Recently, there's been a lot of new users wanting to write and submit their work, especially in the ongoing Wheel Of Misfortune contest, I thought I'd give some baseline ideas as to how you can make sure your story measures up with the quality standards, as this is a prerequisite for every story, not just contest stories.
*DISCLAIMER*
I am a judge in said contest, and this means that I'm not going to give you feedback on contest entries or otherwise assist in any plot or structure based issues until the deadline for submissions; so don't ask. This is simply how you can adhere to the basic standards for posting stories, otherwise your entry will be rejected.
So, anyway, here you go:
Do proofread as standard practice. I can't count the amount of people I've had to tell to proofread work. It's apparent when people have vs when they haven't.
Do make sure you have a set amount of time put aside each day/week to spend on your story.
Do use a word processor such as Google Docs or Microsoft Word to write your story in.
Do post your story to the Writer's Workshop to get penalty free feedback from other users on your entry/story.
Do make sure that you thoroughly research topics that you want to write about.
Don't start your entry at the last minute, it'll just stress you out and your story might not be as good as it could have been otherwise.
Don’t include excessive clichés unless you can reasonably justify their use.
Don't submit a story as a wall of text, no one is going to be inclined to proofread or correct mistakes if you can't even put spaces between paragraphs.
Don't plagiarise. This is a very serious offence, and if you're found to be using someone else's work and claiming it to be your own, contest entry or otherwise, expect a ban. Taking light inspiration is fine as long as you make it your own.
If you have any general queries pertaining to the contest, @Tewahway, Myself or @MakRalston will be happy to answer them.
I hope these baseline tips help you to get your story to stay on the wiki, and good luck.