Other Writing

Rules & Regulations

The Community Rules must be followed in this forum.The Pokémon Community forum posting rules are in effect and should be followed. A fitting infraction will be given to those who attempt to evade/break any of the guidelines.
Community Rules and Regulations

General Guidelines

[assistance=Story approval]Due to the amount of non-standard fanfictions in the Other Writing forum, I've decided to close any fanfictions that fail to meet the standards of a decent story. An author who fails to meet the standards will be advised to improve and if s/he does not improve or at least show an effort of improvement, the thread will be closed.[/assistance]

• Hentai is not allowedHentai content of any kind (yaoi or any sort of lemon of that nature) is not allowed. Let's keep it clean here, guys, not all of us are 20+ years of age. XD

• NO SHORT REVIEWS
  Self-explanatory, please avoid posting if you're not going to give an adequate review of a write. While it is good to express your liking towards a certain fan-fiction, you are required to do it adding what you think are the good things and the flaws about it. You always help with a proper review, instead of merely saying 'I liked it', which could be expressed via PM or even IM rather than doing it here.

• Provide ratings!
  Try to provide a rating for your fan-fictions. For fics that contain more violence and/or sexual content, please be sure to notify members in the title as well as the first post of the fan-fiction. [/agelimit] tags are often useful.
  
  
• What belongs in OW
  If the fan fiction is Pokémon related, it obviously doesn't belong here, it belongs to the Pokémon Fan-Fiction forum. Please be sure your thread actually belongs in this forum before posting it.
  
  
• C+C
  No putting down others' fan-fictions. Constructive criticism only!
  
  
• Double posting
  Double posting is allowed for fan-fictions ONLY (you can't always rely on others to reply to post a new chapter). However, this is only for the thread creator; don't go nuts and double post here if you're only providing advice, etc.
  
  
• Thread revival
  Revival of old threads is allowed, because of them being fan-fictions. Nevertheless, this right is only reserved for the thread creator/story author.

• Site linking

Forum links

• Fan Fiction Advice
• Fan Fiction Lounge

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Current moderator: Astinus [PM]

Plot
You've got to have a good plot. The plot is basically the story of your fic; a formation of incidents that gradually take shape throughout the write. Your plot should not be predictable. Deviate from the norm, because otherwise you won't progress. A predictable plot can result in something boring and monotone. It's always good to innovate; as long as you don't do it blatantly and recklessly. Nevertheless, if you try to be too unpredictable it might result confusing. It's always recommended to keep realism.

Flow
Your story has to flow. This is crucial if you want people to wholly understand your plot. Chapters should not be too irregular. Try not to make them sloppy or short; elaborate on the dialogues and descriptions. The reader should understand both of these if you keep them clear and evenly paced. Keep a coherent continuity on the plot, and don't succumb to the desire of rushing an event. In fan fictions, characters should stay similar to their established behavior and their attitudes should not be drastically twisted.
This encloses dialogue too.

Mechanics (grammar, spelling, etc.)
Your story should be readable. The reader has to be presented with a clean array of words and proper punctuation. Otherwise, the meaning of words can be misunderstood or completely disregarded by the reader. You have to keep proper grammar in a good story to formulate ideas. Verb agreement is required for this, as well as proper tense use. You can really confuse readers if you wander away from a continuing verb tense.
Bad spelling may interfere with the desired meaning of a word, and thus create confusion on interpretation.

Description
Your story has to have good description. You want people to picture its events as clearly as possible! Elaborate on details, mention characteristics of the environment; describe factions, faces, looks; compare reactions, portray the panorama with as much detailing as possible to achieve good imagery.