Full guidance for fics, finally

Anyone can write a fic. You develop as you write and it may even have a positive effect on your everyday writing in school, if you are in one.
In most forums, you click the button New Topic in the appropriate topic section, insert the necessary to the header (Name of the fic, Rating, fandom, language[if not the main language of the forum]) Notice that you must have the fic written using Word for instance. And you must have it SAVED somewhere. Either on the hard drive, portable memory packs etc. Nobody can guarantee that the forum won’t crash and take the texts with it.

Copy-paste the fic (you blacken the text, right click – copy , open the topic page you set ready and then right click – paste and you have it there!), preview it, just in case. Some sites react differently to the solely enter –based gaps. If the gaps between paragraphs are overly long, reduce them and then you can use shift-enter to get working ones. Check it many times before you post it. Remember, read counts rise with previews as well.

You DON’T make a new topic to a new chapter, but you continue it by posting the next chapter to the same topic with Reply or Reply Post button.

The limit of Word pages in one post is usually 8 pages, so if you have a chapter longer than that, you simply divide it and post the parts in continuous posts. If you want people to know for sure that you updated and didn’t just answer a review, you may go and edit the first header, the very first one and put the date of the update there.

A template for the guidance texts before every fic.
* marked are needed in the second and more chapters’ beginnings but ** are not mandatory. Thanking your beta is always nice and of course, thank those who reviewed.
* before the fandom name isn’t mandatory, but if it’s a specific part of something bigger, you may insert it.

Title:
Author:
*Fandom
Rating:
Pairing:
Genre:
Warnings: *
Disclaimer: *
Summary:
A/N: **
Feedback:
Beta: **

Fandom
A community formed by the fans of a specific movie, tv series, book, game etc. Also the group writing fanfiction. Can be understood as the “type” of the fanfiction the author has written.
Disclaimer
Author’s claim that they admit the characters used are not theirs, but belong to Aoki Takao and that the author does not make money with these characters. Fanfiction is allowed only when the authors don’t make money with these characters, she/he can’t make profit with the characters someone else has invented. Making profit with these stories would violate the rights of the original maker and thus be illegal. Make sure you don’t take money from writing these and that you don’t claim the characters your own. You can’t claim the songs used in songfics as your own either.
Summary
Few sentences that summarize the story, gives the reader an idea of what is coming up in the story.
A/N
Author’s Note, what do you have to about your fic, do you have any remarks about the fic or do you just want to ask for feedback.
Beta
Proofreader. Proofreads your story after you have finished it and fixes the errors. Beta can also suggest improvements or changes to sentences etc. Getting a betareader is often wise, because you come blind to your own errors very quickly. It’s recommended to publish the story after proofreading.



Of the types briefly:

Slash – Love between two males.
Yaoi – Same, but mostly used of Japanese creations. Means no climax, as the climax point in yaoi is often left out.
Shonen-ai – Love between two younger men/teen boys. Softer version of yaoi and doesn’t go much further from kissing and cuddling.
Femslash – Love between two females.
Yuri – Same, but mostly used of Japanese creations.
Chanslash - Love between a minor and adult. Not really encouraged here.
Het - Love between a male and a female.



Of the genres, aka the categories:

AU - Alternative Universe. The author is bouncing in the original world, but the plot is his/her own and not the original. The world can be totally different as well.

PWP - Plot? What Plot? This kind of story is usually just unconnected to anything like a random sex scene between two characters.

Angst - Dark, scary, with a touch of horror. Usually might contain dark thoughts and the character harming oneself.

Horror – Name says it all.

Fluff – Romantic and cute. Hearts and daisies, hot chocolate and marshmallows.

Mary Sue/Gary Stu - A character that the author has created to the world of already existing characters. Usually overly perfect character with no major or any flaws and takes the spotlight. These are to be avoided and there are several working tests for your characters to see if they are Mary Sue/Gary Stu.

OMC/OFC - Original Male/Female Character, or just OC if you don’t want to reveal too much or the name of the character is already long if you register him/her to the forum. OCs are more human like, have major flaws and they might not overcome them at all. OCs are also the everyday people like police officers or taxi drivers, because the fic might need some extra to function.

Smut – Very graphic sex scenes, considered porn even.

NCS, Non-con - Non-consensual, some form of forcing someone into sex.

WIP - Work in Progress, fic is unfinished and continuing.

POV - Point of View. Tells who is the viewer and the one who tells the story.

Action/Adventure – Name says it all.

Darkfic - The characters or the subject is darker than original.

Humor – Name says it all.

Romance – Love.

Mystery/Fantasy/Drama – The said genres.

General – These fit to all audiences.

Ficlet – Short fic.

BDSM - Wild stuff! Fetishes, bondage, leather, nearly always NC-17 level quality. Especially NOT for those who prefer only the good old lighter romance stories.

Canon/Fanon - The line between these two is not clear. Canon is a story, which follows the original work’s known facts. Fanon is a story where the author themselves has filled up the holes (in example, used something the Beyblade plotline has left out/never mentioned. Like what the Blitzkrieg/Demolition Boys did during the second season or Tyson’s mother.

Mpreg - Male pregnancy.

Lemon/Lime - Lemon is a fic with graphic sexual depiction. These stories are always NC-17.
Lime contains milder sexual depictions.

IC/OOC - In Character. Character is as close as the author can get or assume the original characters nature, given by the original creator. The characteristics and mannerism as well as opinions.
Out Of Character is the complete opposite. Like hippie Tala is very OOC.

Crossover - Story in which the author has mixed up two worlds together, like Beyblade and Naruto characters in a same story.

Challenge - You get challenged, or you challenge someone to write something.



Ratings:
G = General. For all audiences. Contains material even for younger readers.
PG = Parent Guidance. May contains themes that require guidance from parents.
PG-13 = Not suitable for children under 13 years old. Usually contains some swearing and hinted sexual themes.
R = Rated. Contains some depictions of sex or violence, but not overly graphic.
NC-17 = Not suitable for children under 17 years of age. Contains rather graphic depictions of sex or violence.

If the rating is over PG-13, put it up in the header!



Good to knows:

Ship
Relationship between some people. Usually marked with slash ( / ) like Ray/Mariah. An x can also be used instead of the slash. Using the first names is recommended.

Flame
Feedback that doesn’t have anything constructive but is mostly talking down the story and/or the author or other inappropriate feedback. Not tolerated.