Fan Fiction Rules and Guidelines NEW RULE 10/20/15

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Fan Fiction Rules and Guidelines NEW RULE 10/20/15

Post by MothraRocks »

Jomei gave me the OK to write a few rules/guidelines for the Fan Fiction Section to try and organize it a bit better and cut down on spam.


Rules and Guidelines of the Fan Fiction Section:

1) Plagiarism – Plagiarism is the stealing of someone else’s work and claiming it as your own. It is against the rules to post a story you found and claim it as yours, and will be deleted should you do this. However, collaborating with other writers in the Fan Fiction Community, meaning two or more people working on a story together, is alright, but ALL writers must be given credit. Continued breaking of this rule may result in a warning from mods and resulting in banning from the both sections.

2) Post in the correct place – There is nothing more irritating to both the readers and the author when someone decides to post a review in the story itself, effectively killing the mood. Before leaving a comment about the story, take a second and think “Has anyone else besides the writer(s) posted in this thread?” or “Have I checked for a discussion thread?”. Most stories have a discussion thread for readers to talk about the story itself, but occasionally there will be stories or one shots where people post reviews in the same thread as the story.

3) Do not write a story about other users simply to flame them “subtly”, because it’s not, it comes off as rude, demeaning and quite frankly, makes you look immature. There are however, exceptions, such as sign up Fan Fictions in which users create characters, usually based upon themselves, where playful pokes and teases are sure to be found. There is a difference between being playful and mean, keep in mind, and may result in a warning from mods.

4) The first post of a story – The first part of a story must contain SOMETHING, be it a prologue or an actual chapter. Do not simply post a topic with a notification that you will write something soon. For example, do not make a thread titled “Godzilla’s Super Awesome Battle!”, only to have the first and only post in there saying “I’m gonna write a really cool battle soon!”. Not only is it considered spam, but it’s also a letdown to readers.

5) Proper Quality – Remember how I said there is nothing more irritating than someone posting in your story? Well, there is. It’s called “crap quality”. This rule is about making sure your spelling is correct, the paragraphs (assuming there are any) are spaced out properly, and you are not skimming on the descriptions. If you can’t be bothered to write a story with effort, don’t write a story at all. If English is not your first language do NOT use this as an excuse for the quality of your story; instead, try to make sure that you are as accurate as possible, or even try to find a proof reader for you to help out; there are plenty of friendly people in the TK Fan Fiction section that would be more than happy to help you. And please, for the love of Godzilla, refrain from using smilies to tell a story, as well as using YouTube links in the middle to try and describe something.

6) Length – Now, there isn’t really a designated length for stories or chapters, but posting four lines of nonsense isn’t exactly going to cut it. Try to make it at least a page to a page and a half in Microsoft Word; any less is very unlikely to contain enough detail to be considered entertaining.

7) Script Form – Very rarely are these kinds of Fan Fictions done properly. It is normally better to write a story in ‘traditional’ format, with paragraphs and narration, but if you choose to do a story in script form, this means to do it in PROPER script form, i.e., Do not put:

Person A: But where did Godzilla go?
Person B: I have no idea! Let’s check the radar!

Person A and Person B suddenly turned and ran off down the hallway, worried where the Kaiju had gotten too.

If you are going to write a script, that means use stage directions, not usual story narration; it comes off as you are too lazy to go ahead and write “Person A asked, obviously worried”.

8) Bashing groups – This rule links back to Rule 3; do not simply write a story to bash other sexes, religions, sexual orientation, races, etc. This is not to say there cannot be themes about these in the stories, but do not write a story simply to insult a group. Doing this will result in a warning.

9) Criticism – Oh boy, this one is important. Pay attention because this goes for EVERYBODY. Criticism is a part of life; if you put a story up for people to read, expect some negativity as well. Instead of taking offense to this, try learning from them to improve your writing style – if no one ever posted their true thoughts, you’d never get better! Do NOT make continuous excuses for their criticism like some members have in the past, it gets annoying and shows you’re obviously not ready for posting work on the internet. For readers; do not simply post criticism for the heck of it, make sure you have a valid reason, and do not be rude about it, but instead use constructive criticism.

