Fan-Fiction Q&A

[hmschocolate]

Save it onto a word document and change colours yourself if you want that.

[LuNaR]

wat do u guys think about creating a new thread juss for replies to a fan fic rather than just replying on the same thread of the fan fic cause its like im reading the fan fic and all of the sudden the next 2 pages are replies... ruins my feeling for the story sometimes :\

[Suet Seung]

wat do u guys think about creating a new thread juss for replies to a fan fic rather than just replying on the same thread of the fan fic cause its like im reading the fan fic and all of the sudden the next 2 pages are replies... ruins my feeling for the story sometimes :\

Um, Thats why we have the Story Vault, you can read stories there without being interrupted by readers' comments.

[Ken Cheng]

Suet Seung, a question:

What is our protocol on sexually-themed content in fan fictions? Obviously, no one is allowed to depict pornography or other explicit sexual activity in fanfics, but the nature of fiction is that characters do interact...sometimes sexually. What is the line? How far are writers allowed to go in depicting characters in sexual situations?

[Suet Seung]

Suet Seung, a question:

What is our protocol on sexually-themed content in fan fictions? Obviously, no one is allowed to depict pornography or other explicit sexual activity in fanfics, but the nature of fiction is that characters do interact...sometimes sexually. What is the line? How far are writers allowed to go in depicting characters in sexual situations?

A very good question, indeed.

Since you've already touched based on No Explicit content part, I'll just emphasize it a little more. First off, as a writer, there's always an importance of knowing your audience with whom you're addressing to...like in needing to explain certain terms/vocab/concepts or leaving out the explanation when dealing with people who are familiar with the subject/term/vocab/concept already. With that in mind, our forum's primary audience is the general audience (which includes preteen, adolescents, and adults). So...Let's just say keep your fanfics or original fiction PG-13. I'm not sure what SC's policy is on this matter.

As for me, I'll allow sexual innuendos. Like you said, there is no explicit or graphic descriptions of the sexual activity. I mean you've read literature for your English courses or for leisure, Ken, some of the writers they do have sexual activity but usually readers have to read in-between the lines or catch onto the subtle descriptions to understand what's going on.

In any case, SPCNET will not have any explicit erotic themed fan-fictions/original fictions.

[yearning]

Why is there the 5 day rule? I don't understand....

[Suet Seung]

Why is there the 5 day rule? I don't understand....

The person best to ask is Ken Cheng. He gave me the idea, I only modify a bit.

[yearning]

Fine, can Ken tell us then? I could PM, but I think it's better just to say it here so everyone knows lol. I'm asking more out of curiosity.

[Suet Seung]

To all,

The simple answer to the new posting policy's purpose is to give all writers/fanfic contributors fair time for their fanfic to appear on the SPCNET's main forum page.

Because some of us was purposely posting only excerpts of their fanfic when they have full chapters of their fanfic piled up ready to be posted. Why don't they post full chapters? Some writer(s) felt they weren't getting enough readers, so they devised a plan with purpose to keep them at the top of the Fanfic Forum, thus everyone could see their fanfic on the main forum page. They kept on posting excerpts of their fanfic whenever they see someone post something new in the Fan-Fic Forum.

We just thought it would be more fair for other writers if we have a 5-day policy. Honestly, if the fanfic is good, people will read it; and may even dig under piles of other fanfics to find it. This way, people can post their updates with ease and naturally instead of monopolizing anything.

If you have more than one chapter to post and want to post them all in one day, then just post them all in one post. Otherwise, wait 5 days. 5 days goes by very quickly--you go to school, work, hang out with friends, and etc and come back to post a new chapter. Another advantage to this new posting policy is that during this waiting period, you can go back reread your newly written chapters and check for typos and make any changes you need.

Now if you guys still have questions about this new policy. Ken Cheng told me that he would be glad to answer them all in detail via PM.

[yearning]

Oh really..I thought the reason was so writers can get readers' responses before they added more. Well I think that writers shouldn't care how/what other people are posting regardless. People will read what they find interesting, and it doesn't really matter how often/much it gets posted.

Posting in huge huge chunks is overwhelming for the reader though, and the point of chapters is often to have 'cliffhangers' to leave people hanging. I don't think people do it to monopolize. But anyhow, I suppose the 5 day rule doesn't really hurt. Just never heard, but thanks for explaining SS and Ken.

