Don't Panic

We realize that this community is usually for fanfic recommendations, however as admins, we feel that this is important enough to post here.

Yes, fanfiction.net is broken. DO NOT PANIC. This has happened before, it will happen again. IT IS NOT YOUR FAULT. (Though we believe that the current state of ff.net is in no way related to our fandom, please know that there is always a very slim possibility that it is.) However, based on past experience are can say that this happens fairly often, and although usually it's up within a few hours, it does occasionally take longer. Sometimes as long as a week. It will be back.

It currently does not appear that vast amounts of stories are being deleted. It would be really easy for them to delete all M-rated fic, if that's what was going on. So everyone needs to just calm down. Take a deep breath. It's okay.

Now, while we have your attention, let's talk about this. Because up to this point Twilight has gotten away with posting stories that are in violation of the content guidelines at fanfiction.net. As writers who've been around the block a time or two, we've seen this kind of thing before, so we thought we'd try to be helpful and point out a few things in the hopes that we can dispel some of the rumors that are flying around.

Gin & Shug




Before we begin, we'd like to state that this post is not in response to a particular story, author, or situation. We've just been concerned by various rumors we've been hearing, as well as by the general state of the Twilight fandom at fanfiction.net, and have put this together in hopes of presenting something informative.

As readers and writers of fanfiction we need to be aware of some inherent truths.

1) Writing fanfiction is NOT a right.
2) The characters, no matter what, still belong to their original creator.
3) Archives allow us to upload stories to their sites, but to do so we must abide by their rules.
4) Our decisions and our actions as fanfic writers have the potential to impact the entire fandom.

Fanfiction.net clearly states that they do not filter content and that it is an open system that trusts the writer's judgment. However, because of this, responsibility falls to the writers and readers to follow the guidelines. This doesn't mean that they will turn a blind eye. When something is reported and they investigate the claim, they have no choice but to enforce their rules. Keep in mind that those rules were created based on past experiences (see links at the bottom of this post). These are measures they've taken in order to protect themselves.


Writing fanfiction is NOT a right

Writing fanfiction is a hobby. It's fun for us to take an author's characters and play with them. And usually, authors are happy to allow us our fun so long as it doesn't infringe on their rights (i.e no money is made). There are some authors, however, who have clearly stated that they will not allow derivations of their works (i.e. Anne Rice, Nora Roberts, among others). In these instances, writing fanfiction can be a liability ... and writers run the risk of being sued by the original author. Thankfully, authors such as JK Rowling and Stephenie Meyer have been fairly lenient in regards to fanfiction. However, we as fanfic writers must be aware that at anytime that privilege can be revoked. In fact, JKR considered doing just that in 2002, sending HP fanfic writers and archives into a panic. Cease and desist letters do happen. We must realize that, at Stephenie Meyer's whim, our entire fandom could go up in smoke. Again, writing fanfiction is a privilege afforded to us by the originating author. It is NOT a right.


The characters, no matter what, still belong to their original creator

We are playing in the original author's sandbox. Whether we are simply borrowing the characters or further exploring their created universe, the stories are not ours and technically fall under copyright laws.

Disclaimers are important. In order to protect yourself, and in a show of good faith to the original author, you should state who owns the characters and that you are not in anyway profiting from your works. For example:

The characters and canon situations in the following story belong solely to [insert author name here]. I am not making any money from the posting or writing of this work of fanfiction.


Archives allow us to upload stories to their sites, but to do so we must abide by their rules

Currently, there seems to be a lot of rumors regarding fanfiction.net and its rules. Some are truth, and some are not. We'd like to shed some light on the matter.

When you upload a fic to fanfiction.net, you agree to the site's Content Guidelines. Please, click on the link and read the guidelines in their entirety. We'll touch on just a few here. The following comes directly from the fanfiction.net's content guidelines:

The chapter system is not to be used as placeholder for non-story content such as author notes. You can add short author notes to the beginning or at the end of stories but never as individual chapters.*

Entries not allowed:

1. Non-stories: lists, bloopers, polls, previews, challenges, author notes, and etc.


2. One or two liners.


3. MST: comments inserted in between the flow of a copied story.


4. Stories with non-historical and non-fictional characters: actors, musicians, and etc.


5. Any form of interactive entry: choose your adventure, second person/you based, Q&As, and etc.


6. Chat/script format and keyboard dialogue based entries.

Actions not allowed:

1. Multiple entries of the same material. There can only be one copy of any unique story on the entire site. No exceptions.*


2. Rewriting names of characters/locations of one story in order to upload to multiple categories.


3. Copying from a previously published work (including musical lyrics) not in the public domain.*

General rules:

1. Entry title and summary must be rated G for all audience. No exceptions.*


2. Entry must be given the proper rating. No exceptions.


3. Entry must be placed in proper category. No exceptions.


4. Chapters of the same story are not allowed to be submitted as separate entries. All chapters/segments must be grouped together using the 'edit/upload chapter' feature in the left menu.

Please note the ones we've asterisked. These are common violations in Twilight fanfic on fanfiction.net. If reported, a violation of any one of these can lead to your story being deleted and your account suspended.

