Obsolete: The Fiction Fairground Rulebook (updated 22nd May 2013 - please read before posting)

[Gama]

Please read these rules before posting in the Writer’s Workshop.

This new rulebook is in effect immediately, and any old sets of rules are no longer valid.

If you don’t understand any of these rules, feel free to post in this thread to ask or contact one of the Writer’s Workshop mods.

As with the rest of the forums, if you see anyone breaking any of these rules, please use the report button (found in the bottom left of the post) to bring it to the attention of the staff, rather than posting in the thread to point it out.

1. Mislabelled Fiction (Inappropriate Content, 5 points)
Users may not post a story containing sexual, violent or other inappropriate content in the Writer's Workshop, unless it is properly labelled with the appropriate prefix of ‘TEEN’ or ‘MATURE’. Please note that fiction labelled 'MATURE' has a special exemption from Forum-wide rules banning written graphic sexual content.
- All stories with a MATURE label are required to state what mature content will appear in their fic in the first post of the thread
- All stories with scenes of severe sexual violence (ie rape) must add an additional warning in the Thread Title
- The Writer's Workshop staff reserve the right to remove fics or chapters that are excessively inappropriate. This will be done only in the most extreme cases, and, assuming the fic was labelled "MATURE", will NOT be accompanied by an infraction or formal warning for the first offence, but repeat offenders will receive a warning/infraction.

2. Superfluous Thread (Pointless Post, 3 Points)
Users may not create a thread for a fic without posting the first chapter in the first post. An exception to this rule can be made for including the index as the first post, in which case the first chapter must be the second post, and must be posted within one hour of the creation of the thread.

3. Excessive Updates (Multiple Posting, 2 Points)
Users may not post new chapters more than once every three hours. An exception to this rule can be made if the fic is already completed, and being posted all in one go, but in this case it should be posted in the Fanfics Archive subforum.

4. Plagiarism (Copyright Violation, 4 points)
Users may not post stories written by anyone other than themselves unless given explicit permission to do so. Using characters and other creations belonging to other users also falls under this rule.

5. Multiple Threads (Pointless Post, 3 Points)
Users may not create new threads for separate chapters of the same fic. New threads may be created for sequels, spinoffs, splinters etc.

6. Off-Site Advertising (Advertisement, 3 points)
Users may not create a thread here to link to a story elsewhere. Users may post their story here and provide a link to somewhere else that they would prefer to receive reviews.

7. On-Site Advertising (Advertising, 3 Points)
Users may not advertise their fiction, or the fact that they have updated their fiction outside of their signature or blog. The mention system and VMs can be used to notify users that a new chapter has been posted, but this should only be done when prior permission to notify them has been attained. An exception to this rule can be made for the Fanfic Announcement Thread, which exists specifically for this purpose.

8. Comparing Authors (Flaming & Baiting, 5 Points)
Users may not compare authors or their works to one another. This includes in the form of contests or competitions that are not officially run and monitored by the staff. If a user wishes to run a contest or competition, they should contact a Writer's Workshop moderator.

9. Writer's Block Misuse (Pointless Post, 3 Points)
Users may not post in The Writer's Block subforum except for discussion and help requests etc. regarding writing. An exception to this rule can be made for The General Chat Thread, which can be used to discuss topics that do not otherwise belong in the subforum with Writer's Workshop regulars. Topics that do otherwise belong in the subforum should not be discussed in the General Chat Thread.

10. Author's Atlas Misuse (Pointless Post, 3 Points)
Users may not post in The Author's Atlas subforum except for providing supplementary material for their fics, such as character bios and synopses.

11. Fanfics Archive Misuse (Pointless Post, 3 Points)
Users may not post in the Fanfics Archive subforum except to post or comment on completed fics. Users who wish to have their fics moved from the main Writer's Workshop to the Fanfics Archive should post here: http://bmgf.bulbagarden.net/f227/moving-completed-fics-archive-help-thread-79094/

12. Ratings Guide

Welcome to the second edition of the Ratings Guide! We've seen a lot of confusion in the past about what rating a particular work should be based on grey areas in the rules or poorly worded guidelines. Hopefully this second attempt will get things going smoothly.

