06:31 am 0 Comments

Once in a while it becomes necessary to restate the rules.

This is such a time. The general rules of this site are the Terms of Service. Please take a moment to read them.

When the admins put together the Terms of Service, we tried to distill each main idea down to the basics. We hope that they are short and simple and easy to follow.

Today I need to reiterate that stories and reviews posted at MTT should not be continuations of scuffles that happen off-site.

These are good reasons for posting a story:

• You are a first-time writer, and you've worked up the gumption to post.
• You are a beginner, and want feedback that will help you improve.
• You are an established writer, and feel your work might inspire new writers.
• You crave feedback.
• You need to get a story idea out of your head, so you can concentrate on your regular, paying job again.
• You love The Office, Jim/Pam, Kelly/Ryan, Michael/Meredith, Stanley/Todd Packer. It's all good.

In other words, there should be positive (or at least constructive) motivation behind posting your story.

Likewise, all reviews, positive or negative, should be constructive. Good reasons to review might be:

• You want to tell the author that their story made you smile, cry, laugh, do a little dance, yell at a character, wish you were Pam, wish you were Toby.
• You want to encourage a new writer to keep posting.
• You want to point out images, themes, or word choices that you found particularly powerful.
• You want to encourage the author to quit their regular, paying job to write more fanfic for you.
• You want to point out something that may need work, and offer a solution to the problem.

Criticisms offered in reviews should always be about the story, never about the author. Period.

Here's to creative writing and helpful reviewing.

Thanks!

--nomadshan on October 05, 2006 12:25 pm 0 Comments

This is the last day of our fanfic primer.   Oh no! ;) I hope you enjoyed this list.  Readers, thanks again for participating!

The last 4 "Other Pairings" stories are as follows:

1) Candy Dish by ElizabethLynn (Pam/Phyllis- Rated K)

2) The Beard by nomadshan (Roy/Angela/Oscar/Jan- Rated M)

3) Five Stories Kelly Kapour Never Told by winterbaby (Kelly- Rated T)

4) The most nominated story: O*F*F*I*C*E by Annakovsky (Ensemble- Rated T)

I'll be back with challenges in the next few days. This weekend, authors will post their responses to this month's Five-Element Challenge. Exciting! :)

--Morning Angel on September 27, 2006 01:15 pm 4 Comments

We have a lot of great new fanfic being posted, but in the spirit of celebrating the best we have had so far, here are 4 more favourite "Other Pairings" stories:

1) Eight Days a Week by mazily (Ryan/Michael- Rated M)

2) Awake by shannanagin (Pam/Roy- Rated T)

3) The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Arsonists by swestworld (Ryan/Jan- Rated K+)

4) Snowball by ElizabethLynn (Madge/Roy- Rated T)  

--Morning Angel on September 25, 2006 07:15 pm 1 Comments

Today, I am adding 4 of the 12 stories picked for the "Other Pairings" category for the fanfic primer.

1) Things Jim Can't Remember by annakovsky (Jim/Mark- Rated MA)

2) Fringe by ElizabethLynn (Jim/Gil- Rated T)

3) Boy Problems by bonorocks (Kelly/Oscar- Rated T)

4) Substitute by honeywheeler (Angela/Roy- Rated K+)

Happy reading!

--Morning Angel on September 23, 2006 07:18 pm 2 Comments