*The chapter system is not to be used as placeholder for non-story content such as author notes. You can add short author notes to the beginning or at the end of stories but never as individual chapters.
-This means uploading fake-out chapters with author's notes.

*Multiple entries of the same material. There can only be one copy of any unique story on the entire site. No exceptions.
-This includes collaborations. The story is only to be uploaded once. However, there is no rule stating that two or more authors cannot create a new penname for their collaborations.

*Copying from a previously published work (including musical lyrics) not in the public domain.
-Yes, this means no song lyrics, long stanzas of poetry, or lengthy quotes from books.

*Entry title and summary must be rated G for all audience. No exceptions.
-We've seen fics deleted because of their story title and/or summary.

Perhaps even more relevant to Twilight fanfic on fanfiction.net, however, is this rule, highlighted in RED on the writing guidelines:

Please note FanFiction.Net does not accept explicit content, Fiction Rating: MA, and the rating is only presented for reference.

See that? NO EXPLICIT CONTENT.

And then there is this:

Failure to comply with site rules will result in the removal of stories and/or suspension of account.

The kicker is that the admins at fanfiction.net do not go around looking for violations. Instead, they rely on readers to report violations. And if your work is reported and found to be in violation of the content guidelines, THEY WILL DELETE IT and they have every right to do so.

So, if you're writing a fic that contains explicit material and you post it on fanfiction.net, you are in violation of the content guidelines, and you run the risk of your story being deleted and/or your account suspended at any time. All it takes is one person to report it, for whatever reason, and it's over. THIS IS NOT FANFICTION.NET'S FAULT. They've clearly stated the rules, and you have agreed that you've read them and will adhere to them before they allowed you to upload. Every so often, they ask you to reaffirm that you're aware of the content guidelines. So if you've continued to post your story that contains explicit content on fanfiction.net, the blame lies solely with you if it's deleted. It doesn't matter that five hundred other authors have stories with explicit content and their stuff still remains up. The blame also doesn't rest with the person who reported you. The fact remains that it is clearly stated that explicit content is not allowed on fanfiction.net. Those other authors have just not been reported ... YET.




So what do you do if your story exceeds the accepted ratings at fanfiction.net? Put it on a different archive, one that not only accepts such content but does so responsibly. The segment of the Harry Potter fandom that we have participated in learned quickly to post on multiple archives. Also, many authors water down the content when posting on fanfiction.net in order to comply with their rules. Yes, that means two different versions of the same chapter, if necessary. That's not to say that the posting of explicit content still doesn't happen, but in general, that's how we learned to deal with the situation.


Our decisions and our actions as fanfic writers have the potential to impact the entire fandom.

The characters and the universe still belong to the original author. At any point and time, the privilege to write fanfiction can be revoked.

Just as JK Rowling, Anne Rice, and DC Comics issued cease and desist orders, Stephenie Meyer has every right to do the same. The world that we're currently playing in can crumble down around us at any moment.

When the rules are disregarded, there is always the possibility that someone will report stories that violate the Terms of Service to the archive administrators, send letters to the book's publishers, or email the author's publicist. And then there is the potential that Stephenie Meyer will look at a particular story and decide that she doesn't like how people portray her characters. That could possibly lead to her asking fanfiction.net to close their Twilight section and all of the fanfiction sites devoted to Twilight closing down.

And just like that, our playground would be gone.

So you see, it's about more than a single story or author, yet at the same time, everything can hinge on a single story or author. If we want to continue to be granted the privilege of playing in Stephenie Meyer's sandbox, then we need to be sure that each of us as individuals is doing all we can to be sure that we give her no reason to kick us out.


The Twilight fandom is still quite young, and as such, growing pains are inevitable. However, in order to survive, we must come together as a community and learn to support each other rather than bicker and lay blame. Of course, there will always be sniping and personality clashes and trolls ... those things never go away. But we MUST play responsibly and within the rules, or we run the risk of losing the privilege of playing at all.

*Please note that we are not in any way affiliated with fanfiction.net. We've simply been around for awhile and have watched other fandoms deal with similar issues.



Related Links:

http://www.chillingeffects.org/fanfic/
http://www.fanhistory.com/wiki/FanFiction.Net
http://www.fanhistory.com/wiki/Cease_and_desist_letters
http://www.fanfiction.net/guidelines/
http://www.fanfiction.net/tos/

Edited to add: We've seen some evidence that some of what we've written has been misread. We feel the need, then, to reiterate that we put this together because of the rumors swirling about ff.net and NOT because of any particular story/author. We are concerned and dismayed that what we hoped would be helpful information is perhaps being twisted and used to attack authors. We do not condone such behavior under any circumstances. As writers, we know the hard work that is put into writing a story, and we would never, NEVER find the sort of angry, venomous comments and message that we've seen sent to some writers. And, we're not saying that all fics that contain violations should be booted off of ff.net -- that's not up to us. (Heck, I have stuff in violation!) Shug and I enjoy many of the stories, actually. We're merely stating that one should not be surprised if one's fic is deleted if there are violations.

And, no... as far as we know, ff.net is NOT eliminating all M-rated fic!