[ SECRET POST #2196 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #2196 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 03 pages, 060 secrets from Secret Submission Post #314.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 1 - not!fandom ], [ 1 2 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ], [ 1 - empty image with a text comment ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

Fanfic Rules update

[kaijinscendre]

Common Tags Authors and Websites Use

• Fandom: The fandom (or fandoms) in which the fic takes place [ex. Fandom: Supernatural]
• Genre: Describes what category a fic will be [ex. Humor, Drama, Crack, PWP] CLEAR ENOUGH?
• Language: what language the fic is in
• Rating: Used indicate in a general way what audiences the fic is appropriate for. Websites differ in what rating system they use. This will cover the most common
o MORE INFO NEEDED
• Characters: Is used to tell readers what characters will be in the fic [ex. Characters: Batman, Superman, and the Joker]
o Not all websites allow writers to tag all their characters. Fanfiction.net allows writers to list two of their characters for searching purposes. In this case, choose the two (or one) most important characters in the fic.
• Pairing: Used to describe relationships that will be part of the fic (see Relationships for use of ‘/’ vs ‘&’)
o Non-romantic pairings will usually only be included in this section if the focus of the fic is on the relationship (every friendship does not need to be indicated)
o For a fic with multiple romantic relationships, the main relationships are listed first with other background relationships following
•Summary: A two to three sentence paragraph summarizing the plot of a fic to readers. This is used to hook readers into reading your fic. NEEDS MORE INFO
•Format: NEEDS DEF
o Drabble: Originally used for fics that are exactly 100 words long. Now used by many for any extremely short story (usually less than 500 words).
o Vignettes (sometimes called snippet or ficlet) : Similar to drabbles, but usually consisting of only one scene.
o One-shot (Sometimes called Standalone): A story intended to have only one part
o Multi-chapter: A story divided in chapters, that are often posted periodically chapter by chapter
 WIP or Work in Progress: a fic that is written as it is being posted
 Hiatus: when a story is put on hold by a writer
 Abandoned: a story that has remained incomplete for a certain length of time. Often the author will give no formal message that a story is abandoned.
o Big Bang: a community challenge (generally on Livejoural) in which authors create long, completed stories that are often accompanied by artwork.
•Word Count: The number of words in a fic
•Warnings: tags that warn readers of fic content
o Spoiler Warnings: used when a fic may contain recently released canon content MORE INFO
o Trigger Warnings: MORE INFO
o Kink Warnings: MORE INFO



Added: "•Character Study: A fic revolving around the inner thoughts or analysis of a character. Rarely follows a plot." to Genres
Added: •Canon: events, character attributes, locations, items, etc. that happen in the original source material
•Fanon: events and elements that the fan culture surrounding a particular canon have collectively accepted as unofficial canon
•Headcanon: those events and elements that an individual fan has accepted as unofficial canon" to Random Terms I don't have a place for yet



Anything that says MORE INFO or NEEDS DEF or is in all caps are things I need particular help on.



For Rating system: I know the two main ones used are the FF.net version (+ the no longer used NC-17) and the Ao3 version. LJ users generally use one of these two systems (are a combination).

Should I present each system as they are on the site with no expanding?

Or should I combine the two (ex. K/K+/E and M/Mature and E/NC-17) and explain them together. If this case I will need help concisely defining each rating.

Or some other way?

tw: for trigger warnings I guess

[(Anonymous)]

Genre: Good enough, I think, but it might need rewording? Possibly?

You might want to change the example of "Fandom", though; people might confuse "Supernatural" the show for "supernatural" the genre.

Summary: A two to three sentence paragraph summarizing the plot of a fic to readers. This is used to hook readers into reading your fic. NEEDS MORE INFO

Sometimes authors pick a small excerpt from their story that contains tantalizing dialogue or descriptions; others just make a spoiler-less synopsis. Whatever you choose, remember that the summary can gain attention or repeal readers, so make it the most interesting possible.

Avoid clichés such as:

"Will Alice declare her feelings for Bob?" It is obvious that Alice will; romance stories that end with the two protagonists not getting together are so far out the norm it would be a real plot twist. No one is falling for it, in any case.

"This if my first story, be kind!" "Please read and review!" Nobody cares if it's your first story, and if you absolutely want people to go easy on you, mention it inside the story in your author's notes, not in the summary, where word count is at a premium.

Things that are okay to include:

Pairings, if the fandom predominantly cares more about such a thing over the actual plot.

