Fanfiction and the Rules of Conduct (Discussion thread)

[Renita_Serafim]

<DIV>As I've mentioned elsewhere on the Travelers Tales forums, I am planning on writing a fanfic' soon centered around Shin (the town shown in Fallen Dynasty), Myolnia (an alternate universe version of the character shown in <A href="http://eqiiforums.station.sony.com/eq2/board/message?board.id=tales_lore&message.id=2156" target=_blank>Shadows of the Past</A>) and the imminent return of the gods in Echoes of Faydwer. Since many view the return of the gods as the dawn of a new age of dispair, including Myolnia and Renita (the two central characters of the story), I wanted to write the story in the vein of an apocalyptic tale (I know Norrath isn't going to be destroyed or anything, but I'm talking theme wise) that portrays a countdown to something terrible. Pondering upon this, I realised that I should check what is and isn't appropriate on these boards before I write anything, considering the tone of the story. I checked the Rules of Conduct for points that could relate to fanfiction and found these.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> <HR> </DIV> <DIV> <LI>Contains obscenity, vulgarity, profanity or is sexually explicit. Though we do have a filter in place to catch unintentional obscenity from time to time, this is not a license to abuse it. Bypassing the obscenity filter by using letter, number, or character combinations that allow the obscene or inappropriate word to appear is unacceptable as well. <LI>Is considered inappropriate for children 13 or over as governed by general standards of decency in the United States of America. <HR> </LI></DIV> <P>The latter three on that first point arn't an issue, but Nightshade (Renita's alternate persona, sorta) is known to swear, but this is easily remedied by finding milder non-swear equivilents for what she'd say for the version of the story posted here.</P> <P>The second is more along the lines of what I was concerned about. Many a Divine Agent (fanlore servants of the planes, think of Peacemakers from Scrapped Princess and you're thinking along similar lines) is a merciless, dark, twisted individual, and I thought I should inquire over what is crossing the line between what helps me portray this in the story and what is inappropriate for these forums. Both <A href="http://eqiiforums.station.sony.com/eq2/board/message?board.id=tales_lore&message.id=2774" target=_blank>"Kinslayers Tale"</A> by Ekuth and <A href="http://eqiiforums.station.sony.com/eq2/board/message?board.id=tales_lore&message.id=43" target=_blank>"A Summoner's Fall into Darkness"</A> by Eriol have had either implied or shown violence and other dark content, so I know a happy medium can be found. I'd appreciate it if people could share their thoughts on the issue before I start writing, so I know what kind of approach to take.</P><p>Message Edited by Astralmage on <span class=date_text>05-21-2006</span> <span class=time_text>05:29 AM</span>

[Raevin]

I know it's a fine line to walk.  I agonized for quite a while before posting my story because it has some *very* adult content.  I, of course, did post it, but I put up a pretty hefty warning about the content at the beginning.  I say go for it, but warn people first.  I know that Ekuth and I both kind of pushed the envelope on just how dark and disturbing we could get away with, but as of yet, there's been no censorship, and our stories both made Treasure Chest.

[Ekuthh]

<P>I have to agree with Sunrisenative; we've both really pushed at the boundary of "adult" themes; openly.  Neither of us have been censored (so far).  </P> <P>I know I'm going to be continuing in the same vein- much of the remainder of my story (novel? hehehe) cant be told without exploring the darker issues.  Ambrosious is beginning to hurtle along the path that leads him to necromancy... how do you handle that without expressing dark imagery?  Same with Raevin in Sunrisennative's tale- her conception through violence is a strong subject matter and yet she dealt with it without going overboard into gory details.  </P> <P>I try to do the same with what I write- I've done both sex and violence so far (was really expecting to be modded on the love scene between J'Lyani and Ambrosious, but I guess I pulled it off) so I guess it's more *how* you write it rather than *what* you're writing.</P> <P>Alfred Hitchcock was so successful as a director because he emphasized what *isnt* seen to frighten his audience- rather than splay it all out in front of them.  Terror is much more successful if you allow your audience's mind to create it for you... that's what I've tried to do.</P> <P>So, without rambling on further- I'd say just go for it; post an adult content disclaimer like Sunrisenative and I did- you should be okay. :smileywink:</P><p>Message Edited by Ekuth on <span class=date_text>05-21-2006</span> <span class=time_text>02:12 PM</span>

[Eriol]

