Fan Fiction Guidelines

[Voldemort'sWand]

I have changed the name of the forum to "Tales from Hogwarts and Beyond." I am also including some guidelines for posting.

Guidelines for posting Fanfic:

Be mindful of your audience; the Harry Potter books are read by many children, some of them very young. The audience of this site includes many young posters. If you aren't comfortable with a ten year old reading your work, don't post it. If you aren't sure, feel free to PM or email it to a moderator for verification.

Guidelines regarding affection:

While romance scenes are fun to write, the best stories include more than just a few kissing scenes. Let us get to know the characters in more than one way; this has the added benefit of allowing us to enjoy the romance more. :) Kissing and touching is allowed but please keep it mild; or as they told us in Jr. High: above the neck and below the knees. Holding hands, hugging, etc. are allowed.

[Colli]

First of all, I LOVE the new forum name!

Second, I'd like to take the opportunity to thank FleurD and others for posting warnings about the content of their stories. I'd much rather avoid slash, especially same sex slash and I appreciate the heads up. :)

:hug:

[Elfëa]

Slash - same sex relationships. Usually refers to m/m, and f/f is referred by femmeslash. Also known: yaoi (and others, but I can't remember... :o)

Smut - something that's not above the neck, below knees.. ;)

[UpintheSky]

Exactly, Elfëa. Slash doesn't mean NC-17 rated content, it's purly same sex material. Even some people would argue that a story that involves a slash element but is not explored with the main characters of the story would not count as slash.

.Writer's University offers a fanfiction Dictionary (http://www.writersu.net/?link=dict) which is quite helpful in figuring out how to properly label your fanfic.

[Elfëa]

Thanks for backing me up :p

And Welcome to Muggle Informer! :hug:

edit: Thought I'd just say here, to those who read these thread: Sorry that I haven't been partaking in reviewing lately. Have been away from internet too long, and catching up is impossible at the moment. :(

:hug: have a nice summer!

[Fleurdelacour]

Oh I thought of another point to ad on here! lol, bit compulsive, but I have an English exam tomorrow ;)

Well, Britian is quite liberal these days, more people accept homosexuality has, well life here, so yes, agreeing (obviously :rolleyes:) with Elfea and Upinthesky (welcome by the way :D) Slash is definatly not nc-17 or all the soaps in Britian would have to be shown after the watershed ;)

[UpintheSky]

Plus if we confuse the meaning someone who says, "I don't want to read slash" may mean they don't want to read NC-17 material but don't necessarily have anything against reading a story about a same sex relationship. Things got very sticky on Live Journal recently regarding the distinction (and there was a big discussion on whether not liking slash made a person an automatic "homophobe". I say no to that idea. It's not everyone's cup of tea, and that's ok.)

I had no idea people thought slash=NC-17 until a week or so ago, as I had been introduced to slash on the net as meaning same sex pairing.

So it really helps to get all of these terms (sometimes confusing, yes) down pat so we can understand what each person really means.

[Elfëa]

Originally posted by UpintheSky
Things got very sticky on Live Journal recently regarding the distinction (and there was a big discussion on whether not liking slash made a person an automatic "homophobe". I say no to that idea. It's not everyone's cup of tea, and that's ok.)

Read about that... (have livejournal myself... )

Sometimes I really feel (especially when I was total newbie) that the HP fandom really really needs a good dictionary... ;)

[UpintheSky]

Absolutely. A standard of operations. I still can't remember what every term means, but they sure do help when you're looking for a story. I like when authors label their stories accurately. I hope one day we will have a standard. Most of the dictionaries online for fanfic do agree on most things, but not all.

I still don't know all the Japanese terms for things or how Japanese terms became part of the fanfiction world. I need to find a history of fanfiction ;)

I wrote my first fanfic and it was a total Mary Sue (even though I had no idea what that was at the time and the term might not have been invented) at age 12. It was a Goonies fanfic. Yes, I was the 8th Goonie and my name was Darlene. Ugh. :o :rolleyes: I was so lame.

Edited to add that yes, Mikey Walsh got to kiss me. Wasn't he lucky? LOL:):D

[lithorose]

Okay, to clear up whatever confusion there may be about this: according to our rules, slash (ie, m/m, f/f romantic relationships) is allowed on the site as long as it keeps to the PG rules (as per first post). However, a warning at the beginning of the story is also good thing, as it is offensive to some people and they will know to skip over it if they so choose. Everyone's doing good so far in that. Thank you!

And, Welcome to the MI UpintheSky!:wave:

[Moxie]

Originally posted by UpintheSky
I still don't know... how Japanese terms became part of the fanfiction world. I need to find a history of fanfiction ;)
I know there is a huge amount of fanfic based on anime, manga, etc., and I've read that this may partly be because Japanese law has traditionally been more permissive about publication of fanfic - i.e. you can print your own comics with borrowed characters so long as you can prove you're not making a profit. I'd expect that this Japanese fanfic tradition is a major reason that terms like yaoi have become commonplace in fanfic discussions worldwide.

On another topic, I may soon be looking for a beta (definition: someone to proofread fic prior to general publication - may suggest changes in spelling, grammar, conflicts with canon, Americanisms, etc.) as I'm seriously considering responding to a fic challenge. (No, I won't be posting here if I do; slash is a requested element, and other aspects of any response are likely to push its rating beyond what's welcome here, though I'm certainly not intending to write lemons/smut) Any suggestions on places a newbie author can seek a 18+ beta?

[StarGazr]

Originally posted by UpintheSky
I need to find a history of fanfiction ;)

I'll have to hunt around a lil, but I know fanfiction originated with Star Trek: TNG or the Original Series... don't quote me. I also know that TNG is where Mary Sues first popped up, Wesley Crusher is the ORIGINAL Mary Sue created by and in the image of Gene Roddenbery himself!!... now I totally have to do some research... there's a whole website on Mary Sues and the history of fanfiction. It's really neat... in my opinion.. but I'm a geek like that!

[katzpotter]

Hi everyone, I'm new and figured that to boost reviews, I'd stick my stuff up here. :D

Can I have the linker for that Mary Sue website? I have a terrible habit of writing Mary Sues.... :o :trout:

I also bookmarked the fanfiction dictionary website; I suggest all writers do so. (Thanks, UpintheSky!)

**Katz**

[StarGazr]

Originally posted by katzpotter
Can I have the linker for that Mary Sue website? I have a terrible habit of writing Mary Sues.... :o :trout:
**Katz**

First off, welcome to the MI. If you head over to the "mary-sue in us all" thread, there's a link to the Mary Sue info. Any other questions I'm sure either myself or Lithorose can answer. Remember, all stories posted must be PG or under :D

[katzpotter]

Oh, thank you very much! Will head over there right now.

Later Dates!

[SiriuslyInLove]

Hmm..I guess we should make out Characters in SFSB a little more "known" Katz!