Please read these rules below carefully. They have been updated and are current as of now, however, they are subject to change in the future so please check for new updates at least once a fortnight. Newest updates will be highlighted for easy pick-up.
1. Follow the allowed rating system. G, PG and PG-13 are the only ratings acceptable. Anything above PG-13 is not permitted.
Since the Harry Potter kingdom is widely accepted as PG-13 now, we have decided to set our own guidelines at the same level to keep up with the maturing of the characters, storylines and fans alike. It is however, very important that you familiarize yourself with the ratings, which you can find in more detail HERE. PG-13 is still mild in its depiction of violence and sexual activities, and all authors are forewarned that harsh penalties will apply to anyone who over-steps the mark. If anyone is unsure of his or her fics suitability, you are advised to run it by a moderator before posting it. If your story contains PG-13 material, RATE IT AS SUCH IN THE SUB-TITLE. The forum moderators reserve the right to delete anything deemed inappropriate.
2. Cussing/Swearing/Profanity is not permitted in any part of the forums, including the Fanfic section.
We mods cannot stress this enough. This is a family site and by joining us you agreed to abide by the rules respectfully. There are censors that will automatically filter most unacceptable words out, replacing them with asterisks, but its not hard for the intended expression to remain obvious, basically defeating the purpose of the filters, so please, avoid swearing in the first place. This includes the use of asterisks to hide words, deliberate mis-spelling of words and replacing letters with symbols or asterisks in order to avoid the censor detectors.
3. Update your Fanfic at least once a month.
If your Fanfic has not been updated for a month, or indeed appears abandoned, then your Fanfic will be locked and you will be prompted via the Private Messaging system by a moderator to contact us and let us know your intentions. If you are still interested in continuing the story, the thread will be re-opened and you may revive it. If we do not receive a reply within one month from the locking date, it will be deleted with no further warnings. To ensure you do not lose your thread if you have to be away for some time, (hiatus, holidays, school exams etc) inform one of the moderators with the estimated time away and we will take care to keep it open until you come back. Although, if we find that you do not return after the estimated time, we will lock the thread and send out the one-month warning notice to delete. As before, if we do not receive a reply within that month, your thread will be deleted.
It is the author's responsibility to inform a moderator when the fanficiton is complete. The moderators will not go into each individual fanfiction to find out whether or not it is completed before locking it during the clean-ups. The author must contact a moderator and request to have their fanfiction archived once the fanfiction is deleted. The staff is not responsible for deleted completed fics.
IMPORTANT:
We strongly advise all authors to save their stories to their own computer!
Once a Fanfic is deleted, there is no way of retrieving it.
4. ALL FEEDBACK is to be posted in the FEEDBACK FORUM ONLY.
By splitting replies from the story itself, it will be a much easier and more enjoyable experience for all. Especially readers, who will no longer have to sift through pages of reader reviews and author replies in between installments. Another plus is if you are subscribed to your favourite Fanfic, when you receive a mail, it is now pleasantly guaranteed to be a new chapter!
An important note to authors: To make it easy for your readers to leave a review, include a link to your fics Feedback Thread at the bottom of each and every instalment.
5. ONLY CHAPTER INSTALMENTS AND PART THERE OF are to be posted in the ACTUAL FANFIC THREAD.
All author replies to reviews, and any announcements of impending updates etc are to be posted in the Fanfic FEEDBACK THREAD only. Author’s notes (A/N) on the other hand, may be inserted at the beginning or end of the chapters if it is directly relating to the flow of the story (For example, new spells, quote taken from somewhere else, etc).
6. The multiple-post rules DO NOT APPLY in the actual FANFIC THREAD.
Since there will ONLY be chapters installed in the Fanfic threads, authors are allowed to multiple-post (double-post, triple-post, quadruplet-post, etc… you get the picture ) in their Fanfic thread as often as needed. Therefore the “24-hour rule between posts” does not apply to the actual FANFIC THREAD.
A note of advice to authors: posting all of your chapters in one or two days might prove a little daunting to new readers and may not receive many feedbacks. ‘A chapter-a day’ steadily posted would increase your readers anticipation, and also gives them a chance to keep up with your work as they are often reading more than one fic at a time. You have a much better chance of being rewarded with steady feedback posting in this way.