<blockquote><hr>Ekuth wrote:<p>I try to do the same with what I write- I've done both sex and violence so far (was really expecting to be modded on the love scene between J'Lyani and Ambrosious, but I guess I pulled it off) so I guess it's more *how* you write it rather than *what* you're writing.</p><p>Alfred Hitchcock was so successful as a director because he emphasized what *isnt* seen to frighten his audience- rather than splay it all out in front of them. Terror is much more successful if you allow your audience's mind to create it for you... that's what I've tried to do.</p><hr></blockquote>I'm pretty much in agreement with these sentiments. Descriptive, but not explicit. Letting the reader's imagination run wild with them is often more effective than writing an explicitly gory scene. As Astral said in the OP, I DID include some fairly horrid violence when you imagine it, but it didn't NEED to be described any more than it was. I definitely was conscious of "toeing the line", but because this forum is <i>so</i> different, I think that it is intent that is most important. I don't know the mod policy for swears, but if included purely for vulgarity or shock value, it doesn't work, but if included correctly, as part of actions that characters would actually take... it does work, and should be allowed.Unfortunately there is one large exception of which we ALL have to be careful of: sexual-based, and overly-brutal violence. I'm talking about [expletive haxx0red by Raijinn], and to some degree torture. Those are extremely touchy themes that if you portray it in even slightly the wrong light can have very dire consequences. It was something I was acutely aware of when I wrote a torture scene for my story, <i>from the point of the victim</i>, which made it that much more powerful. But I just about made the torture... even worse (I'll leave the implications at that), but that would have crossed the line. In many ways I was toeing it, and if I had written that scene from the perspective of the torturer it may have been slightly over the line, but going the extra step into even more brutality goes beyond the need of the scene, and could even go into things that honestly should not be on anything even pretending to be near PG-13.Now having said that, because this forum is so specialized, I would think that as long as a disclaimer is at the top of the story, the authors should be allowed pretty-much free-reign, even from the normal profanity filters. If somebody starts being abusive, or an author is abusing the privilidge, then the mods can take action on a case-by-case basis from us reporting the incidents to them, but generally, as authors, it just works out. We all know the line, where it is, and when it is appropriate (and dramatically correct) to venture near it. Most of the other artificial constraints aren't necessary at all.

[Kassabba]

<P>Since I lean heavily towards the satirical, I cant say that Im in the nieghborhood of anything remotly touchy, (unless your the one being satarized).  However I do believe that there are no bad ideas, just sick little minds that percieve them as such.  If you take a look at the game itself it has all the components that you step lightly around, they are all in the game already.  The street [Removed for Content] in Stonestair Byway that grinds her hips at you everytime you walk by and of course all the killing. Two people can write about the same thing, one can be called smut and the other literature. The difference? Thier presentation and approach to the subject matter. </P> <P>I say run your stories out there, stay true to the story line no matter where it takes you, and if its too much and gets shut down, move it somewhere else, if its a good story your readers will follow it.  The work of a writer is to explore these things, bring them out and show them in a manner that the reader may not have thought of.</P> <P>Raise the pirate flag! [expletive haxx0red by Raijinn] the torpedoes.....Write On!</P><p>Message Edited by Kassabba on <span class=date_text>05-31-2006</span> <span class=time_text>06:12 AM</span>

[SillyMonk]

As someone who is about to post an emotional turning point for a char in his story, a turning point that is both violent and emotionally harsh, I see no problem in that as long as it does not cross into the sexual. These days PG-13 is a boundry that is stretched in terms of violence and emotinal content. If the story requires it for the nature of the story and character development, and is not there just to be gratuitous, then I would say post it. If it's bad enough you will be warned and then you'll know you can't do it again. Luckily, the devs are big into giving you a slap on the hand to warn you, so unless it's horridly obscene, insta-ban won't be an issue.

[OrangeDragon1]

<P>About fanfiction in the realm of Norrath, I wish to ask a few questions on. Are there unwritten rules in fanfiction that I am unaware about?</P> <P>I am curious as to besides the points mentioned in the first post, will I become banned if I write something unflattering? Or should I just try not attempting a fanfic in Norrath at all, and try something original?</P>

[MysidiaDrakkenbane]

<P>I've always kept the ideal of keeping it within the standards that a highschool would keep. Some highschool required reading can be a tad graphic, but nothing that would make it to HBO channel around midnight. <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></P> <P>I've always held my writing on boards like this, to those standards, and I've never had a problem.</P>