10) Ratings – Most writers here usually keep their stories at a PG-13 rating here in the Fan Fiction section, but that is not to say stories that could be rated R aren’t allowed; simply put it next to the title, i.e., “Godzilla: Blood Bath [R]”. You MUST put the rating next to the title if the story can be considered NC-17, although most readers here aren’t really into that kind of stuff.

11) Don’t be a know it all – No one, and I mean no one, likes the person who decides to try and show off that they perhaps know a bit more about writing than another person; all it comes off as is immature and arrogant. If you’re using some ridiculously long and complicated word to try and say what could be done better, make sure you post a meaning for it, or use a less complex word for it. You won’t seem smarter, you’ll just seem like the guy who likes to copy and paste big words.

12) Advertising your stories – Do not post in discussion threads simply to advertise your story, it’s quite rude to the author and annoying to readers. If you want to advertise your story, post a link in the “Fan Fiction Directory” thread, that’s why it’s there.

13) Respect everyone – This is a no brainer really. Just be casual and calm, no need to hurl insults.

14) Chapter Updates- Do NOT update a story with half a chapter. This means no ending the chapter on a half sentence, i.e., "Mark walked down the street and then". It is more or less spam since it does not actually fit the criteria of being a proper chapter. To avoid this, type the story up in a document, for example Microsoft Word, Notes App on iPod/iPhone/iPad, or even use Google Documents to save it. This also means don't post "Reserved post for upcoming chapter."

15) Spacing between paragraphs- No one wants to read a wall of text and this makes your story look bad. Refrain from having your paragraphs and dialogue lines being cluttered together. Space them out.

16) Read the Editorials- No one hear wants to see a story nor character for a signup that's been done horribly. That's why if you're a new member who doesn't know how things work here then you should refer to the brilliant threads that Giratina93 made so things won't be done wrong and instead done right.

17) Don't post one word replies/anything.- No one who created a story wants to to be disappointed when they see a reply in the discussion board only to find a one word reply. It makes the writer annoyed when they see a waste of a post and thinking they got a good comment.

18) Chapter Length: Now there is since we've had some incidents were people are just making their stories way too short and not seriously enough. The minimum of words (Not counting titles, Author's notes, or links of any kind) is 500. Anything less than that will either get locked or deleted, depending how much they ignored/disobeyed the rule unless it is either a poem of some sorts, part of the trailer thread, or you have a good excuse for it (But, please come to me on that one and we can come to an understanding on it).

19) Banned Members: Members who have ignored a great deal of these rules many times and hold no regard to reform/change will be banned from both sections. If you break this rule by posting in either sections you will be reported to the Global Mods/Admins and they will decide what your punishment shall be. Though Plagiarism/Rule 1 is a one time offense. You violate that rule and you're out. Below are the list of individual(s) that are banned from the sections.

List of Banned Members
Alienhulk2099
MMRaidsAgain
Biogoji
Simmer
Any other previously banned user

Behind the Character: http://www.tohokingdom.com/forum/viewto ... 18&t=17059

The Essentials of Good Writing: http://www.tohokingdom.com/forum/viewto ... 18&t=16437

Any questions or suggestions about rules/guidelines may be posted below.
Last edited by MothraRocks on Fri May 03, 2013 6:00 am, edited 3 times in total.
"And if something good can come from bad, the past can Rest In Peace."

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Fan Fiction Rules and Guidelines NEW RULE 10/20/15

Post by MothraRocks »

Jomei gave me the OK to write a few rules/guidelines for the Fan Fiction Section to try and organize it a bit better and cut down on spam.


Rules and Guidelines of the Fan Fiction Section:

1) Plagiarism – Plagiarism is the stealing of someone else’s work and claiming it as your own. It is against the rules to post a story you found and claim it as yours, and will be deleted should you do this. However, collaborating with other writers in the Fan Fiction Community, meaning two or more people working on a story together, is alright, but ALL writers must be given credit. Continued breaking of this rule may result in a warning from mods and resulting in a banning from both sections.

2) Post in the correct place – There is nothing more irritating to both the readers and the author when someone decides to post a review in the story itself, effectively killing the mood. Before leaving a comment about the story, take a second and think “Has anyone else besides the writer(s) posted in this thread?” or “Have I checked for a discussion thread?”. Most stories have a discussion thread for readers to talk about the story itself, but occasionally there will be stories or one shots where people post reviews in the same thread as the story.