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Everyone:
- An occasional "light" swear word (like hell or damn) here or there is fine.
- Mild violence that isn't the main focus of your story.
- Everything that isn't listed in the following categories below belongs here.
- The TV series The Simpsons is a great example to draw from if you're looking to compare your work to an established program for anyone.

Teen:
- Frequent use of mild language and isolated use of explicit language. If your parents would be disappointed in you for saying it, but not horrified, it'd fit here. Just use your judgement.
- Mild but persistent descriptive violence. This means that a large part of your story is focused on violent interactions between the characters.
- References to illicit drugs or criminal activity.
- References to sexual activity, but not depictions of it. Anything past "second base" should be labeled mature.
- Mild descriptions of the "on screen" death of a character. Death by violence is accepted in this category as long as it's not too crazy.
- The TV series Family Guy is a great example to draw from if you're looking to compare your work to an established teen rated program.

Mature:
- Frequent use of explicit language.
- Detailed description of violence, gore, maiming, murder or death in another grisly fashion.
- Detailed depictions of sexual activity.
- Detailed descriptions of the use of illicit drugs or alcohol.
- The TV series South Park is a great example to draw from if you're looking to compare your work to an established mature-like program.

Other notes:
- If a specific chapter of your story deviates from the rating you chose for your story, place a warning next to it in your table of contents (if you have one) as well as before the chapter itself.
- If your story deviates from the rating you originally chose for an extended period of time and you plan to continue like so, please change your rating tag accordingly.
- When in doubt about where your story falls, go for the higher rating. If you're still in doubt, don't be afraid to ask questions.
- If something in your story that you're concerned about is unlisted in these guidelines, speak up! The ratings guide can always be improved.

Still confused?:
- If you are still confused about what would qualify, here are some examples to base your classification on:

Spoiler

Teen rating (excerpt taken from Poké Wars - Dawn of a New Era):

Meanwhile, Pikachu parried a Scratch attack from a Meowth with Iron Tail. A quick spin left the Meowth with two bloody stumps and a quick Thunderbolt reduced it to a charred carcass. He ducked under another Scratch attack and countered with Iron Tail. Ash backhanded a Meowth that leapt at him. The pokéglov protected him from injury and added power to his blow as he heard something inside the Meowth break.

Jessie screamed as a Meowth latched onto her leg and began scratching her, leaving bloody gashes on her leg. She dropped the shells that she had in her hand and tried to shake the Meowth off.

Meowth reacted instantly, tackling the offending Meowth and attacking with Fury Swipes. His razored claws tore through flesh and fur, spattering blood all over his coat and Jessie. Unfortunately, he had little experience in combat compared to these street-tough Meowth and he was quickly overpowered.

The victorious Meowth’s claws were wreathed in a purple glow as it prepared to deliver the finishing blow with Night Slash. Suddenly, the Meowth stiffened and toppled over onto the bloody pavement.

Meowth looked up at his savior. It was Dawn; one pistol was trained on the now dead Meowth. Almost nonchalantly, she put a bullet into the brain of another Meowth with the other pistol. She had no idea how to explain it, but it was like some force guided her hand, letting her fire her twin pistols like she had been practicing all her life and then some.

Mature rating (excerpt taken from Poké Wars: Downfall of a Champion):

Sirens wailed as the fire department raced to the ruined amusement park to control the raging conflagration. A nearby scream caused everyone to turn.

There, mere meters away from a screaming citizen was what could loosely be called a "body". Organs, bone and flesh were smeared over a substantial section of the concrete sidewalk. A nearby streetlight and newspaper box were painted with a fine misting of blood and particles of flesh. A piece of the decedent's brain had somehow ended up pasted against a STOP sign.

