Rules and Guidelines

Updated August 26, 2012

This is the official list of rules and guidelines for the site, especially if you're interested in becoming one of our writers.
Writers, please note that these guidelines may be altered at any time. The date at the top of the post will change each time these guidelines are updated, so be sure to check back often.

Joining

1. If you want to submit a story to be featured on the site, send me a message at thefanficskeptic@gmail.com containing the story, or a link to the story on a fanfiction site, such as FanFiction.net, as well as the username you would like it to be credited to. It MUST be a story that YOU wrote; no story will be put on this site without the author's permission. The story will be featured under "Guest Stories."
2. If you want to become a regular writer for this site, send me your email address, so I can add you as an author. After you do this, you'll probably have to create a Blogger account if you don't have one already. If I don't know you from FanFiction.net, I'll probably ask to see a sample of your work, just so I can get an idea of how well you write (don't worry; I'm fairly generous, and I always try to give good advice when asked).
3. Regular writers have much more freedom than guests. As of right now, I will handle organizing the posts and filing them under the author's usernames, so you don't even have to do that (if that becomes too difficult for me, I will set up guidelines for that). Regular writers will receive very little moderation from me (assuming they follow the posting and content guidelines below), while guest stories must be fully read and approved by me or another author before they will be posted.

Posting

When posting your story, follow these suggestions to make it most convenient for your fans.

1. Make the title of your blog entry the name of the story (I like to set it in quotation marks). If your story is part of a multi-chapter, add the chapter number and and chapter name (if there is one) afterwards. So Chapter 1's title would be "Story Title" Chapter 1: Chapter Name, and so forth.
2. Say what fandom the story is for at the top of the post. Also, either put the story's rating (K, K+, T, or M: see this site for more details. MA stories are currently not allowed) or some disclaimer if the story contains any mature content.
3. Any fan art or picture for your story may also be included in your post. I usually put it at the top.
4. Be sure to distinguish the story's content from any author's notes you may include. I usually put the author's note in bold, center alignment, and the story content in normal, left alignment.
5. I find that putting a space in between paragraphs makes it easier to read in this format.
6. Place a jump break somewhere near the beginning the of the story, so that your story doesn't take up so much space on the front page.
7. Go to the left side of the page to the edit Labels section. You need to add at least 3 Labels to your post. 1: The name of the story (if it's a multi-chapter, be sure to reuse the same label for each post). 2: Your author name. 3: The fandom your story belongs to (if your story is a crossover, include each fandom involved).
8. If your story is a multi-chapter, then whenever you post a new chapter, be sure to go back and edit the previous chapter by placing a link to the new chapter at the bottom of the post. That way, at the end of Chapter 1, the reader can simply click the link to Chapter 2, and so forth.
9. Always proofread and check your story for any unintentional spelling mistakes.

NOTE: I have had some technical difficulties when copying stories in Google Chrome. More details to come, but until I figure out the problem, I recommend using either Internet Explorer or Firefox to copy your story from FF.net or other sites.

Content

I don't want to put too much here, as I'm not trying to stifle anyone's creativity. However, given that this site is at least partially an attempt to get away from the smut seen on regular fanfiction sites and produce higher quality work, I do have to make a few rules.

1. (I may regret saying this, but...) No fandom is excluded from this site (the books, movies, and TV shows featured in the logo are simply ones that I enjoy, and the logo is always subject to change). Every fandom deserves the chance to have good fanfiction, and the whole point of having more than one author is to cover more ground (franchise-wise) than I can alone. So, I'd even be willing to give Twilight stories a chance (IF they're good).
2. As stated above, stories must be rated K, K+, T, or M, under standard FictionRating rules. MA stories are not (currently) allowed.
3. OC's may be used, but take care to not elevate the OC to the point he/she overshadows the real characters or becomes a Mary Sue. 
4. Slash pairings are pretty much not allowed. By slash pairings, I specifically mean between characters who are not canonically gay (this includes Stan, Kyle, Kenny, Cartman, and Butters from South Park, Light and L from Death Note, and Kirk and Spock from Star Trek, for most egregious examples). If two characters are explicitly gay...I'll be more lenient.

The biggest problem with Fanfiction today is...PAIRINGS. And as such, pairings and romance in general must be approached with care and caution. Please note that I'm not banning romance altogether; romance isn't really my thing, but I'm not qualified to speak for everyone. However, please bear the following in mind.

• Romance always works better when it's serving the plot or working to develop the characters, not the other way around. If it's done for its own sake, it usually falls into pairing territory, where many of the bad fanfiction stories lie.
• Romance is the most obvious way to cover up bad storytelling. Don't use it for this purpose.
• Pairings used for humorous or satirical purposes are typically more well-thought out than they are for romantic purposes.

If you absolutely must use pairings as a romance, please keep in mind that not everyone's taste is the same as yours. For example, I enjoy pairing Cartman and Wendy from South Park (but again, only as an attempt to develop one or both of them as characters). However, I always try to recognize that not everyone likes this pairing, so whenever I use it, I try to do it in such a way so as not to shove it in people's faces. In short, pairings are not the end-all-be-all of fanfiction, so don't act like they are. Or, to put it another way, if anyone starts yelling "NamexName Forever," it's probably time to GTFO. Sorry to be so blunt, but this is war. War on bad fanfiction everywhere.

So basically, this site is primarily for gen fics.

Lastly, please promote this blog. We can only fight this war if our work is seen by fanfiction readers. If you have already have a profile on FanFiction.net or another site, tell your readers about this one as well. Tell any of your friends who are interested in fanfiction. That way, we can gain both more writers and more readers.

That's all for now. Again, these guidelines may be updated at any time, so be sure to check back from time to time.