If the story is a one-shot or a drabble collection. This might be moot if the website you are posting in allows you to mark works as complete or in-progress.

Things that you absolutely must include:

The slightest indication of what kind of story the reader is in for. Be vague and artsy if you'd like, but the reader should have at least some idea of what the story is about. (Characters? Basic/initial spoiler-free plot? Is this an epic adventure? A mystery? A silly romp through randomness?)

Definition:

Format: The presentation of the story: how long -roughly- will it be and in what manner is the story being delivered to the readers? In installments? In one piece? Is it short? An epic across 30+ chapters? The readers need to know if they will need to invest time to read it all or if they can read it in one sitting.

Challenge-fic: A story written for a specific challenge issued by a fanfiction or fandom community. Very commonly to communities in LiveJournal, but it's not unheard to find those coming from specific fansites.

Spoiler warnings: These are a must for works that have been recently released (days, weeks, a couple months), or where there is a big plot twist or revelation that many fans might not have reached yet due to the nature of the source material (such as videogames, where the fans might not have completed it; series of books; TV series in progress, etc.). It's best to word the warning to avoid spoiling people on where the spoiler takes place, example:

"Spoilers for second disc of the game."
"Spoilers for end of the series."
"Spoilers for chapter 45 of the manga."
"Spoilers up to the episode "The Reckoning" of Cowboys and Ninjas: The Animated Series."
Etc.

Trigger Warnings: MORE INFO

Warns that your story will touch or deal extensively on sensitive topics that might cause relapses on survivors of tough situations. Examples of common things that need trigger warnings:

Rape, Abuse of minors, Gore, Death, Extreme Violence, Domestic Abuse, Realistic depictions of Warfare, Racism, Sexism, Transphobia, etc.

There are many more topics that people might insist you include or that you might want to include yourself, especially those regarding phobias like descriptions or pictures snakes, spiders and other feared creatures, claustrophobia, depictions of terrorism or natural disasters, emotional abuse, and many others.

What requires a Trigger Warning (TW, tw) or not is a very, very debated subject, and the best compromise that is usually reached is: No one can force you to add anything you don't want to, but it is very considerate if you decide to listen and you'll ignite less ire if you play it safe. So, it's up to your discretion.

Just in case, do some research if the topic is new to you. Google "trigger warnings", "trigger warnings in fanfiction", "should I add trigger warnings" etc. and have at it.

Kink Warnings: MORE INFO

As you will no doubt have noticed from the emphasis on pairings and sex in the "labels" section, fandom as a whole is usually fixated on the romantic and sexual side of fanfiction, with some exceptions. A great many fanfiction stories jump right into smut territory, and some of them to the explore the headtilting of subject matters.

Common kinks that are warned for (as an invitation to those interested and as a warning to those who might want to run the other way):

(Note that this list simply explains the term, and is expressing neither approval nor disapproval of the contents. What is illegal/immoral/ethical/wrong/sick/etc. is a discussion for another place.)

Tent: Tentacles.
Xeno: Alien creatures.
D/s: Dominance and submission play.
BDSM: (someone might want to define this one for me, I forgot what it means orz)
Watersports: Urination.
Guro: Gore.
Torture-fic/Rape-fic: A story revolving around the graphical depiction of that subject.
Shota/Shotacon: An underage boy is involved.
Loli/Lolicon: An underage girl is involved.
Chan/Underage: Someone underage is involved.
Non-con: Short for "non-consensual". Rape.
Dub-con: Short for "dubious consent". In real life: yeah, rape. For the purposes of fiction: it's dubious whether one or more of the involved parties were consenting.

(There are more but I can't think of them.)

Re: tw: for trigger warnings I guess

[(Anonymous)]

I am pretty sure that guro refers specifically to cannibalism or the eating of human (or, I suppose, other types of) flesh, but I may be wrong.

Re: tw: for trigger warnings I guess

[(Anonymous)]

Nope, that'd be vore.

Re: tw: for trigger warnings I guess

[(Anonymous)]

(da)
No, that's vore.

Re: tw: for trigger warnings I guess

[(Anonymous)]

According to Danbooru:

'Guro is a Japanese term derived from the English word “grotesque”. It is a genre of art dealing with themes of gore, mutilation, disfigurement, extreme violence or something that's just weird beyond comprehension(though the last one is considered an archaic definition).

Guro does NOT simply refer to violent or bloody imagery, but in fact EXTREME GRAPHIC violence.'