Cynthia pushed through the crowd to see what was going on and to try and keep the crowd calm – at least until the police arrived. Why haven't they arrived yet? She thought.

She immediately regretted the decision to approach the scene as the metallic stench of blood coupled with the malodor of fecal matter assaulted her nostrils with the fury of an enraged Primeape. The stench coupled with the horrific scene dropped her to her knees as she repeatedly dry-heaved.

Suddenly, another nearby explosion tore through the air. The Sinnoh champion grunted as her body was slammed into a concrete planter, knocking all the wind out of her. She got up to her feet and looked around; where there were several other refugees now only lay an assorted mess of body parts. Her heart sank as she saw a bubble lazily drifting towards two men who were chatting. The bubble held within it a roiling cloud of bluish gas.

Cynthia took a breath, wincing as it sent a shockwave of pain rippling through her bruised back. "Move!" she shouted.

The first man turned towards the shout, only to see a bubble of explosive gas mere feet away from him. Thinking quickly, he shoved his conversation partner away from the bubble and dove behind a concrete planter as the bubble detonated.

Cynthia was far away enough that the shockwave didn't seriously hurt her but it was still enough to wind her. As she looked up, she saw many more explosive bubbles floating above high above her – their graceful appearance a sharp contrast to their lethality.

Forum Head: AceTrainer14
Forum Moderators: LightningTopaz, Gama, Caitlin, AceTrainer14, harryheart, Soulmaster

 

[Cabaret]

Re: Writer's Workshop Rulebook (updated 31st May 2012 - please read before posting)

I have a question.

If in a fic you use lyrics of a song that is not yours, but rather a popular song, and you use them excessively but you give the writer credit, is that not allowed?

A songfic, if you will. Though I don't like them, the fic does not revolve around the song, the song is merely in the fic.

Is that allowed?

 

[Gama]

Re: Writer's Workshop Rulebook (updated 31st May 2012 - please read before posting)

I have a question.

If in a fic you use lyrics of a song that is not yours, but rather a popular song, and you use them excessively but you give the writer credit, is that not allowed?

A songfic, if you will. Though I don't like them, the fic does not revolve around the song, the song is merely in the fic.

Is that allowed?

That's fine, but be sure to give the writer credit. In a sense, that's a form of fanfiction anyway =P

 

[KibaDarkFire7]

Re: Writer's Workshop Rulebook (updated 31st May 2012 - please read before posting)

I have a couple questions. Instead of doing a fanfic, I'm doing a bunch of short stories.

Do I get to keep them all in one thread?
One (at the moment) short story has violence. Should I label the (hopefully one) topic as mature, or as varying content? Or should I make a new topic for that one story?
Does the excessive updates rule apply to shot stories, since it's not chapters? I have three short stories already that I'd like to post all at once.

Thanks for your time!

 

[Caitlin]

Re: Writer's Workshop Rulebook (updated 31st May 2012 - please read before posting)

Do I get to keep them all in one thread?

Are they all related? Generally, spinoffs and separate stories are kept to separate threads, even if they're one chapter long one-shots.

One (at the moment) short story has violence. Should I label the (hopefully one) topic as mature, or as varying content? Or should I make a new topic for that one story?

I think it depends on the kind of violence. If it's graphically described murder or some other cold blooded act, I'd say go for Mature. Standard violence that you see in movies, TV shows and other works of fiction would probably be Teen.

Does the excessive updates rule apply to shot stories, since it's not chapters? I have three short stories already that I'd like to post all at once.

It would still apply even if they were in the same topic, yes. Since you'd ideally be creating multiple topics for all of your different stories, I'd wait at least 12 hours before posting another one, compared to the standard 3 hour rule for chapter updates in a single thread.

 

[KibaDarkFire7]

Re: Writer's Workshop Rulebook (updated 31st May 2012 - please read before posting)

Do I get to keep them all in one thread?

Are they all related? Generally, spinoffs and separate stories are kept to separate threads, even if they're one chapter long one-shots.

