Forum guidlines?

[uwsoulman]

Hey all. Hope I'm not violating a rule with this thread. I just joined this website today, looking for some game help, and took to time to browse these forums. I was delighted at seeing a fanfic forum, but after reviewing the backlog of threads, there were none delineating any guidelines for it. I was hoping someone could enlighten me on the proper ettiquette for the room.

I noticed people would post "parts" of stories, but not all of it (unless they happen to be tragically short stories...). If you want to post a story, do you only post a part of it, and place to rest of it somewhere else and link it to save bandwidth (i.e. if you wrote a 40 page short story, only post a few paragraphs, not all)? Or perhaps offer a link to a zip file? What is the maximum allowable posting?

Also, is there a guideline to the system of co-authoring in here? I noticed several threads suggesting collaborative storytelling, but not so much in the way of clarifying what or how to contribute (save posting character ideas).

Sorry again if this was the incorrect way to ask this, but I just didn't see any existing threads that fit the bill. Anyway, just hoping someone had a "fanfic forum faq" they could shoot me. Thanks all.

uwsoulman

[Xandax]

Welcome to the board.
Some of what you have seen/read in this forum, have been a sort of play-by-forum "roleplaying" stories, thus percivable as different authors because we have acted our characters within a framework set up by a DM-sort of person. Others are more pure stories written by people, which is why it might be somewhat "confusing".

I don't think (never heard of anyways) that there is a restriction per se, if you wish to post longer stories. But if you have a (longer) story you wish to post, then taking it up with the site administrator Buck Satan might be the best way to go about it to figure out how to do it. Also to avoid/minimize stuff regarding legality and so on

[Gwalchmai]

Yes, this forum was set up as a creative outlet for members of Gamebanshee. Some stories you see here are ‘accumulation’ stories where several authors seek to add to the story by controlling their own characters or characters. For these, you will find story-only threads with associated discussion threads where comments and planning for the stories are made.

Other stories are being written by single authors who add chapters as they are able. For these, you will find story-only threads and associated threads where you may comment.

The main rule of this forum is to respect other people’s efforts. Do not jump into a communal story without first asking in the discussion thread if it is all right with the other authors, and do not try to add to or post comments in the single-author story threads if there is a specific comment thread already open.

Other rules of the Gamebanshee Forums also apply: i.e. do not spam, advertise, troll, etc.

One other comment about this fan fiction forum. Some fiction and literary forums exist where prospective authors go to hone their skills, get advice, review, and commune with like-minded people. So far, this forum has not been a jumping-off place for eventual publication. Mostly, this has been a place for Gamebanshee members to work creatively just for the fun of it.

[Aqua-chan]

Also, as I have seen this warning on several other media-hosting websites (such as FanFiction.Net, AdultFanFiction.Net, Elfwood, and Deviant Art just to name a few), I think it's important to note that any literary work, original or fan-based fiction, should not be posted on the site if you have the intention to publish it in the future. I feel that Xan's warning about longer stories essentially would take care of these things, but I do believe it's important to protect Buck and the Banshee by informing all authors that you lose a lot of printing priveledges when you make 'first editions' known on the internet. While I doubt we'll have many problems with this, it's still important to get that word out.

Also to take note, there are certain authors who have taken legal action in the past against writers who have based fan fiction on their respective universes. Taken from FanFiction.Net, the list goes as follows:

P.N. Elrod
Raymond Feist
Terry Goodkind
Laurell K. Hamilton
Robin Hobb
Dennis L. McKiernan
Robin McKinley
Irene Radford
Anne Rice
Nora Roberts/J.D. Robb

Also including that Anne McCaffery has taken steps to protect her Dragons of Pern saga in the past, but partly due to the fact that she wishes to move some of her books to the big screen, she has conceeded fan fiction wiritng priveledges. She does, however, enforce very strict guidelines. Since the Banshee is a pretty clean site anyway, I doubt that anyone would cross aforementioned boundaries.

Banshee Fiction, for the most part, is mostly centered around game universes like the Forgotten Realm and the Elder Scrolls sagas, but let's still be sure to keep an eye out for the little legalities. It's Buck's generosity that allows us to have this little forum, so let's try and keep it here.