[Suet Seung]

Yearning,

The monopoly/domination is not an assumption, it's a fact straight from the horse's mouth.

Cliffhangers can still work even if the chapters are all there. Like if a fanfic is completed, does that mean the cliffhanger at the end of each chapter doesn't work anymore? Readers will still find cliffhangers if they finish a chapter and thus, provoke them to continue on reading to find out. So it still works, I think.

Besides, having some time to edit and revise what is written only ensures the quality of the work that is posted.

[yearning]

Well I think there's an extra 'yearning' when the next chapter isn't right there for them, but they have to wait extra long for it =P So I gues in this case, 5 days is good haha...I've done this on another forum, posted my completed works chapter by chapter (but that forum had a million fics so people lose sight of it anyway unless I PM them). But yeah, it was just really nice to see readers' reactions after each chapter. If you post it all at once, they just give you a 'final reaction' after reading the entire fic.

I have a general question for people, why do you stop writing your fanfics? Boredom? Lack of time? It's so time-consuming, but I can't stop once I start...and now I did nothing all weekend but write two chapters. And do you think it says something about your personality if you only like writing one type of fanfic? I used to make humor into mine, but now, they're always sad...sad...sad...And I feel sad that I can't write different genres.

[Ken Cheng]

I have a general question for people, why do you stop writing your fanfics? Boredom? Lack of time? It's so time-consuming, but I can't stop once I start...and now I did nothing all weekend but write two chapters. And do you think it says something about your personality if you only like writing one type of fanfic? I used to make humor into mine, but now, they're always sad...sad...sad...And I feel sad that I can't write different genres.

In my case, the basic story was already written up twelve to fifteen years ago, but because it was written on an obsolete software on a long-gone computer, I'm having to manually transfer what was written then (and it was quite a lot - 1,000 pages of paper) onto modern MS Word '07.

Just as importantly, many of the ideas that seemed really cool back then are embarrassing now, so I'm having to rewrite some of the material I wrote then. Sometimes, this results in writer's block as I often have to find a better solution to a story development than I had at that time.

[yearning]

Yeah it is surprising how quickly we change. I cringe at all the stuff I wrote in the past, even a year ago. But I think sometimes it's better to leave the 'old edition' and just release new editions. And then you can really compare how things have changed. But I admit I don't have the patience (or courage) to really look/analyze/revise my old works. I just leave it and move onto a new story.

[PJ]

Hello moddieeees,

Are we allowed to incorporate profanity in our writing for a sense of realism?
i.e. a few cuss words here and there.

[Ken Cheng]

Hello moddieeees,

Are we allowed to incorporate profanity in our writing for a sense of realism?
i.e. a few cuss words here and there.

The auto-censor will bleep them out, so you'll have to get around it by using asterisks strategically.

[PJ]

I have a general question for people, why do you stop writing your fanfics? Boredom? Lack of time?

In some cases it could also be the lack of feedback.
I think this is unfortunately one of the least visited SPCNET forums.

And do you think it says something about your personality if you only like writing one type of fanfic?

Absolutely. I think every little thing that we do says something about us. The music we listen to, the way we walk, the style we write. They speak volume about our personality.

I used to make humor into mine, but now, they're always sad...sad...sad...And I feel sad that I can't write different genres.

Well, people change... as WKW/Brigitte Lin famously put it.
Do you think I'm referencing that pineapple line a bit too much recently?
It's the third or fourth time I mention it in one month!
But it is one of my favorite lines/moments!

The interesting thing for me is to document and revisit every stage of my progression. Once in a while I like to go back in time, dig up something from a long time ago, and compare me then to now. There's so much change, and yet in some ways we keep changing, only to end up the way it started.

By the way, great signature! Just noticed it.

[kwekmh]

In some cases it could also be the lack of feedback.
I think this is unfortunately one of the least visited SPCNET forums.

I concur. If more people read my fan fiction, I would be more motivated to write it. I know the primary reason for my fiction to have a lack of readers is because of the poor writing. I have a sudden notion to rewrite the entire story.

[PJ]

I concur. If more people read my fan fiction, I would be more motivated to write it. I know the primary reason for my fiction to have a lack of readers is because of the poor writing. I have a sudden notion to rewrite the entire story.

It looks interesting. I'll read it.
I want to see how bad your writing is (isn't, I bet ).

[Ren Wo Xing]

Wow, PJ is on a fanfic reading spree! Feel free to hop on over to mine if/when you have time