One (at the moment) short story has violence. Should I label the (hopefully one) topic as mature, or as varying content? Or should I make a new topic for that one story?

I think it depends on the kind of violence. If it's graphically described murder or some other cold blooded act, I'd say go for Mature. Standard violence that you see in movies, TV shows and other works of fiction would probably be Teen.

Does the excessive updates rule apply to shot stories, since it's not chapters? I have three short stories already that I'd like to post all at once.

It would still apply even if they were in the same topic, yes. Since you'd ideally be creating multiple topics for all of your different stories, I'd wait at least 12 hours before posting another one, compared to the standard 3 hour rule for chapter updates in a single thread.

They're not all related, so I guess I'll do different topics. Thanks for your time!

 

[Goombario_Jr]

Re: Writer's Workshop Rulebook (updated 31st May 2012 - please read before posting)

I'm guessing lemons don't even fall under MATURE here, right?

Not implying a thing, only curious since that story stolen by me and put here got removed. I think.

(It keeps editing my words. "Guessing" got changed to "Guess." Weird.)

 

[Misheard Whisper]

Re: Writer's Workshop Rulebook (updated 31st May 2012 - please read before posting)

@Goombario_Jr Lemons are fine so long as they're properly labelled (ie [MATURE]). If that story was removed, it would have been for plagiarism rather than sexual content as we don't allow users to post work that is not their own.

 

[Goombario_Jr]

Re: Writer's Workshop Rulebook (updated 31st May 2012 - please read before posting)

@Goombario_Jr Lemons are fine so long as they're properly labelled (ie [MATURE]). If that story was removed, it would have been for plagiarism rather than sexual content as we don't allow users to post work that is not their own.

I am reading this correctly - You are telling me lemons/adult fanfiction is 100% O.K. as long as I give it the MATURE rating? Are there any exceptions? Any pairings not allowed, any content not allowed, etc?

I'll just come out and say it: Leaf x Beedrill, for example. Leaf isn't whatever young age the game implies, however. Just putting that out there. She'd be 18+/legal aged.

I'm not posting a single thing until I'm sure of this. People hated the story that was stolen from me, so I don't plan on any kind of warm welcome if I post them myself. I really don't want banned.

EDIT: If the idea of this disgusts one too many people, I will pull back and completely ignore it. I do not want to be hated.

EDIT AGAIN: Forget it. I'll get too negative a rep.

 

[Misheard Whisper]

Re: Writer's Workshop Rulebook (updated 31st May 2012 - please read before posting)

@Goombario_Jr Lemons are fine so long as they're properly labelled (ie [MATURE]). If that story was removed, it would have been for plagiarism rather than sexual content as we don't allow users to post work that is not their own.

I am reading this correctly - You are telling me lemons/adult fanfiction is 100% O.K. as long as I give it the MATURE rating? Are there any exceptions? Any pairings not allowed, any content not allowed, etc?

I'll just come out and say it: Leaf x Beedrill, for example. Leaf isn't whatever young age the game implies, however. Just putting that out there. She'd be 18+/legal aged.

I'm not posting a single thing until I'm sure of this. People hated the story that was stolen from me, so I don't plan on any kind of warm welcome if I post them myself. I really don't want banned.

EDIT: If the idea of this disgusts one too many people, I will pull back and completely ignore it. I do not want to be hated.

EDIT AGAIN: Forget it. I'll get too negative a rep.

You're not going to get banned for a lemon. While there aren't too many people that choose to post them, we do allow them so long as they're properly labelled. I think we'd probably step in at explicit depictions of paedophilia, for example, but we're not gonna discriminate against your kinks. I wouldn't read Leaf x Beedrill, myself, but you'd be well within your rights to post it if you wanted to, provided you make it abundantly clear what the story contains so nobody is taken by surprise.

