Story Q & A

Further to the post I made earlier to this thread, I wanted to clarify - does including rape as subject matter in a story automatically mandate that it have an NC-17 rating? I know those are restricted viewing and non-members cannot see them, right?

@ Mirabile dictu
No. You can mention rape and deal with the aftermath of it in a story rated PG-13, but any details of it, depending on how detailed and explicit, would determine on whether it's R or NC-17. And yes, NC-17 stories can only be read by members of the site.

Okay, so I want to write a story about a original character and a VERY big part of he story is the fact that she likes (really likes) a band, and that she can relate to all of their songs. Literally, she can relate to all of them. The story mainly consists of things happening in her life that are exactly like the songs. It kind of like a bunch of one-shot songfics, but they're all about the same character, and they all link together. Instead of being just a bunch of oneshots, the way I'm going to connect them will make it all seem like one big story that spans over the time of a few years. It's mainly about this band's music, and how she relates to it, and it's full of song fiction.

SO, is this an original fiction or is it fanfiction?

@ SecretPiggyMafia
I would say that it would be an original fiction since it doesn't actually have any celebrities within the story, which would make it a fanfiction.

Are my chapters too long? I've checked a few other peoples out and they don't have very long chapters. I wonder if that is maybe turning some people off from reading my story. Should I break my chapters up more?

If I use the c word, does that warrant a higher rating or is R fine?

@ swell

There's no spectrum of severity as far as profanity's concerned. As long as there isn't explicit sex or violence, it's not NC-17.

@ i saw sparks
Sweet, thanks!

In a future chapter in one of my stories, there's going to be a newspaper article within the chapter, and the article itself references photos. The photos would be drawings, but to make it seem like an actual article, I was wondering if I would be allowed to put the drawings within the chapter and not in the author's note. (I've seen people put small images as dividers, but I don't think I've seen anybody do a full-blown picture.)

I'm totally cool with linking the pictures in the author's note, but I just wanted to know if I could display the actual picture within the story to match up with the newspaper article itself.

@ hawker!
I've done it, I don't think there'd be an issue. I've also seen it done in published books.

@ hawker!
The Story Guidelines article of the Knowledge Base says:

Quote:

07. Images used must follow guidelines.
[...] Relevant images (character outfits, pictures/illustrations of character homes, maps, etc) cannot be posted (or linked to) within the the text of a story. [...] Images that can be used within the actual content of story are limited to page breaks or dividers, or story/chapter banners.

So, linking in the author's note is the way to go. It shouldn't be so bad, though, if you describe the pictures (if necessary) because people much prefer description over picture (it's, and I quote, "lazy").

So, either I am not a good searcher or there isn't one but where can I find information about the ratings for the stories?

@ Mrs. Whirly
It's here. You can normally find everything in the Knowledge Base.

@ castiel's vessel

Thank you!

I should probably know this already, but if a story is set in a fandom universe but doesn't include any of the original characters, is that still considered fanfiction? I'm considering writing a Killjoys-era fanfic using the whole California 2019 storyline, but it wouldn't actually feature the band, just mentions them. I'd assume it'd still be fanfiction but I thought I'd get a second opinion on it.

@ house of cards.

Yeah, it would still be fanfiction because you're using someone else's universe, if that makes any sense. For example, I could write something in the Hunger Games universe with entirely original characters, and even though the characters are mine, it's still Suzanne Collins's universe, so it's still fanfiction.

@ i saw sparks
That's what I had figured, but I thought I was best to check. Thank you so much!

@ house of cards.

No problem, I'm happy to help out Your gut instinct was spot-on.

Would a story about aliens be classified as fantasy or science fiction?

@ Katie Mosing
I'd say science fiction but it honestly depends. In science fiction, unusual or unnatural elements of the story can be explained away by science and technology of the time (so if it were aliens, science can explain the likes of extra-terrestrial life if you want it to), whereas elements like that in fantasy stories are explained away by the use of magic and the suchlikes. I'd definitely lead more towards science fiction with it, but it depends on the other aspects of the story as well.