3) Do not write a story about other users simply to flame them “subtly”, because it’s not, it comes off as rude, demeaning and quite frankly, makes you look immature. There are however, exceptions, such as sign up Fan Fictions in which users create characters, usually based upon themselves, where playful pokes and teases are sure to be found. There is a difference between being playful and mean, keep in mind, and may result in a warning from mods.

4) The first post of a story – The first part of a story must contain SOMETHING, be it a prologue or an actual chapter. Do not simply post a topic with a notification that you will write something soon. For example, do not make a thread titled “Godzilla’s Super Awesome Battle!”, only to have the first and only post in there saying “I’m gonna write a really cool battle soon!”. Not only is it considered spam, but it’s also a letdown to readers.

5) Proper Quality – Remember how I said there is nothing more irritating than someone posting in your story? Well, there is. It’s called “crap quality”. This rule is about making sure your spelling is correct, the paragraphs (assuming there are any) are spaced out properly, and you are not skimming on the descriptions. If you can’t be bothered to write a story with effort, don’t write a story at all. If English is not your first language do NOT use this as an excuse for the quality of your story; instead, try to make sure that you are as accurate as possible, or even try to find a proof reader for you to help out; there are plenty of friendly people in the TK Fan Fiction section that would be more than happy to help you. And please, for the love of Godzilla, refrain from using smilies to tell a story, as well as using YouTube links in the middle to try and describe something.

6) Length – Now, there isn’t really a designated length for stories or chapters, but posting four lines of nonsense isn’t exactly going to cut it. Try to make it at least a page to a page and a half in Microsoft Word; any less is very unlikely to contain enough detail to be considered entertaining.

7) Script Form – Very rarely are these kinds of Fan Fictions done properly. It is normally better to write a story in ‘traditional’ format, with paragraphs and narration, but if you choose to do a story in script form, this means to do it in PROPER script form, i.e., Do not put:

Person A: But where did Godzilla go?
Person B: I have no idea! Let’s check the radar!

Person A and Person B suddenly turned and ran off down the hallway, worried where the Kaiju had gotten too.

If you are going to write a script, that means use stage directions, not usual story narration; it comes off as you are too lazy to go ahead and write “Person A asked, obviously worried”.

8) Bashing groups – This rule links back to Rule 3; do not simply write a story to bash other sexes, religions, sexual orientation, races, etc. This is not to say there cannot be themes about these in the stories, but do not write a story simply to insult a group. Doing this will result in a warning.

9) Criticism – Oh boy, this one is important. Pay attention because this goes for EVERYBODY. Criticism is a part of life; if you put a story up for people to read, expect some negativity as well. Instead of taking offense to this, try learning from them to improve your writing style – if no one ever posted their true thoughts, you’d never get better! Do NOT make continuous excuses for their criticism like some members have in the past, it gets annoying and shows you’re obviously not ready for posting work on the internet. For readers; do not simply post criticism for the heck of it, make sure you have a valid reason, and do not be rude about it, but instead use constructive criticism.

10) Ratings – Most writers here usually keep their stories at a PG-13 rating here in the Fan Fiction section, but that is not to say stories that could be rated R aren’t allowed; simply put it next to the title, i.e., “Godzilla: Blood Bath [R]”. You MUST put the rating next to the title if the story can be considered NC-17, although most readers here aren’t really into that kind of stuff.

11) Don’t be a know it all – No one, and I mean no one, likes the person who decides to try and show off that they perhaps know a bit more about writing than another person; all it comes off as is immature and arrogant. If you’re using some ridiculously long and complicated word to try and say what could be done better, make sure you post a meaning for it, or use a less complex word for it. You won’t seem smarter, you’ll just seem like the guy who likes to copy and paste big words.

12) Advertising your stories – Do not post in discussion threads simply to advertise your story, it’s quite rude to the author and annoying to readers. If you want to advertise your story, post a link in the “Fan Fiction Directory” thread, that’s why it’s there.

13) Respect everyone – This is a no brainer really. Just be casual and calm, no need to hurl insults.

