Fanfic Forum Guide for Newbies version 1.2

The Guide was begun by Anakin's Angel in the Stories board last spring. Here is a collection of 31 tips posted in that thread. Feel free to add on more, since I know everyone has ideas on how to survive the first few months.

The contributions below were made by Anakin's Angel, Liz Skywalker, womp_rat208, Julie, Lilith Demodae, sabrelight, greencat336, Jedi15, Clarus, LLL, Jedi Girl of Corellia, Anika Skywalker, Miana Kenobi, Darth_Duck, Luke_and_Mara_4ever, Jane Jinn, Ty-gon Jinn, and juwannajedi

1. Be nice. Respect your fellow writers and they will do so in return.

2. "Up" posted in a thread means that someone wishes to bring that thread to the 'top' of the page. This may seem like an 'oh, duh', but you'd be surprised how many times it's asked!

3. A good way to get readers for your stories is to read and post on other stories you like. Meet people, strike up conversations, you'd be surprised how nice we all are here.

4. Take time to see what kind of stories are currently being written. It's easy for a new story to go unnoticed if it has the same plot as three others.

5. The best way to sink a story is to post once and not again for a week or so. When a fic is just starting out, post a lot. This will give readers a solid base.

6. Don't kill the characters. I know this sounds like 'duh', but think the characters out. Will Mothma talk like Jar Jar and do what he does? That sort of thing is a major turn-off (unless it's a humor piece) and some readers will 'x' out right then.

7. Respond to your posters. If you ignore them, they will usually leave.

8. If a poster asks a question, answer it.

9. All spam and trolling (rude behavior) will be ignored and such threads will sink into the depths of the board never to be seen again. We cannot afford to waste our precious writing and reading time on flame wars.

10. In the event that a troll and his/her sock(s) is persistent, we shall merely Private Message the earliest available moderator, who will then deal with the situation, while we return to our delightful fanfic writing and reading. (i.e. the mods will delete it and ban the offender)

11. Be patient with the writers. They have real lives outside the Forums and sometimes those lives jump out and ambush them when they least expect it. Keep their threads alive and they will come back.

12. To PM (Send a personal message) anybody click on their (highlighted) name either in the reply posts or the main index page.

13. Don't be nervous about posting a story, even if it's the first fic you've written in years. People are very kind here.

14. If you post a story, and no one replies immediately, be patient. Eventually, someone will read your story and like it.

15. Use some sort of grammar or spell check when you write. It makes your story look nicer and is, I think, courteous--especially for those readers for whom English is not their first language. I heard one complain that it was annoying to look up words in her dictionary that did not exist.

16. Don't let writing on this board consume you. There really are more important, though not quite so enjoyable, things to do (homework, job, family, etc.).

17. If you're getting good feedback and people seem to like your story, hop on over to the archive page (there is a link on the front TFN page) and submit it!

18. Round robins are a great way to make friends and become better known as a writer. And they are a lot of fun too!

19. To make your story easy to read, make sure you put it in paragraphs. We all know what those are. And put spaces between the paragraphs, since there really is no indention feature.

20. Don't be afraid to contact administration if something is wrong. There are so many people in the forum, sometimes some things get messed up in admin. (i.e they accidentally ban you instead of someone else.) HINT Don't be rude to administration. Always say thank you and please.

21. Plan stories ahead of time, otherwise you end up with a thousand dead-end stories.

22. If you start o

 

Awesome, thanks for starting this again here, Julie. I've found that I'm an offender of quote a few of those, I'm afraid //hangs head. I really need to get on the ball....


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Rule #32: Send money to anyone with a red name.

Okay, this isn't a hard and fast rule yet, but it's not a bad idea.


But at least try to follow the previous 31 rules.

 

Shouldn't that be send money to any goddess-related aliases? (i.e. DarthIshtar, JediValkyrie, or Pallas-Athena) Great thread. Very helpful!

 

Did somebody mention my name and money in the same sentence?

Great thread, Julie, I don't know how many times I've told those things to people . . .

 

I like that idea very much, Ishtar...*grin* Though badly spelled, my name must count as goddess-related, right?

 

I like that idea also Too bad it's not likely to happen.

Great list Julie!

 

Up for the newbies to read!

(Eek! I had to unlock it because this hasn't been upped in six months.)

 

33. shoot Liz since she has 6 unfinished stories and only lurks on her fave stories.

 

Herman, LOL...

Boost this up! This is a MUST READ!

 

Up .

Edit: My mistake. For some reason, I thought this was on the second page.

 

This is down too far.