Fan-Fic Rules and FAQs

@jexsu: As Nordok said, we do miss things, and we are sorry for that. Please do not use the f word here. There are other writing sites with less strict language rules, and I would encourage you to investigate them in your free time both to increase your personal writing freedom, and to expand whatever readership you have already or desire to cultivate.

Have a great day.

@wildvine: @nordok: Someone brought it to my attention that my question sounded rude. That wasn't my intention, so I apologize for that.

@jexsu: Thank you; I appreciate that. I will likewise apologize for the brusqueness of my response.

@nordok: =)

@jexsu: I took no offense at your comment, and hope none was taken by mine. I understand the frustration of seeing people getting away with things on here, but that's just how it goes sometimes.

@jexsu: @nordok: @wildvine: (Nordok & Wildvine, correct me if this has changed, please). Jexsu, something that wasn't touched on here is that the F word is completely banned, even censored versions with asterisks or symbols. However, last I checked, "creative replacement words" are okay. I use "fug/ fugger/ fugging/ fug it." I came up with an in-story reason why "fug" is the new slang replacement for the F word, and away I went. Been awhile since anyone's talked about that rule though. I assume it's still true, but our mods could you tell you for sure. :)

@cbishop: Its always been a hazy topic and I don't know if it has settled yet. For the purposes of stories or RPG I wouldn't come down on someone for replacement words, but I also wouldn't advise throwing those around in other forums, just to be safe. Though please don't take this as law because, again, this is a hazy issue. If another moderator says different, they should be believed over me in this specific instance

@cbishop: Replacement words are generally what we allow over in the RPG section ("fluff" and "funk" are both popular, as they are existing words). I've always been of the mind that things like "$^&$#%#" (I like to call that "generic swear") are also perfectly acceptable, as that leaves a degree of ambiguity concerning exactly what word it is replacing, generally.

@nordok: @wildvine: Makes sense. Way back when "creative replacement words" was bandied about, I wrote a story where the news reports on a new word in the dictionary- "fug." They show the clip that started it all- a televised fight between two supers. One says "what the f-- ugh!" getting hit midsentence. The commentators make fun of it, and it becomes in-story slang from that point. I only use it in my stories, and probably certain personal blogs that are attached to my own forum. For the most part though, "damn" and "hell" are about as strong as I like to get. Occasionally a "b***h," but I try to stay away from it for the most part.

@wildvine: @nordok: @cbishop: It's good that we're chatting about this, as I'm looking at it as more of an update to the rule. Thanks for being clearer on it, I was a little confused. =) And, there might be an obvious reply to my question (forgive me, I'm tired), but concerning nudity in stories... can we use nudity so long as it's not explicit? For example: removing their clothes and standing bare, so and so spent the night in bed together, consummating their love?

@jexsu: I've forgotten the exact rules on that, so over to Wv and Nordok. BUT...

...How I handle that on this site is to be really vague, or skip over it. I recently wrote a scene where a man's long-lost wife was standing nude with her back turned to him. She gets dressed, turning around while she pulls her sweatpants up. That's it. You know she's nude already- I don't have to describe what he's seeing.

OR, remember the sex scene in Batman: Mask of the Phantasm? Bruce has sex with Andrea. The only thing they show is them kissing. Then, the next morning, he's barechested in a pair of sweats, and she's wearing his shirt. That's it. They showed us nothing, but we sure know what happened. I usually try to handle my sex scenes like that, if I have them at all.

@cbishop: I only ask because I have a nude scene in the first chapter of my story I'll be posting soon. It's not sex or anything sexual, it's bathing, and it's imperative to the story.

@jexsu: You can do a bath scene without describing T&A, so I don't see a problem.

@jexsu: Here's an example I posted on the site. It paints all the picture you need because the nudity is played for laughs, but not the focus of the scene. A few paragraphs later there is a scene of her being clothed, but again I don't paint a picture of the character's nudity.

"I can't find anything about a crown right now, but I have several koopa pouring over books in the library-" Kamek paused. Where the lord of the Dark Lands normally sat was now a nude, blonde humanoid, awkwardly (and somewhat ineffectively) hiding her nakedness. "Well, I guess we know what the crown does now, huh? Maybe we should have tested..."

@wildvine: @cbishop: Gotcha. The extent I plan on going is, while stating "Brief Nudity (Non-Explicit)" in the rating, mentioning "naked, nude, and breasts." If that's a no-go, let me know.

Just use your best assessment of PG

About the format... does the text have to be contained in the post, or can I, say, post a link to a Google Doc, or to a PDF?

@jccyc: I refer to that as "hot linking." That is fine, but what you link to must still be acceptable under CV fanfic rules. The one exception I think would be the site language rule. So no erotica, no gore, and please see fanfic rule number 4 as their layers are scary.

Edit: Also remember that the link you post may "die" at anytime from updates on the host site, or here, so this may not be the best way to grow readership

@wildvine: It's set in the DCAU (somewhere during the Cadmus arc in JLU), 7500 words, one single f-bomb, no gore, no erotica, so I believe it's OK. I'll just have to clear it up with some real people I based characters on, nothing to do with site rules. Thanks for the prompt response!