14) Chapter Updates- Do NOT update a story with half a chapter. This means no ending the chapter on a half sentence, i.e., "Mark walked down the street and then". It is more or less spam since it does not actually fit the criteria of being a proper chapter. To avoid this, type the story up in a document, for example Microsoft Word, Notes App on iPod/iPhone/iPad, or even use Google Documents to save it. This also means don't post "Reserved post for upcoming chapter."

15) Spacing between paragraphs- No one wants to read a wall of text and this makes your story look bad. Refrain from having your paragraphs and dialogue lines being cluttered together. Space them out.

16) Read the Editorials- No one here wants to see a story nor character for a signup that's been done horribly. That's why if you're a new member who doesn't know how things work here then you should refer to the brilliant threads that Giratina93 made so things won't be done wrong and instead done right.

17) Don't post one word replies/anything.- No one who created a story wants to to be disappointed when they see a reply in the discussion board only to find a one word reply. It makes the writer annoyed when they see a waste of a post and thinking they got a good comment.

18) Chapter Length: Now there is since we've had some incidents were people are just making their stories way too short and not seriously enough. The minimum of words (Not counting titles, Author's notes, or links of any kind) is 500. Anything less than that will either get locked or deleted, depending how much they ignored/disobeyed the rule unless it is either a poem of some sorts, part of the trailer thread, or you have a good excuse for it (But, please come to me on that one and we can come to an understanding on it.)

19) Banned Members: Members who have ignored a great deal of these rules many times and hold no regard to reform/change will be banned from both sections. If you break this rule by posting in either sections you will be reported to the Global Mods/Admins and they will decide what your punishment shall be. Though Plagiarism/Rule 1 is a one time offense. You violate that rule and you're out. Below are the list of individual(s) that are banned from the sections.

List of Banned Members
Alienhulk2099

Behind the Character: http://www.tohokingdom.com/forum/viewto ... 18&t=17059

The Essentials of Good Writing: http://www.tohokingdom.com/forum/viewto ... 18&t=16437

Any questions or suggestions about rules/guidelines may be posted below.
Last edited by MothraRocks on Fri May 03, 2013 6:00 am, edited 3 times in total.
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Re: Fan Fiction Rules and Guidelines

Post by Kubo »

*raises hand* This should be a-stickied.
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Re: Fan Fiction Rules and Guidelines

Post by Kubo »

*raises hand* This should be a-stickied.
Giving myself brain damage wishing too hard upon a star.

Twitter: @Dawn_of_the_DED
If you follow me on there, shoot me a DM so I know you're from the forums.

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Re: Fan Fiction Rules and Guidelines

Post by Giratina93 »

Wait, so there are actually rules here... shit.

The only thing that I'm curious on is the youtube links bit. Me and Kiryu have both been known to use them for music during a fight scene... so that is technically not allowed because of this rule... oh joy.
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Re: Fan Fiction Rules and Guidelines

Post by Giratina93 »

Wait, so there are actually rules here... shit.

The only thing that I'm curious on is the youtube links bit. Me and Kiryu have both been known to use them for music during a fight scene... so that is technically not allowed because of this rule... oh joy.
Come read my latest Fanfiction: Daily Life at the Cheshire Cafe

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GotengoXGodzilla wrote: It could be said that kaiju regeneration is like human dodging, basically.
GotengoXGodzilla wrote:That's not Mothra, that's an ugly goddamn demon!

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Re: Fan Fiction Rules and Guidelines

Post by MothraRocks »

Flygon King wrote:Wait, so there are actually rules here... shit.

The only thing that I'm curious on is the youtube links bit. Me and Kiryu have both been known to use them for music during a fight scene... so that is technically not allowed because of this rule... oh joy.
That's fine. If someone puts in a YouTube link such as [To enhance atmosphere of the next bit, listen to THIS], that's not a problem since it's simply being used to add to the mood of the chapter/scene. The rule is basically saying don't do something like "And then the guy exploded and it looked like THIS." Or "And the fight scene looks like THIS". It just comes off as lazy.
King Caesar wrote:*raises hand* This should be a-stickied.
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Re: Fan Fiction Rules and Guidelines

Post by MothraRocks »

Flygon King wrote:Wait, so there are actually rules here... shit.

