How to Participate

Welcome to Germaine 2.0!

We have done the world-building for you. Now you populate it with characters and stories.

Welcome to the small Central Oregon town of Germaine, a community striving to make its way in the modern world. Germaine has embraced organic agriculture and appropriate technology, and it has attracted all sorts of people and institutions to Wilbur County, which only recently was a small, sleepy town on the edge of the Oregon high desert.

Of course, all of this change has created more than a small amount of resentment and political upheaval as rural folk meet and sometimes clash with their new neighbors from the city.

We want your stories. All genres are acceptable, as long as you stick to the world we have created.

If you would like to participate, you will need to sign up and create a character (or take an existing character with some history).

You can participate as much or as little as you like. Options range from simply engaging in dialogue with other characters through our Facebook-like interface, to operating your own blog and creating a story—and there are many levels in between.

While we would like to make this site as democratic as possible, we have a few strict rules which are necessary to keep this project healthy and friendly to all.

This site is by and for fiction writers. It is an exercise in keeping in character, and it is meant to be fun and open to dialogue on many important issues in the world. With this in mind, the following rules will be strongly maintained.

1. Follow the Story. We will not allow a story to be hijacked to support someone’s ego. Attempts to do so will result in banning from the site. You are welcome to create your own story, and you have broad leeway to do that within the world of Wilbur County, Oregon.

2. Be respectful. Our purpose is to open dialogue between diverse people: rural/urban, radical/liberal/conservative, whatever the issue, we can be respectful of one another’s views. Violation of this rule will result in one strong warning, and then banning.

3. The Germaine Truth is a bit like a role-playing game. Pick a character you would like to be and stay in character. We will gently remind you of this if you stray too much.

That’s it. Anyone can sign up. If you want your own blog, only the administrator can oblige you. Tell him what your idea is, and if you promise to maintain it, we will give you a blog.