7. The FEEDBACK THREAD does come under the enforced ’24-hours between post’ rule before a double-post is allowed.
This goes for BOTH authors and reviewers. It is advisable for authors who have fewer readers to begin with to ensure their feedback thread is okay to post in again by responding to the last reviewer before you post the new chapter, thereby clearing the way for reviewers to post again without the worry of double posting. Authors will need to wait for 24-hours to pass in order to double-post in the feedback thread if there are no reviews in between.
Still, we’d rather not have you abuse this favour. Please be reasonable. You are allowed to double-post after 24-hours if and only if you want to leave another review for another chapter. Do not post something like ‘It’s been a day, where is your update?’. That is not really helpful to anyone. And keep in mind we can keep our brilliant Fanfic community in here without turning the feedback threads into chat threads.
8. DO NOT plug your own Fanfic in other threads or spam PM boxes to gain readers and reviewers.
It is annoying for the author to visit his topic expecting to see reviews and instead to find plugs, and no matter how good the comments are, it leaves him with a sour feeling to read a blatant advertisement of someone else's story in the last line. It makes the author feel as though the only reason the person is reviewing to begin with is to attract readers for his own Fanfic -- and frankly, I can't blame him for thinking so, because that is probably exactly what is going on. If you wish to attract more readers, you could add a link in your signature for updates or PM your readers, or maybe use some other mode of communication, but do not do it in other people’s threads. You can be sure you will be picked up by a mod if you do! Do not send PMs to people asking them to read and review your fic. You may send PMs to let your current readers know that you have updated.
9. When opening a new Fanfic thread, you must have at least one chapter in it (it can also be in a form of prologue or introduction).
By that, I mean you can only start a new thread when you have at least one chapter ready. You are NOT allowed to open one simply to ‘announce that you’ll be starting a Fanfic soon’ or something along that line. When it’s ready, then only you can post. Don’t waste a bandwidth for announcement like that.
10. There are quite a few 'Community Fanfics’ on the forum boards. These are Fanfics where several authors join forces and take part in continuing the Fanfic after one another in instalments. Sadly though, most of them quickly lose the initial spark and are left unfinished and buried on the back page. All such threads will be the sole responsibility of the thread starter. This means, if it goes inactive for 30 days, the thread will be locked and a notice will be sent to the thread starter. It will be her/his’ sole responsibility to see it progressing. As is policy, it will be deleted if we haven't heard from them in a month from the notice date.
Additional Advice
1. All authors are advised to get their Fanfic beta'd before posting them on the forums. What is a Beta? How can you get a beta, you say? You can read and find it in this thread HERE.
2. If you can't get a beta, I strongly advise that you at least make the effort to run your fic through a spellchecker or read it through a couple of times to check for any spelling or punctuation mistakes. Realistically, everyone will not necessarily have perfect grammar, but at least you should have basic punctuation in place such as full stops and commas, capitalization of people's names and first letters of new sentences etc. It is also a good idea to provide spacing in between paragraphs. Please do not have lines and lines that just go on and on. Space it out. Make it more readable and breathable for your readers. You will appreciate the increase of reviews your easy to read Fanfic will attract!
3. It would be advisable to put up a rating in your Fanfics to differentiate those with G or PG ratings, and it is a must if it is PG-13. Generally, those that do not have a rating indicate a G, so unless yours is a G, it's better if you put a rating up in the sub-title. Then your readers will know what to expect.
4. It is also advisable for you to have one Work In Progress at a time. It has come to our attention that there are a number of people who have several fanfics on the go at once. This is not a problem if the author can keep each of their fics updated regularly. If it becomes obvious that the author is struggling to maintain one or more of their fics, they will be locked and notified in the usual way. If we have to lock the thread more than twice then the thread will remained closed until the author has reduced their ongoing fics by either completion or asking for a deletion. (meaning - third time the thread will stay locked). We are aware that often writers are inspired to write other fics whilst working on a current one, but please - only open a new fic if you can keep it current.
If you have any questions about these new rules, please PM passerby, Triad, or Capricorn, okay!
Now that's done, please keep those creative juices flowing!!