The only thing that I'm curious on is the youtube links bit. Me and Kiryu have both been known to use them for music during a fight scene... so that is technically not allowed because of this rule... oh joy.
That's fine. If someone puts in a YouTube link such as [To enhance atmosphere of the next bit, listen to THIS], that's not a problem since it's simply being used to add to the mood of the chapter/scene. The rule is basically saying don't do something like "And then the guy exploded and it looked like THIS." Or "And the fight scene looks like THIS". It just comes off as lazy.
King Caesar wrote:*raises hand* This should be a-stickied.
Yes. Yes it should. I'll PM someone.
"And if something good can come from bad, the past can Rest In Peace."

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Re: Fan Fiction Rules and Guidelines

Post by Tim85 »

Too bad you can't make a rule that if you read a story, it is STRONGLY recommended that you post something about what you read in the discussion thread. It's annoying when you're the writer and you see a lot of views of the story thread and little to no posts in the discussion thread. It helps to support the writer in that it gives them more feedback on their work and will help with their work. I know certain chapters may not need much feedback, but when you put all that work in your story and your discussion thread consists of you giving background on the chapter, it's a little disheartening to the writer.
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Re: Fan Fiction Rules and Guidelines

Post by Tim85 »

Too bad you can't make a rule that if you read a story, it is STRONGLY recommended that you post something about what you read in the discussion thread. It's annoying when you're the writer and you see a lot of views of the story thread and little to no posts in the discussion thread. It helps to support the writer in that it gives them more feedback on their work and will help with their work. I know certain chapters may not need much feedback, but when you put all that work in your story and your discussion thread consists of you giving background on the chapter, it's a little disheartening to the writer.
I was mentioned in the SciFi Japan article about the appearence of extras on the Godzilla vs. Megalon DVD.

http://www.scifijapan.com/articles/2012 ... p-mystery/

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Re: Fan Fiction Rules and Guidelines

Post by MothraRocks »

Just added a new rule to try and keep spam down a bit more.

And, I'm not naming names guys, but please, some of you (not anyone that has posted in this thread so far) have been more or less ignoring this thread. It gets annoying (and is somewhat offensive) to see that people completely ignore these rules, not helping the spam problem at all. If it's something like "Oh, my spelling sucks and I don't have Spell Check" then here you go:

http://www.spellcheck.net/

It's free and easy to do. Seriously if you're having trouble following these rules...just use the internet to check your work. It's a wonderful thing.
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Re: Fan Fiction Rules and Guidelines

Post by MothraRocks »

Just added a new rule to try and keep spam down a bit more.

And, I'm not naming names guys, but please, some of you (not anyone that has posted in this thread so far) have been more or less ignoring this thread. It gets annoying (and is somewhat offensive) to see that people completely ignore these rules, not helping the spam problem at all. If it's something like "Oh, my spelling sucks and I don't have Spell Check" then here you go:

http://www.spellcheck.net/

It's free and easy to do. Seriously if you're having trouble following these rules...just use the internet to check your work. It's a wonderful thing.
"And if something good can come from bad, the past can Rest In Peace."

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Re: Fan Fiction Rules and Guidelines NEW RULE 5/3/13

Post by KaijuX »

I was just about to say "Why the heck should fan fiction have rules? They're going to be horrible anyway!" XD Of course I was joking on the latter part of the statement, since there have been GOOD fan fics out there. It wasn't until I read it that I was like, "Ooohh..." XD
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Re: Fan Fiction Rules and Guidelines NEW RULE 5/3/13

Post by KaijuX »

I was just about to say "Why the heck should fan fiction have rules? They're going to be horrible anyway!" XD Of course I was joking on the latter part of the statement, since there have been GOOD fan fics out there. It wasn't until I read it that I was like, "Ooohh..." XD
KWC Co-Operations Manager and Resident Wumbo.
Soggy Noodles wrote:Anno brought back Showa ambition by doing smaller scales, morals and trying to examine humanity.

Seshita brought back Heisei ambition with absurd powerscaling, rad fights and fat asses.

Pair of kings.
MoarCrossovers wrote:We snorted crushed Morbius DVDs and snail shells

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