Cannibalism and vore can be and often are guro, but the term is much broader and more encompassing than that. ...Also, I don't think the more softcore sort of vore (where it's just someone being swallowed whole) would count.

Re: Fanfic Rules update

[kaijinscendre]

Okay, I'll add some of that info for summary and spoiler warnings. I will list some of the more common warnings (Non-Con/Dub-con, underage, Violence, Abuse, Major Character Death).

Will add info on Trigger Warnings and how it is a personal choice but that some are more common that others (see common warnings above).

For Kink warning I don't really want to list a bunch just because there are hundreds. However, I am going to have a section on Kinks that lists some of the more unusual ones that are not seen outside of fic. For instance BDSM, D/s, watersports are something you can find info on easily. But things like knotting, A/B/O, wing!kink are things that are not really seen in the real world. I'll be asking for help on that sometime in the future.

Re: Fanfic Rules update

[(Anonymous)]

BDSM and D/s might be worth discussing briefly, if only because a lot of newbie authors don't seem to really understand the difference between those and noncon/dubcon scenarios.

ayrt

[(Anonymous)]

seems fine by me! I just spew everything I thought could be of use in the hope that something would stick (and hopefully reworded into something more coherent; man, my guides sure turn into tl;dr rants so quickly it's not even funny)

Re: Fanfic Rules update

[thene]

You could note that 'Underage' warnings are not necessarily trigger warnings but legal ones - explicit written material involving minors is considered illegal in Australia, Germany, and a few other places, so some fans may wish to avoid it for their own legal safety. (As we were discussing on one of yesterday's threads, for decades now courts have essentially failed to find any written material obscene, so it's likely that in practice this is never going to affect anyone in fandom. Underage art - particularly lolicon manga - has been the subject of recent prosecutions in the US, so REALLY requires a warning).

Re: tw: for trigger warnings I guess

[kaijinscendre]

Also will mention that if wherever you are posting does not include a form for Fandom/Characters/Pairing/Rating/Etc this should be something someone can easily find in your summary.

ayrt

[(Anonymous)]

that completely slipped my mind! yes, definitely do that!

Re: Fanfic Rules update

[(Anonymous)]

It would be nice to be given some sort of context but...

Rating? Quite frankly, I use neither FF's or the AO3 but the MPAA's rating system - it's more universally understood at a glance. (And I never understood why FF dropped using it.)

Re: Fanfic Rules update

[(Anonymous)]

they were threatened legally

no seriously, I remember when the change went through: apparently the film association of whatever wasn't happy with other people using their system

Re: Fanfic Rules update

[(Anonymous)]

same anon that replied to you first

mediaminer.org changed it too at the same time, using a more esoteric system (A, T, P, X, Y or something)

Re: Fanfic Rules update

[thene]

The MPAA system is awful and the way they implement it is worse. I don't get why fandom would want to emulate it.

Re: Fanfic Rules update

[(Anonymous)]

Also, for ratings: goodness it sure is confusing

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motion_picture_rating_system

I say list the ones from the big sites (ff.net, ao3, the film system, etc.) and make a caveat that writers from various parts of the world might use different systems, but that they can usually be guessed from the name. If not, always ask the author, I guess?

Re: Fanfic Rules update

[(Anonymous)]

same anon

mention too that some authors simply don't use it and make their own warnings: "not for children", "not safe for work", "contains graphic sex", etc. I think someone mentioned this in a past post?

Re: Fanfic Rules update

[insanenoodlyguy]

Who asked for this? Fuck your rules man. I do what I want.

Re: Fanfic Rules update

[(Anonymous)]

Fuck off noodles and fuck you.

Re: Fanfic Rules update

[(Anonymous)]

Re: Fanfic Rules update

[(Anonymous)]

It came up in a discussion several posts back and multiple people thought it was a good idea. Unless I'm completely misremember, it's not meant as ironclad rules but as a resource for people who are new to fandom/fanfic.

Re: Fanfic Rules update

[(Anonymous)]

UM, SOMEBODY REALLY WANTS AN APPOINTMENT WITH THE FANDOM POLICE

Re: Fanfic Rules update

[(Anonymous)]

If you post changes or updates to this in future FS posts, could you please put a blank or short top comment first so the giant wall of text collapses? It's a bit extreme.

I love your guide, though <3

Re: Fanfic Rules update

[kaijinscendre]

can do!