 

[Goombario_Jr]

Re: Writer's Workshop Rulebook (updated 31st May 2012 - please read before posting)

You're not going to get banned for a lemon. While there aren't too many people that choose to post them, we do allow them so long as they're properly labelled. I think we'd probably step in at explicit depictions of paedophilia, for example, but we're not gonna discriminate against your kinks. I wouldn't read Leaf x Beedrill, myself, but you'd be well within your rights to post it if you wanted to, provided you make it abundantly clear what the story contains so nobody is taken by surprise.

There isn't any paedophilia at all! Leaf and all characters are of legal age. I don't do that kind of thing.

 

[Misheard Whisper]

Re: Writer's Workshop Rulebook (updated 31st May 2012 - please read before posting)

You're not going to get banned for a lemon. While there aren't too many people that choose to post them, we do allow them so long as they're properly labelled. I think we'd probably step in at explicit depictions of paedophilia, for example, but we're not gonna discriminate against your kinks. I wouldn't read Leaf x Beedrill, myself, but you'd be well within your rights to post it if you wanted to, provided you make it abundantly clear what the story contains so nobody is taken by surprise.

There isn't any paedophilia at all! Leaf and all characters are of legal age. I don't do that kind of thing.

That's what I'm saying. Because child pornography is illegal everywhere as far as I know, we'd have to step in and pull the plug. Just about anything else is fair game, within reason.

 

[Goombario_Jr]

Re: Writer's Workshop Rulebook (updated 31st May 2012 - please read before posting)

That's what I'm saying. Because child pornography is illegal everywhere as far as I know, we'd have to step in and pull the plug. Just about anything else is fair game, within reason.

You keep making it sound like that's what I'm writing. XD It seriously isn't, everything's legal. I don't want people who just skim to think otherwise.

Hopefully someone'll see this and tell me an opinion on the whole thing.

 

[Gama]

Re: Writer's Workshop Rulebook (updated 31st May 2012 - please read before posting)

@Goombario_Jr;

To be clear on this issue, the rules of the Writer's Workshop are indeed as Executive Archer (Misheard Whisper) has said - that as long as it is properly labelled, anything goes. However, the upper management of the site reserve the right to remove anything they deem to be inappropriate from the site. Therefore it is possible that if your fic is particularly unpleasant that it may be removed, but this has only happened one time (to my knowledge) in the three and a half years that I have been active here, and I have seen my fair share of lemons (which have not been removed) within that time.

 

[Goombario_Jr]

Re: Writer's Workshop Rulebook (updated 31st May 2012 - please read before posting)

I hope that doesn't need to happen. I can see how it might make someone uncomfortable, but I can't see it being downright unpleasant.

 

[Bulbajer]

Re: Writer's Workshop Rulebook (updated 31st May 2012 - please read before posting)

Quick question. I know that the rules disallow creating a thread with only a link to a fanfic on another site. But what about posting a story to both Bulbagarden and another website?

 

[Caitlin]

Re: Writer's Workshop Rulebook (updated 31st May 2012 - please read before posting)

That's fine. Any of your content that is posted here isn't exclusive to Bulbagarden and can be posted anywhere else.

 

[Bulbajer]

Re: Writer's Workshop Rulebook (updated 31st May 2012 - please read before posting)

Okay, great. Thanks!

 

[Cosmic Gerbil]

Re: Writer's Workshop Rulebook (updated 31st May 2012 - please read before posting)

I have 2 questions please.

1: I have written a Pokemon story but a real band (Metallica) are also in it. Is this allowed, or do I need to change the characters' names, to make them original?
2: What classification should my story be? It has one violent scene, alcohol use, mention of drugs and prostitution and use of the F word (but in a swearing, not sexual context).

 

[Caitlin]

Re: Writer's Workshop Rulebook (updated 31st May 2012 - please read before posting)

1. There's no need to change anything when it comes to real world people, places or groups.

2. I'd say Teen, but I'm a bit iffy on the mentions of prostitution. As long as it's not too graphically descriptive, even in just mentions, it should be fine.