Guidelines for fanfiction submitted

 

There are some rules about the kind of fic that can be submitted. I've tried to keep them as few as possible.

- The fanfiction must be based on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel or Roswell.
The reason being that these are the only shows that I follow enough to judge fanfiction on. Hopefully the number of shows will increase as new readers volunteer.

- You must note *SPOILERS* for information learnt in episodes which have not been aired on 'SKY' in the UK.
I live in the UK and it's hard enough avoiding spoilers as it is without them leaping out of unmarked fanfiction at you. If you are constructing your own interpretation of near-future events you may wish to make clear that there are no spoilers and the events are your own concept. Unfortunately, spoilery fanfiction will have to wait to be read until the relevant episode has been aired, or until I have either US or spoiler-friendly readers. There will be sites on the links page which can tell you where the UK is on both series.

- Fics with EXTREME content (such as torture, rape, character death) are accepted but must be marked as such in the 'Special Warnings' field.
Such content is acceptable but the warning is required so I do not forward it to a reader who has requested not to be sent such material.

- No PWPs (Pornography without Plot). Cert.18/NC-17 content is fine, but it must come as part of a plot.

- No Male/Male relationships until I get a m/m friendly reader, sorry.

- No poetry until I get a poetry friendly reader. Poetry may be included within fics but will not be commented on.

 

Personal advice

Alternative Universes - AU stories and futurefics (stories set at least a year or more in the future of a show) can be a chance to explore wildly different situations with the characters, but the more the AU grows apart from the show, the less able the reader is to comment on the accuracy of the portrayal of the characters as they have become, to a greater or lesser extent, different people. Feedback on characterisation will therefore be reduced the more 'alternate' the universe gets. Other categories of feedback will still be relevant.

Songfics - Many authors draw great inspiration from music, but I find that when a story consists of a song and little else the eye skips past the lyrics because they don't progress the story. In my opinion, and this is only my opinion, song lyrics should be used as they are in the shows, sparingly.