(Posted by Maudlin.) 

Welcome to the new and improved fan fiction section of the McFly forum! Here you can post your McFly stories for everyone to read. This post will provide you with some general information about the fan fiction forum, its rules and posting your own fiction.

Changes
As of Monday, June ninth, we are smartening up the fan fiction forum. The changes in a nutshell:
• A subforum has been created, where everything non-fiction will be posted;
• From now on there is an obligatory header post, subject line format and font size/color;
• The beta policy has been tightened up and more attention will be paid to grammar etc. from now on.

Subforum
The fan fiction forum is divided into a main section and a subforum. In the main section (which is where you are now) you can post your fiction. Chaptered, standalones, het, slash, anything, as long as it’s a story. Everything else - audition threads, author’s threads, requests, everything that’s not writing - belongs in the subforum.

General rules
1. Off topic fictions are not allowed and will be deleted.
2. Please refrain from using text talk. This means that you should not talk in it, let alone post fiction in text talk.
3. Plagiarism is illegal. Anyone caught plagiarizing someone will be banned unconditionally. If you notice anyone copying your or someone else’s work, please contact me about it.
4. ‘My dog fell down the stairs, someone write me a standalone?!’ threads will be removed, as those requests belong in the subforum’s requests thread.
5. When your story hits the hundred pages limit, please create a new thread to continue it in.
6. Of course there is no way we can make commenting obligatory, but it is only polite to leave some feedback to a story you have been reading!

Posting
Please post your fiction in a dark color and (Microsoft Word) size 10-12. Remember to star out swear words or your post will be caught by the moderation queue. Before you press ‘post’, read over your add one last time to make sure it’s free of grammatical and spelling mistakes (mind your capital letters and punctuation!). We strongly recommend asking a beta to proofread your stories before you post them (see: beta policy).

Header post
Subject line
In the subject line (topic name) of your post, please put:
• The title of your story;
• Its genre (gen/het/slash);
• Its length type (SA/CH);
• Chaptered stories: the latest update (add: page (…)).

Examples: Friday Night (slash, SA); I’ve Got You (het, CH, add: page 15)

A brief explanation of the abbreviations used above:
• Gen: general, no sexual pairings;
• Het: heterosexual pairings;
• Slash: homosexual pairings;
• SA: standalone, a short story posted in one go;
• CH: chaptered story.

Please do not include:
• Pairings;
• Competition codes;
etc. in the header post, as this information belongs in the introduction form.

Introduction form
The following form has to be included in the header post (this is just the basic form; naturally you can enclose your own additions such as dedications):

Title:
Rating:
Pairing:
Point of view:
Summary:
Disclaimer:
Author’s notes:

A brief explanation:
• Title: no one would read a book without a title!
• Rating: U, PG, 12, 15 or 18 (see rating system further down the page). Please also include warnings such as abusive language, violence etc.
• Pairing: put your story’s (main) romantic pairings here: either (your McFly boy here)/OFC for het or (your McFly boy here)/(your McFly boy here) for slash. (OFC means ‘original female character’.)
• Point of view: if the p.o.v. differs from time to time, simply put ‘(first/second/third) person rotating’.
• Summary: a brief summary of your story.
• Disclaimer: add in a simple disclaimer so you won’t get sued.
• Author’s notes: (optional) for everything else you still want to tell your readers!

For chaptered stories it is obligatory to have a chapter directory in the first (or second) post, preferably with links to the posted chapters. This does not apply to standalones.

Beta policy
As mentioned before, we strongly recommend using a beta reader. Not only will they find possible spelling mistakes, but they can also help out with for instance plot building, characterization etc. The beta thread can be found here.

If forum members find an author’s knowledge of the English language, grammar and/or punctuation to be insufficient, they can contact me about it, naturally in confidence. In consultation with the chief beta the author will then, also in confidence, be assigned with a beta until the beta believes they have improved enough.

Rating system
These are the guidelines to keep in mind while rating your story.

• U - universal: suitable for all
• PG - parental guidance: free of coarse language, violence and adult themes
• 12 - 12 years and over: some violence, minor coarse language, minor suggestive adult themes
• 15 - 15 years and over: strong but non-explicit adult themes, references to violence, strong coarse language
• 18 - adults only: explicit language and adult themes

Deletion
Closed audition threads and competitions that have been inactive for (over) a month will be deleted from the subforum. Finished or inactive fiction or author’s threads, however, will not automatically be deleted, unless the author has let me know they want it deleted.
If you are abandoning your story for whatever reason, please contact me the link so the thread can be deleted.

Helpful links
Grammar etc.
Guide to punctuation (link)
An extremely helpful and reliable guide that will save your beta a lot of work.

Words often confused (one | two)

Capital letters (link)

Writing
Writing fiction (link)
“...this is a great place to explore fiction techniques such as dialogue, characterization, plot, setting, POV, etc.”

Others
How to give and receive constructive criticism (one | two)

Contact
For any questions or comments you can always contact me:
• Via PM (preferred);
• Via email: iamiamamachineatgmail.com.

Maudlin
Fan fiction moderator